Five Strategies to Recruit and Retain IT Talent
Posted September 11th, 2014
Creating a dynamic IT workforce requires a two-pronged approach. First, you have to recruit the best and brightest talent out there and convince them to come and work for you. Second, you need to hold on to this talent for as long as they can benefit your organization. Neither step is easy, but if you follow these strategies, you can make things easier on yourself and help ensure your staff always has the skills, creativity, personality, and character you require.
Make Interviewing an Ongoing Process
The worst time to hold job interviews is when you need to make a hire. That often leads to hasty decision making, and it means your staff has a hole in it that is stretching your resources thin. Commit yourself to always be interviewing potential candidates, and keep careful notes about each interview. That way, when you need to add staff, you have a pool of pre-screened candidates that you can immediately pull someone from.
Don’t Be Afraid to Let Someone Go
If you are reluctant to fire someone because of the hole it will create, don’t be. If they are worth being let go, they are probably having a negative effect on your office morale and workplace culture. Keeping that person around could cause other valuable members of your team to jump ship.
Look Past Skills and Experience
Recruiting in IT often focuses on a candidate’s skills and experience. In reality, it is the intangible qualities like their personality, sense of humor, work ethic, and worldview that matter most. Technical abilities can be learned, being a likable person cannot – and if you can’t imagine sitting in an office with someone all day, it’s likely the rest of your team can’t either. Keep the core of your workforce happy and look for another recruit.
Mix Up the Interview
Most candidates come into an interview with their answers already worked out. If you ask unconventional questions that catch a candidate off guard, you get a much better sense of who they are as a person and how qualified they are for the job. This can help you identify the best candidates, and always helps you weed out the bad ones.
Consider the Long Term
The best candidate might be the one that excels in six months or a year rather than the one that dazzles you beginning on day one and then gets lazy or cocky. When you are considering recruits, look for ones that have demonstrated a commitment to professional development, a willingness to take on new responsibilities, and a history of innovation. They might not be initially perfect, but they could grow into your star performer if given the chance.
Find additional resources to help your recruitment and retention process by consulting with the team at Bayside Solutions.
