Why it is currently so difficult to hire employees - and how to solve the problem

The pandemic has disrupted the market for IT talent. Desirable candidates now have so many options that the entire industry is considering how to hire them - and how to get them to stay.

"The days of saying 'I'm so glad I have a job' are now over: 'We're so glad we have this Employees '" says Rhys Hughes, Executive Talent Partner at GV. "Companies need to be incredibly careful - even those who have experienced unprecedented success over the last four to five years - that they truly understand that this is a candidates' market." .

Not everyone agrees that recruiting is much more difficult than it used to be. Jay Parikh, co-CEO of cybersecurity company Lacework, said it has always been difficult to find good people in the tech industry. Now it's "just different difficult," thanks to the competitive market and geographic distribution of the talent market. Recruiting via Zoom presents a number of challenges.

Both start-ups and large technology companies are becoming more and more common Employees set. And while remote working has opened up new local talent markets for employers, it also means the best candidates now have more opportunities than ever before. Most importantly, this pandemic-tested generation of tech talent now values ​​flexibility, work-life balance, and a sense of mission at work.

“Employees are recognizing and reevaluating what they want from their job,” says Meagan Gregorczyk, senior director of performance and talent management at ServiceNow. "They certainly don't want to chase a performance rating. That's no longer what 'importance' means. They want to become the next incredible version of themselves."

Money vs. Mission vs. Flexibility

Professionals are reevaluating how work fits into their lives. Having time to get the kids to the bus stop in the morning is a far more attractive perk than a ping pong table or kombucha station in the office, Gregorczyk says.

In this environment, compensation is just one of several important levers in recruiting. Many companies throw money at applicants in the hopes of beating other offers, but smart leaders take a more holistic approach. (Some companies are also rethinking the way they award bonuses to avoid losing employees who waited until bonus season to jump ship.)

“Compensation is always an arms race”

,sagt Chris French, Executive Vice President of Customer Strategy bei Workhuman.

There will be winners and losers. But for many companies, this cannot be the only strategy. You can compete on flexibility, but most tech companies will be flexible.

Candidates for management positions in particular don't necessarily want to be lured with more money up front, says Hughes.

“Many of the executives I talk to want to do things that are much more mission-driven,” said Hughes, who observes that some are now more willing to take a pay cut to join a promising startup . "They're willing to take cash or equity that may not be as much as what they have today, but will provide much more benefit in the future.

To retain your employees, help them grow

Those: jobcloud.ch

Executives concerned about turnover should think twice before simply addressing the problem with raises and capital increases. Some founders make this mistake as their companies grow and turnover naturally increases, but there are other ways to retain employees during this phase, says Hughes.

High-growth companies with 100 employees naturally experience higher fluctuation than was the case with a 10-person startup. Around the 100-employee mark, “the critical pace of learning is so high,” says Hughes. Frontline managers, engineers, and sales reps are all hungry for learning and development opportunities.

This doesn't just apply to startups: As big tech companies grow, they need to find ways to support their employees' learning and development, especially when it comes to training new managers. ServiceNow's solution is to offer six months of external coaching to its new HR managers and to provide an "additional set of training wheels" to new managers whose direct reports are also new to the company.

Stand out from the start

Most companies’ recruiting processes need improvement. In the applicant market, a good first impression is crucial.

“Regardless of the outcome, you want the person to go home and tell their friends and family what a great experience it was,” Hughes said.

Some of the companies supported by GV put their own spin on the process to stand out from the crowd, e.g. B. by sending promotional gifts or sending a video of the hiring manager. However, Hughes recommends doing the basic things particularly well. It's best to approach candidates with "general curiosity about their background, excitement about the opportunity, and even more excitement about where the company is going," says Hughes.

Conveying the importance of the company's mission is one of Parikh's most popular recruiting strategies. If done effectively, all types of applicants - not just security fanatics - can see themselves in Lacework's mission, he said.

And hiring executives need to take the process into their own hands rather than relying on human resources or talent acquisition teams, Hughes said.

Parikh, however, cautioned executives not to rely solely on HR managers to make the final decision.

"There are a number of biases that are not well protected against by leaving the hiring decision solely to the hiring manager."

Parikh said. That's a "perfectly normal" way to hire in the tech industry, Parikh said, but it can allow bias to creep in and hurt companies trying to hire the best.

Realistically, the recruiting process begins long before the position is available, so executives should spend 10 to 15 percent of their time networking to build a candidate pipeline, says Hughes.

"There's a saying that the moment you open a job description, it's already too late," Hughes said. "This is the utopia: You don't have to open a job description because you have decided on a cohort of talent 18 months before the need."

The way forward

The attitude makes more difference than you think - Source: studybees.de

What goes up must come down, and it won't be a candidate market forever. However, it is impossible to predict when this change will occur. Therefore, companies need to consider how they can differentiate themselves from their competitors. And these conversations need to start at the top of the company.

"The hiring experience is no longer an HR responsibility. It is now a management responsibility," said Hughes.