Although it’s not the news we like to share, in the tech recruitment industry we can’t escape the reality that unemployment in the UK is growing by the day. When writing this blog, the unemployment rate is currently at 4.9%, and redundancies are at an all-time high. While in America, the picture is looking a little better, the country has still seen huge unemployment levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A rise in unemployment means that there are suddenly many more candidates applying for one role; which means more work for recruitment teams who have to screen candidates. While sometimes, this is a good thing because a larger number of candidates means you stand a greater chance of finding a person who is the perfect fit for your business, it also means sifting through a lot of unsuitable CVs. As the candidate pool continues to grow, wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to grab the attention of suitable candidates and ensure only top tech talent apply for your vacancies?
Using intelligent recruitment marketing strategies, you can ensure that your vacancies are not only seen by the right people but resonate and connect with the most suitable people for your business. Through promoting your unique selling points and culture, you’ll be able to resonate with engaged and interested tech talent.
Here are just a few examples:
Embrace digital attraction
Including digital talent attraction as an element of your tech recruitment marketing strategy is a great way to ensure that the correct people see your job adverts and campaigns. While traditional job board adverts can be seen by anyone who uses appropriate search terms, targeted social media ads can only be seen by people who meet specific criteria. This could be qualifications, experience, specific skill sets or even location; with Facebook, LinkedIn and Google targeting capabilities, there are a range of possibilities which can ensure suitable candidates only see your ads. Digital attraction means that your recruitment budget is not wasted on unqualified candidates and ensures you stand a better chance of attracting the best talent. There are many different types of ads available to help you reach candidates, from generic video or static adverts to messaging ads like LinkedIn InMails, which can be personalised and sent directly to candidates’ inboxes.
We all know that for technical roles like software developers, engineers, or even data scientists, specific skills should be non-negotiable. Digital talent attraction and social media targeting are a great way to ensure you reach people who match specific criteria. When trying to attract tech talent, this could be especially useful; you can target based on specific skills or interests essential to the role you’re recruiting for including C++, python or even robotics.
Leverage your employer brand
Every employer has an employer brand, but to stand out to the right people when the talent market is crowded, you need to be tactical in leveraging yours. With every employer trying to appeal to the same talent and skillsets, you need to work harder to promote and celebrate the unique elements of your workplace. Whether you’re an established business or a growing one, your employer brand speaks volumes about you; it’s quite literally how perceptions of you are defined in the jobs market.
If the number of candidates currently looking for work is growing, promoting unique aspects of your employer brand will help weed out any that may not be a good cultural fit. For example, if your business offers the chance to work from home a few days a week, any candidate who doesn’t see this as a good or practical option will remove themselves from the running. There will be certain aspects of your employer brand, which appeal to specific people and deter others. We’re all different, so that’s completely natural. To be frank, if people can’t relate to your employer brand, then chances are they won’t be a great fit for your company so deterring them before the applications stage isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Segment your campaign messaging
If you’re looking to hire a specific role that requires specialised skills, you can’t rely on generic messaging to appeal to the right individuals. More than anything creating a generic recruitment campaign will deter tech talent. It infers that you don’t understand the complexity of the role in question and don’t care enough to tailor your messaging.
By creating recruitment marketing campaigns that are almost personalised to specific positions, like tech roles, you stand a better chance of appealing to this talent. You can focus on what’s important to them or show how hiring this type of talent can impact your business. For example, suppose you need to hire developers. In that case, they’ll care about very different aspects of the company to salespeople, and the contribution they’ll make to your success will be incomparable to the head of HR. Similarly, people who work remotely may experience a different company culture to those that work in the office; make sure you consider these aspects when promoting your employer brand.
Treat people as individuals, and tailor your campaigns to resonate with the right type of people. This will lead to genuinely interested people in your role and business applying rather than any individual looking for a job, resulting in better quality candidates. A greater quality of candidates means less time to recruit, lower recruitment costs and higher retention rates.
Outsource recruitment
Outsourcing your tech recruitment to specialist sourcing teams opens up the potential to reach a higher calibre of candidate. Tech recruitment specialists and RPO providers understand the requirements for even the most complex roles. They have a great understanding of the experience needed to succeed and have a network of qualified tech candidates ready to be contacted. These recruiters are trained in talking to tech talent and can act as a salesperson for your business, giving an external view of your company’s role, which may be trusted more than your own promotions.
Also, RPO specialists or tech recruiters can take a deep dive into your industry by conducting detailed research, looking into your competitors’ talent and where the talented people are located. They can conduct specialist market research to ensure that they find the right talent for your business. Take advantage of the expertise, experience and amount of dedication that external recruiters can bring to your search for the right tech talent.
If you’d like to learn more about outsourcing recruitment, digital attraction campaigns or recruitment marketing, contact our experts to start a conversation. Talent Works are experts in helping tech businesses attract the talent they need to scale. With a team of in-house creatives, digital marketers, researchers and recruiters, and refined services, Talent Works offers a unique, agile approach to RPO. View our work here or start a conversation with our experts.
