The Art of Employee Recognition: Low-Cost Ways to Boost Morale

As a manager or business owner in the tech industry, regularly recognising and rewarding the efforts and contributions made by your team members is important.

Regular recognition is the key to building a more motivated and engaged workforce. It’s also essential to retaining employees. Studies show that up to half of employees would consider leaving a company that doesn’t give them enough recognition for their work. At a time when skill shortages are making it increasingly difficult for businesses to access the talent they need, the right approach to employee recognition can reduce your risk of turnover.

The good news for tech business leaders is that a strong recognition strategy does not rely on high-cost, extravagant gifts. There are plenty of simple, budget-friendly ways to show your team members how much you appreciate them.

The Importance of Employee Engagement 

Workplace recognition motivates and engages employees, driving powerful results for businesses. In any tech workplace, practical recognition efforts can lead to:

• Higher productivity: Recognised employees are more engaged in their work and aware of what they need to do to achieve their goals, which means higher productivity.
• Improved retention: A Gallup report found that employees who don’t feel adequately recognised at work are twice as likely to consider quitting.
• Better talent acquisition: A culture of feedback and recognition appeals to top talent. It can improve your employer brand and make attracting professionals to your tech team easier in a skills-short environment.
• Enhanced business outcomes: Organisations that practice recognition regularly are 12 times more likely to achieve strong business results, such as increases in shareholder returns and profits.

 

A recognition program is necessary to attract and retain talent in the tech, boost employee productivity and performance, and create an engaging company culture.

Low-Cost Recognition Strategies to Use

It’s easy to assume that the best employee recognition strategies demand a massive budget for bonuses and financial rewards. However, companies with limited cash can experiment with low-cost ways to boost employee morale. Here are some great options to try.

1. Say Thank You

It might seem simple, but saying “thank you” to employees – whether in private or in a public team meeting – for their input and hard work can go a long way. Sincere gratitude from a business leader or manager significantly improves morale and doesn’t cost anything.

2. Written Recognition

A written note can be equally impactful alongside verbally saying “thank you” to an employee.

Handwritten and personalised thank you notes are an intimate and authentic way to show appreciation to a tech team member.

Furthermore, congratulatory messages could be added to the company newsletter, intranet, or even social media if appropriate. This would be a great way to highlight your culture of recognition to other job seekers, both internal and external, in the company.

3. Peer-to-Peer Recognition Programs

Managers and business leaders aren’t the only people who can show appreciation to staff members. Encouraging a culture of peer-to-peer recognition is a great way to make sharing positive feedback an integral part of your business culture. The idea is to create a digital recognition platform where team members can say thank you to their colleagues in a public space.

4. Flexible Work Arrangements

Flexibility has become a valuable benefit in the tech workplace, with more than 71% of workers considering flexible options when choosing which companies to work for. Offering employees flexible work and work-from-home options as rewards is a great, cost-effective way to show appreciation to your team members. This gesture helps employees maintain a good work-life balance, reduces the risk of burnout, and shows employees that you trust them to work independently.

5. Professional Development Opportunities

More than 76% of employees want more training opportunities to build their careers and skills. This means that development opportunities are an excellent reward as part of a recognition program. Offering your employees access to mentorship, cross-training, workshops, or online training programs shows you’re invested in helping them achieve their goals. It also creates a win-win situation for your tech company, as you benefit from the new skills and abilities your employees can bring to your workforce.

6. Small Gestures with a Big Impact

Even the smallest gesture can improve the success of an employee recognition program. For example, you could consider hosting team lunches or “pizza party” days for teams that achieve their goals, helping to boost camaraderie and team bonding. Another option is to create a “wall of fame” for exceptional work, where you highlight a specific employee each day or week. Alternatively, you could make an employee of the month program, with a reward like a premium parking spot.

7. Responsibility and Autonomy

Rewarding high-performing tech employees with extra work or responsibilities is not the most appealing form of recognition. However, many high-performing staff members are motivated by the right combination of challenges and responsibility. Entrusting a performing team member to lead a new project can help them feel trusted and respected in the workplace. It also allows them to learn valuable new skills and experience, which they can use when applying for promotions.

Implementing an Effective Recognition Program

Employee recognition programs don’t have to be costly to be successful. However, you must still follow the right strategy to make recognition an intrinsic part of your tech company culture. Here are some quick tips for better recognition strategies.

1. Democratise Recognition

Make it easy for everyone in your team to recognise their peers. Use software and online tools to simplify sharing kudos with colleagues, or run regular group meetings where you encourage everyone to vote for the most valuable employee of the week. The easier it is to share recognition in your workplace, the more ingrained it will become in your company culture.

2. Prioritise Fairness

A fair approach to employee recognition doesn’t mean you have to give every tech employee the same amount of praise. However, it would help if you considered every employee’s contribution equally. Make sure you have a plan for monitoring the performance and achievements of every staff member.

3. Make Recognition Specific and Personal

While a simple “thank you” can go a long way, more specific, personalised recognition efforts often have more robust results. Letting your employees know precisely what you’re thinking of them will reinforce positive behaviour and show other team members what they need to do to access the same rewards.

4. Adapt Recognition Efforts to Individual Preferences

Different employees have different preferences when it comes to receiving recognition. Some workers thrive on public praise, whereas others might appreciate a private “thank you” more. Additionally, the rewards that appeal to some tech employees, like flexibility or development opportunities, might be less appealing to other team members. Be mindful and adaptable in your praise.

5. Lead by Example

Train your business leaders on effective employee recognition strategies. They commit to sharing timely, prompt feedback with their staff. When leaders regularly show recognition to other employees, this helps to encourage others in management positions to follow in their footsteps.

      6. Measure the Results

Pay attention to the impact of your tech employee recognition strategy. Use software to track productivity, engagement, absenteeism, and retention rates and how these differ among employees who receive different levels of recognition. Use surveys to gather anonymous feedback for deeper insights into improving your strategy.

Master the Art of Employee Recognition

Showing your employees that you appreciate them has always been essential to boosting motivation levels in the tech industry. However, in today’s skills-short landscape, it’s more important than ever to prioritise recognition if you want to retain and attract the best talent.

Fortunately, employee recognition strategies don’t have to be costly to implement. Use the budget-friendly strategies above to show your appreciation to your employees and boost productivity, engagement, and satisfaction in your tech team.

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

A 90-Day Blueprint for New Hire Success in the Tech Sector

Settling into any new role takes time. Even employees with years of experience in similar tech industry roles can struggle when faced with new processes, workplace requirements and team dynamics. That’s why business leaders and managers must invest in effective onboarding processes to streamline the path to productivity.

Implementing the right strategy for an employee’s first 90 days in your organisation doesn’t only ensure you get the most value out of your new hire as quickly as possible, but it’s also crucial to retaining top talent in a competitive job market.

A well-structured onboarding process that focuses on training, cultural integration, and development during the first three months helps to forge the foundations of a positive relationship between employees and the companies they support.

Here’s how you can set your new employee up for success during their first 90 days with your company.

The Importance of Employee Onboarding and Development

Studies show up to 20% of employee turnover happens within the first 45 days of a new hire joining the team. This makes the initial stages of welcoming an employee into your team crucial for talent retention. 69% of employees say they’re more likely to stay with a company for three years or more if they receive an excellent initial onboarding experience.

In a skills-short tech space, employees are likelier to abandon roles that don’t meet their expectations. Companies could waste time and resources recruiting and training staff who may leave their roles within a few months.

Rapid turnover can significantly impact team morale and overall company culture, reducing productivity and performance. A robust onboarding process, particularly focusing on the first 90 days, sets the tone for a valuable long-term relationship between your company and your new hires.

It allows staff to build strong foundations in your business, provides them with rapid access to essential skills, and helps them forge relationships with other team members. You will reduce your risk of early turnover for new talent and streamline each team member’s path to success within your organization.

The First 90 Days: Building Your Onboarding Roadmap

The exact elements of a successful onboarding strategy will always vary depending on the tech role you’re filling and the unique requirements of your new hire. However, the following blueprint will give you a helpful starting point when designing your onboarding strategy.

1. Pre-Arrival Preparation (Days -30 to 0)

A powerful onboarding experience starts before your new staff member arrives for their first day at your tech business location. When an employee accepts your job offer, you should prepare to welcome them into the team.

Create a comprehensive and personalised onboarding plan for each new team member that outlines the required training schedule, objectives, and milestones. This will give your new starter an insight into what to expect ahead of their start date.

Prepare any hardware and equipment your employees will need, such as a computer, desk space, and any software they’ll need access to, so it’s ready for them when they walk through the door.

Assigning a mentor or buddy to each new team member is a helpful way to give them a go-to resource if they have questions about their role, tasks or the company. Arrange this ahead of time. Additionally, consider setting up meet-and-greet sessions with the key team members your employee will work with.

Communicate with your new employee before their start date, sending them a welcome email with essential information about their role and the organisation.

2. The First Week (Days 1-7)

The first week in a new tech role can be chaotic and nerve-wracking for a new team member. Ensuring your employee feels supported and informed during this time is crucial.

On the first day, focus on welcoming the hire into the team, introducing them to team members, and showing them around the office. Ensure they know where to find everything, from meeting rooms to bathrooms and lunch or break spaces.

Set expectations with your new team member immediately, but ensure you’re realistic about expected accomplishments. Remind your new staff member of the critical elements of your company’s culture and values, and ask them if they have any questions about their role.

Additionally, during the first week, scheduling initial training sessions covering the software your employees will be using or any essential processes they’ll need to follow is helpful. Plus, make sure you have a few regular check-ins scheduled with a manager or team leader so you can monitor your new hire’s progress.

3. Weeks 2-4 (Days 8-30)

After the first week, you can dive into more role-specific training sessions for your tech hire, focusing on developing core skills and overcoming potential weaknesses. Introduce the key projects your team member will work on and assign new responsibilities.

For the first month, avoid overwhelming your employees with complex tasks. Instead, ensure they have access to the resources they need to learn more about their roles and functions and build new relationships with valuable team members.

Consider introducing team-building exercises or arranging informal lunches to foster the development of positive connections and enable collaboration.

At the end of the first month, schedule your first formal feedback session, ensuring you both provide helpful guidance and collect insights from your new employee about their experience in the workplace.

4. Month 2 (Days 31-60)

When they enter their second month with your business, your new tech hire should start feeling more confident in their role. Start giving your staff members more autonomy and responsibility, ensuring they still have someone to turn to if they have any questions.

Help them set short-term goals and objectives based on their ambitions and your company’s broader goals. Additionally, ensure your staff member can access continued learning and development opportunities, such as training sessions and workshops.

At this point, infusing your new employee deeper into your business operations is essential. Encourage them to actively participate in team meetings and projects and ask them to share their thoughts and opinions regularly.

At the end of the second month, arrange another review and feedback session to assess progress and provide constructive feedback.

5. Month 3 (Days 61-90)

In the third month of the onboarding process, your new hire should feel fully integrated into the business. You can begin to assign them more complex tasks and projects and ask them to take more initiative in their role. Begin looking for more specific opportunities for growth and development based on what you’ve learned about your hire’s strengths and weaknesses so far.

Arrange another meeting during which your tech team member can tell you about their long-term career aspirations, and you and your colleague can begin to build a personal development plan for them.

At the end of the third month, invite your employee to a comprehensive 90-day review. During this meeting, you can discuss the employee’s goals and achievements and collaboratively identify areas for improvement. You should also begin to discuss long-term development plans and set clear goals for the staff member’s next 90 days in their role.

At this stage, you can also ask your employees for feedback about what they’ve liked and disliked about the onboarding experience. This will help you optimise and improve future onboarding strategies.

The First 90 Days: Best Practice

Developing an onboarding strategy for your new hire’s first 90 days within their new tech role is crucial to integrating them into your company culture and setting the foundations for future success. Some experts say an employee’s experience within the first 90 days in a role will significantly impact their long-term performance and contribution to a company.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind throughout the process:

Maintain Open Communication

Communication is key to strengthening the relationship between your new employee and your business. Ensure managers regularly check in with new team members to clarify expectations, offer feedback, and quickly address any concerns or challenges.

Personalise the Onboarding Experience

Every new tech hire will have requirements and specific challenges to overcome when starting a role with a company. Make sure you personalise the onboarding experience based on the employee’s role, background, and individual learning style.

Leverage Technology

Taking advantage of technology can significantly improve the onboarding experience. Digital scheduling tools, learning management software, and communication solutions can automate and streamline processes throughout the onboarding journey.

Gathering and Acting on Feedback

Gather feedback from your new staff members during and after onboarding to determine what works well for them and what can be improved. This will show employees that you value their input and help continuously refine the onboarding experience.

Master the 90-Day Onboarding Process

An effective onboarding strategy ensures that your new tech employee thrives in your organisation. Retaining crucial talent, enhancing your company culture, and building an effective team is important.

Follow the steps above to design your 90-day onboarding strategy. Remember to constantly optimise and improve the experience based on feedback from each new team member.

How a Mentor Will Improve Your Success: Learn from the Best

Mentoring programs are becoming increasingly commonplace within the world’s most successful companies. One report found that up to 98% of US Fortune 500 companies use mentoring programs. It’s easy to see the appeal of these programs for employers.

Mentoring can improve employee engagement and retention rates, enhance knowledge transfer throughout an organisation, and reduce training and development costs. But mentoring strategies aren’t just great for business leaders – they’re valuable to employees, too.

As a tech employee, working with a mentor gives you access to a consistent source of expertise, support, and guidance as you progress throughout your career. Mentors can help you harness new skills, improve your personal brand, and help you make the right decisions for your future.

This guide will show you why working with a mentor is valuable for your future tech career. We share our top tips for getting the most out of any mentoring experience.

What is a Mentor? The Basics

Simply put, a mentor is an experienced, trusted advisor who guides and supports another person. Mentors can come in many forms, such as life mentors and academic mentors. Part of today’s topic of conversation is career mentors.

A career mentor for tech employees could be a peer from the industry or someone in your business with more experience or expertise than you.

Many companies run “reverse mentoring” programs, typically involving younger people helping more senior staff members navigate new technologies or adapt to different perspectives.

Great mentors will possess a few distinguishing characteristics in all circumstances. The best mentors have:

• Experience: Mentors should have expertise, skills, and background knowledge relevant to your industry and your goals.
• Excellent communication skills: Mentors are excellent communicators. They know how to translate complex topics into simple language and actively listen to their mentees.
• Empathy and patience: Great mentors should have high emotional intelligence. They need to empathise with your challenges and concerns.
• An open approach: A good mentor should be willing to share access to exclusive knowledge, valuable network connections, and resources to help you grow.
• A skill for delivering feedback: Great mentors know how to provide constructive, informative, and actionable feedback that you can use to guide your development.

How a Mentor Contributes to Career Success

Mentors are confidants, coaches, and valuable sources of support for employees in the tech industry. They provide constant support and help their mentees continuously progress toward their goals.

Some experts say people with mentors are five times more likely to be promoted than their peers. In the competitive tech landscape, a mentor can contribute to your career success in the following ways:

1. Improving Goal Setting and Career Planning

Practical goal setting is crucial to progressing in your tech career. To move forward in your professional life, you must know how to set realistic short-term and long-term goals that gradually push you toward new opportunities.

Mentors can objectively examine your situation and offer advice on setting achievable goals. They can also help you overcome potential obstacles and stay motivated by reminding you to celebrate every small “win.”

Based on their experience in the tech industry, a mentor can help you identify clear priorities, career paths, and opportunities. They can offer advice on career decisions and transitions and even help you map out your five to ten-year career plan with insights into the skills and experience you’ll need to develop. Plus, mentors help to keep you accountable.

They give you someone to share your progress with regularly, which means you’re far less likely to “give up” when encountering challenges. Studies have shown that people have a 65% higher chance of reaching a goal when they have an accountability partner, like a mentor.

2. Enabling Ongoing Skill Development

Thriving in today’s fast-paced tech environment requires a constant commitment to developing new soft and hard skills. You’ll need to regularly refine critical transferrable skills like communication, collaboration, and leadership.

Plus, you’ll need to be open to building your abilities with workshops and courses relevant to your industry and changing technology trends. Working with a mentor helps you improve your skills in various ways. A mentor can offer insights into leadership styles and show you how to motivate, inspire, and coach other employees.

They can share their perspectives on your challenges and use their experiences to help you determine which skills to develop to become more “competitive” in your industry. They can also direct you towards resources for skill development, such as industry events and certification programs. Regularly meeting with a mentor will help you build emotional intelligence, active listening, and communication skills.

3. Enhancing your Brand

Personal branding has become particularly important to tech employees in recent years, particularly as employers and recruitment teams pay more attention to the “online presence” of candidates they consider recruiting for their team.

A great mentor can give you feedback on how to draw attention to your unique skills and attributes, both online and offline. Further, they can provide you with access to networking opportunities and potential new valuable connections, which can help contribute to your credibility as a tech thought leader.

Mentors can offer you a new perspective when you identify your strengths and weaknesses and develop your brand “elevator pitch”. They’ll understand what characteristics matter most to industry leaders and can guide you toward better branding decisions. Plus, they can help you overcome feelings of “imposter syndrome” by ensuring you know your strengths.

4. Boosting Resilience and Adaptability

As the tech industry changes, resilience and adaptability are becoming increasingly crucial.

A mentor can help you stay agile despite evolving challenges and develop robust problem-solving strategies. They can also aid you in nurturing a “growth mindset,” encouraging you to look at setbacks as learning opportunities and helping you find proactive ways to overcome weaknesses and skill gaps.

Moreover, a mentor can help you adapt faster to industry trends by providing access to network connections, resources, and industry insights. One report found that mentoring significantly impacts a person’s “adaptive performance” in any sector.

5. Unlocking New Opportunities

Reports suggest that up to 80% of job opportunities are never directly advertised online. While tech candidates can work with recruitment companies to access a broader range of job opportunities, mentors can also open the door to other avenues for career progression.

A mentor could introduce you to a community in your industry where you may find employees promoting job opportunities at their company. Mentors could help you to track down job fairs and other events where you can interact with potential employers.

A mentor could encourage you to participate in programs and volunteer opportunities that make you more appealing to future employers. Plus, they’ll be able to help you identify which roles are right for you based on your current priorities and long-term goals.

Making the Most of Your Mentor

A mentor can be an asset for any tech employee, but it’s important to remember that mentorship is a two-way relationship that requires dedication and commitment from both parties.

Here are our five top tips for making the most of your mentor.

1. Find the Right Mentor

As mentioned above, mentors come in many different forms. Finding the right tech mentor starts with identifying your goals and the type of expertise and support you need. Don’t restrict yourself to looking for mentors only within your existing organization. Evaluate mentors from different backgrounds and environments based on their experience, strengths, personality, and ability to deliver your needed support.

2. Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Define what you want to accomplish with your mentor early in the relationship. Let them know what you need help with, whether making career move decisions or developing new skills. Make sure you understand what your mentor expects from you. For instance, how often will they expect you to check in and update them with your progress?

3. Invest Fully in the Mentoring Relationship

Mentoring relationships can be mutually beneficial, helping the mentee and mentor grow and develop their skills. However, both parties need to commit fully to the relationship. Outline an early agreement with your tech mentor, determining how often you’ll meet and what will be expected from each interaction.

4. Be Proactive and Responsive

Come to meetings with specific questions and topics to address. Take initiative when scheduling meetings, following up, and doing your homework. When your mentor provides feedback and guidance, pay attention and take action. If your mentor sees you’re not acting on their recommendations, they’ll lose interest in the relationship, and you’ll stop making progress.

5. Measure your Progress

Pay attention to the milestones you achieve throughout the mentor relationship, and share insights with your mentor to show them how beneficial their advice is. Sharing insights into your achievements will help validate the relationship with the mentor and give them clear evidence of their leadership potential, which they can share with their own tech peers.

Remember to reassess your goals and priorities regularly. Based on your progress, your targets will likely change over time.

Take Your Career to the Next Level with a Mentor

Mentors are more than just a valuable source of support for today’s tech employees. They’re an incredible resource you can use to accelerate progress in your career, improve your skills, and unlock new opportunities for your future.

Working with a mentor in a competitive tech industry could give you the secret weapon you need to accomplish new levels of professional and personal growth.

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Explaining CV Gaps: Turning Career Transitions into Opportunities

Imagine this: you discover an incredible tech career opportunity that aligns perfectly with your goals and priorities as an employee. But, as you prepare to apply for the role, you notice a problem: a glaring gap in your CV.

Maybe you spent a year or two “unemployed” while you dealt with personal priorities, or you struggled to find a new role for a while after leaving another job. Whatever the reason for the gap, you know you will most likely have to explain it to your potential employer.

The thought of explaining a gap in your work history can be daunting. You might assume it will paint you negatively or reduce your chances of getting a job offer. However, CV gaps are more common than you think, and they need not be a red flag to employers.

What matters is how you address the gap. Here, we’ll show you how to frame career gaps positively and ensure you take advantage of valuable opportunities.

Understanding CV Gaps

A CV gap is any period in an individual’s career history where they were unemployed. If this is you, you are not alone, as McKinsey found that 62% of all employees will have a gap at some point in their professional history.

Gaps can be caused by career transitions, such as when you decide to leave an old tech role and don’t have a new opportunity lined up in advance. You might transition into a period of unemployment while pursuing personal development opportunities, taking ‘time out’ to travel the world or investing in your education.

Sometimes, CV gaps are because of family responsibilities (such as caring for children or relatives), health issues (physical or mental), and changes in priorities. For instance, you might leave a role to focus on a passion project or voluntary work.

There are plenty of instances where gaps in your career may not be something you could have predicted or prevented. Companies can close, lay off team members, and make employees redundant for various reasons, leading to unexpected career gaps.

The Importance of Transparency

Whether the gap in your tech CV was caused by something inside your control or not, explaining it to a new employer can be anxiety-evoking. This is demonstrated by up to 53% of candidates in one study saying they’d feel more confident applying for roles if they didn’t have to disclose the reasons behind their career gaps.

Remember that having a gap in your work history doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have less chance of getting the role you want. LinkedIn found that 79% of managers will happily hire candidates regardless of career gaps.

When you confidently address the reason for the gap with your prospective employer, showing how it benefited you or contributed to your personal development, you’ll seem more proactive and trustworthy to them.

Being clear and transparent about your career gap sets a positive tone for building a relationship with your employer. It shows integrity and self-awareness and allows you to control the narrative surrounding your career history.

Reframing Career Transitions as Opportunities

Many tech candidates are concerned that CV gaps would make them seem noncommittal, flaky, or unreliable. However, how a hiring manager or employer perceives a career gap depends on how you frame it.

Even if the reason for your employment gap didn’t directly contribute to your value as a candidate (like a year spent earning an unrelated certification), you could draw attention to how the gap benefited you.

Your unemployment period contributed to your adaptability and resilience, showing you how to adapt to new challenges and periods of potential uncertainty. You might have had a chance to try different interim roles, whether as a traditional employee, contractor, or volunteer, to help you uncover new insights and skills.

Think about how you can draw attention to the gap’s positive results, even if it only helped you progress through a period of self-discovery.

Crafting a Compelling CV

If you’re invited to an interview, you should have a chance to discuss your CV gap in more depth with your potential tech employer. However, to improve your chances of getting to that stage, you must structure your CV correctly.

First, think about the format. Instead of using a chronological CV that lists all of your previous experiences in order, drawing more attention to gaps, highlight the experiences most relevant to the role you’re applying for in order of importance.

Begin your CV with a strong summary or profile section that encapsulates your professional identity, spotlighting your unique characteristics and the strengths you’ll bring to the potential employer. Instead of listing previous job titles, focus on tailoring your CV to draw attention to your achievements and accomplishments over the years.

If you notice a gap in your CV is pronounced, add bullet points explaining what you did during those periods. For instance, did you spend time volunteering, doing freelance work, seeking out courses, or travelling to expand your personal growth?

Addressing Gaps in Cover Letters and Interviews

Before you’re invited to a tech interview, you can proactively use your cover letter to address a career gap. Don’t go too in-depth with your explanation in the cover letter, but briefly describe why you weren’t employed during this period, then redirect the focus back to the skills and experiences that make you suitable for the role.

When invited to an interview, prepare to provide a more in-depth explanation. Plan what you’re going to draw attention to in advance, focusing on:

• What you learned during the period: Did you develop any new specific skills or learn more about the industry, your priorities, and your strengths and weaknesses?
• Valuable experiences: What experiences did you have during the gap that contributed to your value as an employee? For instance, did you develop more resilience and grit?
• Relevance to the role: Are there any experiences you had during the gap that are particularly relevant to the role? For instance, did travelling help you better understand the priorities of different tech customers or clients?

Take note of your tone and body language while responding to interview questions about the gap. Maintain an open posture and make eye contact.

Committing to Continuous Professional Development

All the strategies above will help you frame CV gaps more positively when you’re applying for new roles. However, the best way to make explaining gaps feel less daunting is to proactively invest in constant professional development.

If you’re committed to continually improving your skills and abilities, particularly during unemployment, you’ll have a much easier time making gaps seem optimistic. During career transitions, look for ways to use your time effectively.

Take online courses and explore new certification opportunities. Learn about industry trends and experiment with the latest technology. Invest in networking and visit industry events. Consider freelance work, consulting, or voluntary tech opportunities.

In your CV or cover letter, highlight these proactive personal development strategies and explain how they enhance your value as a candidate.

Don’t Fear the CV Gap

Gaps in a CV are becoming increasingly common, particularly as tech employees pursue new priorities and explore non-linear paths to progression. Therefore, explaining periods of unemployment in your career history shouldn’t fill you with panic.

Rethink how you look at these gaps and present them to potential employers. Suppose you can frame your career gaps as periods that enabled you to improve your skills or personal growth. In that case, it helped you become a more valuable prospective employee, enhancing your chances of getting the role.

 

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

How to Overcome Self Doubt in The Job Hunting Process

Searching for the ideal tech role can be exhausting, frustrating, and mentally draining. It’s natural to begin to doubt your abilities and value over time, particularly as you deal with an increasing number of unanswered applications and rejections.

Up to 72% of job seekers say that job hunting has had a negative impact on their mental health, damaging their confidence and leading to issues of “imposter syndrome”.

Fortunately, while self-doubt is common, it’s also manageable. With a strategic approach, you can adjust your mindset, build resilience, and maintain the confidence you need to impress interviews and forge a path to success.

Here, we’ll show you how to conquer your inner critic and nurture your self-esteem, regardless of how complex and exhausting your job hunt might seem.

Understanding Self-Doubt in Job Hunting

Self-doubt is more common among tech job seekers than you might think. According to a YouGov study, most people display at least three out of seven signs of imposter syndrome. Feeling that you’re not “good” enough is particularly common when looking for a new job.

Whether you’re re-entering the workforce or moving to a new position, it’s easy to question your abilities. Many candidates compare themselves to others during the job search, exacerbating their weaknesses and overlooking their strengths.

Whether real or imagined, skill gaps and a lack of experience in certain areas can make you feel less competent or suitable for a role; at the same time, a challenging economic environment and an unpredictable job search can increase feelings of stress and fear.

Unfortunately, as your feelings of self-doubt increase, they don’t just harm your mental health; they can hinder your journey towards a new role, too. Anxiety and self-doubt during interviews can lead to self-deprecation and downplaying your achievements. You may end up under-selling yourself in your CV, cover letter, and conversations with employers.

You could even avoid applying for new roles based on your feelings of imposter syndrome. This leads to a malicious cycle of missed opportunities that feed your insecurities. Plus, you could end up accepting less than you’re worth from an employer because your imposter syndrome prevents you from participating in salary negotiations.

That’s why it’s important to recognise self-doubt early and build a framework that enhances and improves your confidence.

Building a Confidence Framework

Psychology tells us that confidence is a learned skill – just like any other ability, you can develop and improve your confidence with the proper strategic framework. Your ability to project a sense of self-belief and overcome self-doubt starts with three core things:

Self-Assessment and Brand Development

The first step to overcoming self-doubt in your tech job search is developing a clear picture of who you are as a candidate. When faced with endless unanswered applications and rejections, it’s easy to focus on your weaknesses. That’s why you need to remind yourself of your strengths.

Conduct a thorough self-assessment.

Document and list all of your past achievements, skills, and abilities. Create an “elevator pitch” outlining your values to companies. This gives you the tools to build a personal brand that attracts employers and a resource you can return to when you need to maintain your self-worth.

Mastering Mindset and Self-Care

For most people, confidence doesn’t happen naturally. They must constantly work to nurture and develop their self-assurance and confidence by adjusting their thought processes. Developing the right mindset doesn’t necessarily mean ignoring any weaknesses you might have. Instead, it means reframing them with a “growth mindset” perspective.

View yourself as someone in a process of constant development. Instead of saying, “I don’t have as much experience as my peers”, tell yourself “, I may be less experienced, but I’ve already achieved [x], and I’m constantly improving.” Positive self-affirmations and reminders of your continued growth can help silence negative thoughts.

Building Your External Support Network 

You don’t have to tackle your tech job search alone. The external network you build for yourself can open the door to more opportunities and help you overcome self-doubt. Work with professional recruitment companies and use their advice to determine which skills you should focus on and how to improve your CV or interviewing abilities.

Consider connecting with career coaches, professional counsellors, or peer support groups who can provide new perspectives when you feel overwhelmed. Find a mentor and ask them for help to eradicate self-doubt and build confidence.

Practical Confidence-Building Tools

Once you’ve built the initial framework, improve your confidence by taking additional steps to avoid self-doubt. The following practical strategies will be helpful throughout your tech job search.

Invest in a Job Search Preparation Strategy

According to the Harvard Business Review, effective preparation is one of the best ways to mitigate self-doubt during a job search. Start with a skills audit, identifying your strengths and the weaknesses you want to overcome and build a plan for self-development.

Maintain a document listing all of your success stories and accomplishments. This will give you something to reference when self-doubt begins to surface, and it will help you prepare to answer competency-based interview questions with in-depth, engaging stories.

Before applying for any tech role, research the company and its priorities so you know how to tailor your CV, cover letter, and interview answers accordingly. Practice mock interviews with friends and research salary ranges so you’re ready to negotiate the right offer.

Create a Confidence Nurturing Routine

Confidence is built over time through small actions that reinforce a positive outlook. Establish a daily routine with specific tasks dedicated to confidence-building. This could mean regularly reviewing your progress in developing new skills or practising positive affirmations.

It could involve regularly visualising success in your tech career or celebrating simple milestones, like completing a certain number of applications or landing an interview.

Nurturing confidence also means prioritising self-care. Make looking after yourself a part of your job hunt routine. Focus on finding time to relax, exercise, and connect with others to alleviate stress and avoid burnout.

Develop Grit and Resilience

Resilience is a crucial attribute for any tech candidate. Finding the right job can take time, and you may need to handle a lot of rejection along the road. The key to success is embracing a long-term perspective and remembering that setbacks are part of the journey.

Recognise every tiny piece of progress you make, whether you successfully get an interview, find new network connections, or improve your interview skills. Focus on becoming more adaptable, seeking new learning opportunities and increasing your abilities.

Additionally, develop a comprehensive strategy for dealing with setbacks and rejection. Look at every hurdle in your tech job search as a chance to learn and improve rather than simply telling yourself you weren’t “good enough”. Dedicate some time to looking after your mental health and practicing self-care, then update your job search strategy based on your knowledge.

Moving Forward with Confidence

Job hunting is difficult, particularly in a competitive tech environment. But you can’t allow imposter syndrome and self-doubt to get the best of you. Take a consistent approach to finding ways of boosting and maintaining your confidence in the face of ongoing challenges.

• Create an action plan: Develop an action plan outlining ways to boost your chances of success, such as seeking out a mentor, expanding your network, or building new skills.
• Seek out resources: Invest in personal and professional development with resources such as online courses and networking groups. Maintain a growth mindset.
• Feed your motivation: Stay motivated by celebrating every win, visualising success, and turning to your support network for new perspectives.
• Be proactive: Find proactive ways to support your job search, such as updating your LinkedIn profile, practising interviewing techniques, or working with a recruitment company.
• Document everything: Keep an up-to-date list of your strengths, weaknesses, achievements, and growth strategies.

Overcome Self-Doubt in Your Tech Job Hunt

Self-doubt is common when searching for the ideal tech role. But don’t let it hold you back. Jump into action and start building your confidence, whether that means developing relationships with valuable members of your network, building your skills, or taking stock of all your achievements so far.

Building your confidence and resilience is a process, not a single step, and each small action contributes to a greater foundation. The more you invest in developing your confidence, the easier it will be to silence your self-doubt and stay strong throughout your journey.

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Future-Proofing Your Career in Tech: Essential Skills for the Future

In the tech job market, disruption is the new norm. Economic uncertainty, the remote/hybrid work revolution, and rapid technological transformation influence how businesses operate and build their teams. The rise of AI and automation alone is beginning to cause issues for employers and tech candidates.

The World Economic Forum predicts that AI and automation will displace up to 85 million jobs and create 97 million new ones by 2025. The only way to ensure you access the best opportunities in the future is to increase your value as an employee proactively.

As you invest in your long-term health with proactive habits, you can future-proof your career by cultivating and nurturing a versatile skillset. Here’s how to take the “preventative care” approach to ensure you can adapt and thrive in the new work age.

Why Future-Proofing Matters Now 

Leading tech employees have long embraced a “growth mindset”, committing to constantly developing and expanding their abilities to adapt to market changes. This proactive approach to future-proofing your career is becoming increasingly crucial.

Employer priorities are shifting, the skills required to deliver in tech roles are evolving, and job competition is increasing as companies expand their talent acquisition strategies with remote employees. Future-proofing your skillset now means you can adapt to:

The Global Skill Shortage Crisis  

Four in five employers struggle to find the talent they need in the tech industry. Developing new in-demand skills boosts your chances of getting multiple job offers from various companies and earning the wages you deserve.

Candidates with valuable skills have more scope to negotiate salaries and request additional benefits. Your skillset will ensure you can compete with a broader range of candidates as employers embrace remote staff members to broaden their talent pool.

AI and Automation in the Workplace

Artificial intelligence and automation are reshaping every industry. Sectors from manufacturing to finance and retail are becoming increasingly automated. Even customer-facing and creative employees risk losing their roles to generative AI tools.

While the technology revolution puts some jobs at risk, it also creates new opportunities for those who can collaborate effectively with AI systems. Employees who can effectively leverage AI and automation to become more efficient can sidestep the risk of job displacement.

Economic Uncertainty  

Market volatility, ongoing industry disruptions, and the ripple effects of global events make economic stability unpredictable. Employers have less to invest in talent and are becoming more cautious about how they build and develop their teams.

Developing a broad skillset now is how you ensure you can convince employers of the return on investment they’ll get from hiring you. It can also help you adapt to new work modes, like remote working, which have emerged as a critical tool for reducing business operating costs.

Evolving Workplace Dynamics

The workplace is rapidly changing due to the rise of new technologies and new remote and hybrid working styles, cross-functional teams, and diverse office spaces. Future-proofing your skill set means developing new technical skills and building capabilities to help you communicate and collaborate more effectively in this changing space.

The soft skills you build now, from emotional intelligence to adaptability and communication skills, will help you thrive as workplaces evolve.

Creating Your Essential Skills Framework

Diversity is the key to building a future-proof skillset in the tech industry. According to McKinsey, employers will increasingly prioritise candidates with specific technical skills (such as digital literacy) plus robust soft and hybrid skills.

Identifying High-Value Technical Skills

In a technology-driven world, digital literacy and robust technical skills are becoming essential to every tech role. The ability to work seamlessly with automated tools, artificial intelligence, cloud platforms, and data will make you more valuable to your employer.

Start by focusing on digital literacy and learning more about data visualisation, interpretation, and analysis. Then, develop cybersecurity awareness with courses and workshops that cover steps to protect information in a digitally connected landscape.

Ensure you’re confident using the standard software your team in your space relies on daily, such as video conferencing, file sharing, and collaboration apps.

From there, focus on the industry-specific software you must be familiar with in the tech landscape. Every industry invests in more must-have software, from AI-driven electronic health record systems in healthcare to extended reality applications in manufacturing.

Developing Transferable Human Skills

• Adaptability: Develop a mindset focused on innovation, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Hone your ability to respond quickly and effectively to changes and commit to constant learning, self-analysis, and improvement.
• Emotional intelligence: Emotional intelligence is essential in a collaborative workplace defined by diversity. Practice developing empathy, work on conflict resolution skills, and nurture mindfulness.
• Communication: Written and verbal communication skills are essential for tech employees. Practice active listening to enhance understanding and collaboration. Show cross-cultural awareness by adapting your language when interacting with diverse team members and experimenting with different communication formats.

Building Hybrid Skills

Hybrid skills combine technical and human skills, making them incredibly valuable to various roles. Digital leadership, for instance, is an excellent example of a hybrid skill in the tech industry. It involves developing standard leadership skills related to motivation, problem-solving, and time management, focusing on digital transformation.

For instance, with strong digital leadership skills, you could guide and support remote team members and in-office staff, manage projects with digital tools, and empower virtual collaboration. Business acumen is another significant hybrid skill.

Developing business acumen is about building a deeper understanding of your role’s strategic and commercial aspects. The more you understand your company’s goals, the challenges and risks you might face as you pursue targets, and the customers you’re trying to serve, the more effective you’ll be as a tech employee.

Strategic Skill Building Tips: Shaping your Skillset

Developing a future-proof skillset in the tech industry requires thorough investigation and research, self-awareness, motivation, and creativity. Here are a few practical steps to build your development plan.

Step 1: Conduct a Thorough Self-Assessment

First, ensure you understand your current strengths and weaknesses. Conduct a skills audit, listing your current abilities (including soft and hard skills), then compare your findings with the emerging needs and trends in the tech industry.

Reading job descriptions can help you here, offering an insight into the abilities employers are prioritising in your sector. From there, ask yourself which skills you should focus on now, whether improving your performance in your current role, making yourself indispensable, or improving your ability to reach your career goals.

Step 2: Structure a Clear Learning Pathway

Once you have a clear picture of the skills and abilities you need to develop and which you should prioritise, design a “learning pathway” that maps out your future journey. Start with the short-term goals you want to achieve in the next three months, such as completing an online course that teaches you how to use a new piece of software.

Then, move on to your mid-term goals, focusing on targets that will take longer to reach, such as earning more complex certifications. Finally, outline your long-term vision, extending two to five years in the future. Imagine where you want to be at that stage in your career, and make sure your short – and mid-term strategies are leading you in the right direction.

Step 3: Identify Valuable Development Resources

With your path ahead laid out, explore the learning resources available. There are many options to explore, depending on your learning styles and needs. For some tech employees, free online courses and workshops offer a fantastic way to quickly build new abilities with minimal upfront investment.

Consider paid certifications and classes to help build your CV with approved credentials. Remember to look beyond traditional learning opportunities. Joining community forums in the tech industry or working with mentors can pave the way to excellent peer-to-peer learning.

Step 4: Track Your Progress and Adapt

Finally, ensure you have a system to track your progress. Define measurement metrics you can use to assess your skill development process objectively. For instance, monitor how much time you dedicate to your education daily or weekly.

Look for success indicators that help you mark stages in your journey, such as completing course segments or earning a certificate. Establishing feedback loops with mentors and peers can also be an excellent way to access outside perspectives you can use to measure your progress. As you continue to grow and improve, adapt your strategy, setting new, relevant goals that push you to greater heights.

Future Proofing Your Tech Career

The job market for tech candidates is complex, competitive, and increasingly uncertain. Technological advancements, changing priorities among employers, and expanding talent pools will all lead to new challenges for you to overcome in the years ahead.

Invest in the best insurance for your career’s future by taking a proactive approach to developing your skillset now. Start spending time on regular skill assessments, researching industry trends, and connecting with mentors and peers who can help you grow.

Speak to tech recruitment professionals for advice on how you can become more valuable to employers and invest in varied training and development strategies. The steps you take now will ensure you can survive the changes in the job market and thrive in the new world of work.

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Small Business, Big Impact: Creating a Compelling Employer Brand in 2025

Talent attraction and acquisition is becoming increasingly complicated in the tech industry. Skill shortages are constantly growing, and the competition for top talent is fierce.

Beyond that, with more options, employees are becoming more discerning about who they choose to work with.

Companies must do more than offer great salaries and benefits to connect with candidates and retain staff. They need to forge emotional connections with the right people. SHRM found that 86% of HR professionals agree that recruitment is becoming more like marketing today.

In today’s world, developing a strong employer brand isn’t just about differentiating your company from the competition; it’s about giving yourself the tools to reduce complexities, reduce staff turnover, and stay resilient.

What is an Employer Brand?

An employer brand encompasses the complete value and experience companies offer employees and job candidates. Essentially, your employer brand answers, “Why should someone choose to work for your company?”

Today, 76% of candidates consider a company’s reputation before applying for a role, and many employees say they would consider leaving their current role to pursue a job with a company with a stronger, more positive reputation.

Like a commercial brand, an employer brand is made up of various elements:

• Company culture and values: The working environment you offer employees and your focus on factors like innovation, collaboration, diversity, or employee growth.
• Working conditions: The factors that affect employees’ day-to-day experiences with your company, such as your approach to work-life balance and team dynamics.
• Career development: Your ability to invest in the growth and development of employees with training, mentorship, courses, and other programs.
• Compensation and benefits: The competitive packages you offer staff members include wages and other benefits, such as flexible work.
• Reputation and market position: Your reputation in the tech market is based on, for example, your DEI approach, integrity, social responsibility, or commitment to innovation.
• Employee experience: How you nurture and maintain positive experiences for employees by caring for their wellbeing and helping them achieve their goals.

Why Employer Branding Matters for Small Businesses 

According to the MRINetwork, 69% of candidates would reject a job offer from a company with a poor employer brand, even if they were unemployed. Effective branding is crucial for small tech businesses that may already struggle to stand out in a sea of larger competitors.

Investing in your employer brand can deliver benefits such as:

Greater Cost Efficiency

With tighter budgets, most small tech businesses need to be more strategic about attracting and acquiring talent. According to Harvard Business Review, a negative reputation can be enough to increase your cost per hire by 10%.

Alternatively, a well-crafted employer brand that emphasises the unique benefits and experiences your company can offer employees can significantly reduce recruitment costs. It can help you attract candidates who resonate with your customer’s message, improve the quality of your hires, and reduce recruitment mistakes.

Effective employer branding can also reduce the time it takes to convert a candidate into an employee and improve their chances of staying with your business for longer. Greater retention rates mean you spend less on constantly filling gaps in your team and training new employees.

A Stronger Competitive Advantage

89% of HR leaders agree that a strong employer brand gives them a crucial competitive advantage when attracting top talent. When fighting against larger organisations with more resources for the best candidates, an excellent brand can give you an edge.

It’s your chance to highlight what makes your company unique, such as excellent team dynamics, hands-on learning opportunities, or a focus on diversity and inclusion.

Smaller businesses have a few unique advantages when it comes to employer branding. Often, employees have more direct access to leadership, paving the way for a stronger sense of community and more transparent communications.

Additionally, smaller organisations are often more agile. They can adapt quickly to market changes and trends, implement feedback faster, and adjust their company culture and processes based on team needs without high training and development costs.

Improved Employee Engagement and Retention

A good employer brand directly impacts the experience your staff members have with your tech company. Building an attractive employer brand means investing in a supportive company culture, excellent training and development opportunities, robust feedback loops, and employee wellbeing.

All these factors lead to greater staff satisfaction when employees join your team. Additionally, because your employer brand will help you to attract candidates who share your values and vision, these team members are more likely to be invested in their role.

This can lead to higher productivity levels and reduced retention rates. Employees who appreciate and value your employer brand can even help you attract new talent through advocacy programs, positive reviews, and referrals.

Creating Your Employer Brand Strategy  

Developing a strong tech employer brand is crucial to ensuring your company can thrive in a competitive industry and access the talent it needs to grow. Here’s how you can start building a brand that connects with candidates.

1. Audit Your Current Position

First, get to know your current reputation as an employer. Conduct employee surveys and exit interviews for honest insights into your current approach’s strengths and weaknesses. Ask team members what they like and dislike about your company regularly, even if you only encourage them to send anonymous feedback.

Build on direct feedback by reading reviews on hiring platforms like Glassdoor and reviewing what current and previous staff members say about your business. It’s also worth analysing your recruitment metrics and hiring success rates. Identify how long it takes to hire an employee and how frequently turnover happens.

2. Define Your Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

Next, consider how you can encourage employees to work for your tech company. Defining your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) involves identifying the benefits, opportunities, and unique experiences you can offer employees to convince them to join your team.

Do you offer comprehensive development opportunities to staff members, with training programs and mentorship? What’s your company culture like? Does it prioritise supportive teams, diversity, equity, inclusion, flexibility, or work-life balance?

Remember to consider your compensation and benefits packages carefully, too.

• Are your wages competitive based on industry benchmarks?
• Can you add extra value to the mix through bonuses, health benefits, or flexible work?

3. Develop Your Brand Message

With a clear view of your current tech employer brand and your EVP in place, you can craft a brand message that resonates with potential employees. Consider it your “elevator pitch” describing why candidates should choose you.

Think about the tone and voice of your employer communications based on how you want to appear to potential employees. Consistency is key in choosing a friendly, casual tone or a more formal, corporate approach. This tone should align with your company’s values and overall brand identity.

Think about how you’ll share your message across platforms (your website, job sites, and even social media platforms) and enhance it with additional assets, such as team photos and videos. Remember to tailor your message to different segments of your “ideal employee group”, adjusting to suit their priorities and interests.

4. Implement and Activate

Now, it’s time to start bringing your employer brand to life. Begin by training your tech hiring managers and HR teams, giving them insights into effectively communicating your brand elements. Update your recruitment materials, such as your job descriptions and career page, to reflect the core elements of your employer brand.

Everything you use to attract and connect with candidates should remind them of the unique value they can get from working with your company. Think about how to advertise your employer brand as effectively as possible on channels like LinkedIn, professional networks, and industry forums.

Activating your existing employees to help you share insights into your employer brand with the world can be helpful, too. Encourage them to share their experiences on social media, attend recruiting events, or create content to share on your website.

5. Measuring Success

Finally, ensure you have a strategy to track the success of your tech employer brand in your recruitment efforts. Gathering feedback from employees is a suggested first step. It’s also worth looking at key metrics and KPIs, such as:

• Application rates and quality
• Cost per hire
• Time to fill positions
• Retention rates
• Employer review ratings
• Referral rates
• Social media engagement
• Employee satisfaction scores

Tracking these metrics and regularly asking your team members for insights into how you can improve your employer brand will help you strengthen your reputation over time. The more you invest in constantly refining your employer brand, the more you’ll be able to build a workplace candidates are keen to join.

Employer Branding: Quick Best Practices for 2025

There are a few additional tips and best practices to remember when developing a tech employer brand in 2025. Based on the current needs and expectations of top candidates, make sure you:

• Take a digital-first approach: Maintain an engaging online presence, use video to share insights into your workplace, and create immersive candidate experiences.
• Activate your employees: Ask employees to share real, authentic stories about their experiences with potential candidates.
• Maintain consistent communication: Listen to your employees, address their challenges, and use their feedback to improve your brand.
• Invest in employee satisfaction: Constantly look for new ways to delight your employees with training opportunities, flexible work options, and wellbeing initiatives.

In 2025, as skill shortages increase and retention rates continue to drop, building a compelling tech employer brand is more important than ever. By following the framework outlined above and leveraging the unique advantages you can offer your employees, you can boost your chances of attracting and retaining the talent you need to grow.

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Culture with Purpose: Building a Tech Workplace That Thrives by Design

In today’s tech landscape, company culture isn’t just a buzzword – it’s the foundation of long-term success. An exceptional company culture unifies, engages, and motivates teams, improving business performance and productivity.

Perhaps most importantly, the culture in your organisation dictates whether you’ll be able to attract and retain talent effectively. Skill shortages are a continuing problem; businesses can’t afford to lose top talent due to a toxic workplace. According to MIT, culture is ten times more important than compensation when predicting turnover.

When company culture significantly impacts the growth and sustainability of your tech business, you can’t afford to leave success to chance. The days of “culture by default” are gone, and organisations must ask whether they’re shaping their culture with intention and focus.

It’s time for the era of culture by design.

Understanding Culture by Design

Company culture is the heart of an organisation. It isn’t defined exclusively by unique benefits or office space perks. Culture culminates the practical and pervasive implementation of ideas, best practices, and shared values within your company.

As frameworks like the McKinsey Organizational Health Index and MIT Sloan’s scientific definition of culture outline, company culture connects all of the crucial parts of an organisation, from your business goals to your company’s inherent values and your people.

It needs to influence everything from your approach to hiring employees, developing teams, managing staff, and enabling work-life balance.

“Culture by design” intentionally shapes the behaviours, beliefs, and environment that define a workplace. Instead of allowing culture to form randomly by default, leaders deliberately craft workplace conditions to align with a tech company’s goals, vision, and needs of their people.

This involves creating specific practices, policies, and rituals that foster desired attitudes and behaviours. It’s all about building a space where employees thrive, feel valued, stay committed, and contribute to long-term success.

Though implementing culture by design can seem complex, it’s crucial for business survival. Strong company cultures reduce turnover, help attract top talent to your team, and directly impact business bottom lines. According to Bain, getting company culture right can increase EBIT growth by up to 500% and revenue by a factor of ten.

Foundation: Core Values and Vision

The heart of a strong tech company culture is defined by shared values and a clear vision. For individuals on your team to find purpose and value in their roles, they must feel they’re collectively contributing towards a shared goal and understand your company’s priorities.

The Value Definition Process

Your company’s values should guide actions, decisions, and behaviours throughout the workforce. Core values can vary depending on your business. Many companies prioritise trust, honesty, integrity, and accountability.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion also often significantly impact company values, particularly in today’s tech space.

Fortunately, some tools can help businesses define their values. The Barrett Values Centre 7-Level consciousness model explores values across various levels of consciousness, considering everything from relationships to self-esteem and internal cohesion.

Designing an Implementation Framework

Identifying values is the first step in this process, and tech companies must also comprehensively embed these values into the company culture and align them with an overall vision for success.

This can involve creating documents and policies that help to communicate values, like Netflix’s culture deck. It could also mean implementing training initiatives to reinforce values, such as programs that enhance employee cultural recognition and collaboration.

Adjusting management strategies is one of the most important steps in implementing values into a company culture. Google’s Project Oxygen found that effective leadership and collaboration on management strategies drive team success and improve team cohesion. Business leaders need to model and champion values for team members in everything they do.

Metrics and Measurement

Once values and a clear vision are embedded into the company’s operations, leaders also need a way to measure how those values impact the overall business. Tools like the “Cultural Values Assessment” can be valuable here, as they offer a way to evaluate alignment between personal values, current company culture, and the desired cultural environment.

This helps leaders understand where culture thrives in the business and where additional transformation is needed. Business leaders can also experiment with solutions like the Denison culture survey, which delivers insights into how a company’s culture supports performance and alignment with strategic growth, focusing on consistency and adaptability.

Implementation: Design Practices  

Once you’ve defined the core values and vision for your tech business and its company culture, the next step is to start implementing practices that bring your desired culture to life. Every aspect of the employee experience, from hiring to work policies and recognition strategies, needs to be aligned with the desired culture you want to achieve.

Hiring for Cultural Success

Adjusting your hiring strategy to improve and optimise company culture isn’t just about looking for tech candidates with the same characteristics as existing, successful employees. It’s about finding team members who contribute to your desired company culture.

Companies can use various methods to improve results here. Working with specialist recruitment teams to help minimise bias in hiring decisions can lead to a more diverse and inclusive culture. Experimenting with behavioural interview questions can help you identify how well candidates will respond to the situations and experiences they’ll face in a role.

Tech leaders can also embed cultural values and ideals into the candidate assessment process. For instance, HubSpot evaluates candidates based on their ability to thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment rather than focusing entirely on technical skills.

Ensuring Onboarding Excellence

A strong onboarding strategy is more than an excellent way to improve employee experiences and set team members up for success in their roles. It’s also an opportunity to define values and expectations, introduce staff to cultural norms, and rapidly embed employees into team settings.

Companies like LinkedIn and Airbnb use onboarding strategies to immerse employees in the company culture. They use storytelling and shared experiences to introduce and explain values and encourage teams to reflect on how they can contribute to the community experience in the workplace.

During an onboarding strategy, introduce teams to how you measure success. Discuss development strategies alongside long-term business and personal goals to help them connect with the team members they’ll be working with on a deeper level and ensure they can envision a long-term future with your company.

Implementing Recognition Systems

Employee recognition strategies help to keep teams engaged, reduce turnover rates, and improve productivity. More importantly, they are a valuable way to reinforce behaviours that support a positive company culture.

Think about how you share feedback with staff and manage performance. Are your teams left waiting months for a meeting or review? Can you update your strategy with regular check-ins between managers and employees to create a more agile, supportive culture?

According to Deloitte, 90% of companies that redesign performance management with a focus on regular, consistent feedback see direct improvements in engagement. Remember, small things, like a “thank you” for a positive action, can go a long way.

Managing the Remote/Hybrid Shift

Nurturing a positive culture can be complex in any tech business. For companies embracing hybrid and flexible working strategies, it can be difficult to keep teams aligned, focused on the same vision, and engaged over time.

Plan to ensure that remote and hybrid workers are as deeply ingrained into the company culture as in-office employees. Invest in regular meetings with team members and introduce new communication and collaboration tools to bridge the gaps between staff. Ensure everyone is involved in decision-making processes and business growth, regardless of location.

A commitment to transparency, constant communication, and regular team building will ensure culture can continue to thrive in a hybrid workplace.

Maintenance: Sustaining Cultural Health

Finally, creating and implementing a strong tech company culture is just the beginning. Sustaining cultural health requires ongoing effort, careful monitoring, and adaptability. Maintaining your company culture requires a few key steps:

Using Measurement Tools  

Take advantage of the measurement tools available to help you understand your company culture’s impact on your organisation. For instance, Gartner’s “Cultural Assessment Framework” helps monitor behavioural patterns and values to show whether your culture contributes to performance and innovation.

Deloitte’s culture change monitoring system makes it easy to track cultural shifts using employee surveys, performance data, and focus groups. You can even use McKinsey’s Organisational Health Index to track performance and engagement metrics.

Embracing Feedback Mechanisms

Feedback goes two ways in an effective tech business. The best way to determine how well your company culture works is to gather genuine and authentic employee insights. For instance, Microsoft regularly uses the “Employee Signals” framework to help business leaders identify trends and adjust policies to sustain morale and engagement.

Make sure it’s easy for team members to share their thoughts, whether they have recommendations for new workplace policies, concerns about current processes, or complaints to share. Host regular culture meetings, but ensure team members have a way to submit feedback anonymously, too.

Preparing for Crisis Points

New challenges emerge in the tech space every day. Political changes, economic conditions, and other factors can affect your company’s mood and culture. A strategy for dealing with sudden issues can help reduce disruption.

For instance, you could implement policies for managing employee stress and improving well-being during difficult times. You might even provide business leaders and staff training focused on adaptability, emotional resilience, and purpose-driven leadership.

Designing Culture with Intention

Your tech company’s culture is more important to your continued success than you might think. A strong culture is critical for more than just attracting and retaining talent. It ensures you can stay resilient, innovative, and strong in the face of any challenge.

Now’s the time to ensure you’re designing your company culture with intention. Stop waiting for the culture to form itself, and begin implementing a strategy that infuses clear values, a vision, and desired behaviours into every element of your workplace.

As you change your company’s culture, pay attention to the results. Track how effectively you attract and retain employees and how morale, engagement, and productivity evolve within your organisation.

Your path to an impactful company culture starts now.

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

 

 

Time for a Change? Signs You’re Working for the Wrong Tech Company

The average person spends one-third of their waking life at work. It’s little wonder that we all want to work for a company we’re passionate about in a role that works for us. Finding the right company to work with isn’t just about ensuring happiness in your tech job.

Working for the wrong company can make reaching your career goals harder, harm your motivation, and drain your energy. As employees worldwide continue to recognise just how important the “right role” is, more employees are shifting to new positions, searching for better company culture, compensation, and opportunities.

So, how do you know whether to contact a tech recruitment company for help finding your next role?

It starts with assessing your current situation and identifying how it aligns with your goals, priorities, and skills.

Step 1: Assessing Cultural Fit

There’s more to thriving in a tech role than finding a job that offers competitive compensation or allows you to use your skills effectively. Cultural fit is crucial, too. More than 88% of job seekers believe a healthy company culture is vital to their success at work.

The collective attitudes, values, and practices that guide the processes in your workplace directly impact your motivation levels and job satisfaction. Everything from a management style that doesn’t align with your work ethos to a lack of focus on inclusivity and diversity can leave you feeling stressed and unhappy at work.

If you’re unhappy in your current company, invest in learning more about the culture of the companies you’re considering joining. Read current employee reviews and social media posts, or speak to your recruitment company for extra insights.

Step 2: Aligning Personal and Company Values

Today’s tech employees want purpose and meaning from their roles. They want to work for companies that share their values, whether passionate about sustainability and innovation or believe in the benefits of work-life balance, equality, diversity and inclusion.

Working for a company that shares your values makes you more likely to be intrinsically motivated, leading to higher engagement levels and improved job performance. Plus, a role that aligns with your values can help boost your morale and make you feel happier and more loyal to the company you’re working with.

To identify your values and assess how they align with your company’s, start by reflecting on what matters most for you. Do you care about ethical practices or opportunities for growth, for instance? Consider how your employer shows the same values by investing in sustainable strategies or offering development opportunities.

Step 3: Analysing Diversity, Inclusion and Adaptations

Diversity and inclusion are becoming a priority for tech companies. Studies consistently show that diverse companies can earn 2.5 times greater cash flow per employee, and their teams are up to 35% more productive.

Unfortunately, not all organisations effectively create diverse, equitable workplaces. Many business leaders struggle to bridge the gaps between different generations and cultures in the workplace, leading to conflict and silos among teams.

Ensuring you’re working for a tech business that is adaptable, diverse, and inclusive can positively impact your career, opening the door to new learning opportunities, chances to perfect various skills, and routes for growth.

Look for signs that diversity thrives in your company, such as diverse leadership, equal opportunities for all team members and open, transparent communication. Implement strategies to contribute to workplace diversity by actively listening, engaging with colleagues from different backgrounds, and challenging your assumptions.

Step 4: Assessing Flexibility and Work-Life Balance

Up to 77% of employees say flexible working practices, such as the ability to choose when they attend an office environment, are more important to them when selecting a role than a higher salary.

However, even if flexible work is a priority for you, it’s important to look beyond whether a company offers hybrid work or four-day work weeks when choosing the right role. You’ll also need to consider how those organisations support and empower a distributed workforce.

Think about your current company’s approach to managing diverse workplaces. Do hybrid and remote workers get the same recognition and support as in-office employees?

If you’re already working remotely, how easy is it to build connections with your distributed team members and stay in tune with the company culture?

Step 5: The Search for True Job Satisfaction

As mentioned above, there’s more to being happy in a tech role than ensuring you’re paid a fair wage. If you want to feel truly fulfilled by the work you do, you need to ensure you’re working for a company that invests as much time and energy into you as you do for it.

When assessing your current company, ask yourself:

• Do you have purpose? Does your role give you a sense of purpose? Do you feel like you’re actively accomplishing something, whether making the world better or progressing towards personal goals? Or are you just watching the time tick by each day?
• Are you going somewhere? Do you feel like you’re moving forward in your role? Are there clear opportunities for promotions in the future, or do you regularly have a chance to take on new responsibilities? Does your company invest in training and development?
• Are you engaged and motivated? How motivated do you feel when you’re at work, and how often do you find yourself daydreaming about something else? Do you spend your nights dreading the sound of your alarm in the morning?

If the answer to any of those questions is “no”, there’s a good chance you’re working for the wrong tech company.

Don’t Settle for a Bad Fit

Work takes up too much of our lives for us to settle for a role with a company that doesn’t invest in our growth, happiness, and fulfilment. Staying with a tech company you’re unhappy with might seem the easiest option in the short term, but it prevents you from making positive steps forward in your career and life.

If you assess everything from your company’s culture to its focus on diversity and inclusion and find a clear misalignment, now might be the time to consider moving somewhere new.

Working with a tech recruitment company can help you find a position in a company that shares your values, offers an incredible company culture, and aligns with all your other priorities.

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Book a Call with James Shenton

Standing Out to Star Candidates: Tailoring Attractive Offers for Tech Professionals

Today’s tech hiring landscape is complicated. While new talent is always entering the market, skill shortages present significant issues to hiring managers and business leaders.

While numerous factors can influence your chances of recruitment success, from working with a recruitment company to building a strong employer brand, it’s important not to overlook the value of creating the ideal job offer.

The right offer, demonstrating the full value of working with your team to a candidate, can make or break your hiring process.

Here’s how to craft more compelling job offers in the current candidate-driven market.

The Candidate-Driven Tech Market

Over the last few years, the tech hiring market has grown increasingly candidate-driven for several reasons.

First, the needs of employers are evolving. The rise of new technologies, regulations, and requirements in the workplace has left business leaders searching for more skilled employees.

As competition continues to grow in the industry, more employers are competing for the same candidates, with many receiving multiple job offers.

Secondly, candidates are becoming more strategic in choosing where to work. With multiple options, including remote roles and development opportunities, candidates now have more freedom to select the role best suited to their priorities and needs.

These market dynamics have led to an environment where 83% of HR professionals struggle to recruit quality candidates. Crafting better job offers is just one of the ways you can boost your chances of attracting the talent you need.

How to Craft Compelling Tech Job Offers

Crafting job offers that appeal to your target candidates ensures you can improve your chances of an individual accepting a role at your company. The last thing you want is to go through all the work of interviewing candidates to have your ideal employee tell you they’ve decided to accept a better offer elsewhere.

Here’s how to craft more powerful job offers in a candidate-driven market.

1.    Research Your Target Candidates

When companies create new products and design marketing campaigns to promote those solutions, they research their target audience. This ensures they can develop solutions that appeal to the customers they want to reach. The same strategy should apply to your recruitment process.

Learning what matters most to the talented team members you want to recruit ensures you can craft the ultimate “employee value proposition” for candidates. Find out whether your ideal employees are more likely to value flexible work opportunities or unique benefits.

Look into their priorities regarding development, DEI in the workplace, and team dynamics. Surveys, interviews with existing employees, and discussions with your tech recruitment company can help you identify the needs of your candidates.

2.    Offer Competitive Compensation

While today’s tech employees value more than just a significant salary, they expect to be paid what they’re worth. This is particularly true in an environment where economic uncertainty and cost of living issues affect us all.

Use salary benchmarking to ensure you’re offering candidates the remuneration that makes sense based on the value they’ll bring to your business. Consider the additional financial benefits you can offer your employees on top of their salary.

For instance, depending on the structure of your business, you might offer access to regular bonuses, commission payouts, or profit-sharing options. Be clear about your limitations when discussing salaries with your candidates, and let them know how regularly you’ll be willing to review and negotiate their financial package.

3.    Experiment with Benefits

Even if you can’t offer your candidates a higher salary than other competing tech companies, you can still convince them you’re offering a better deal. Around 41% of employees say they’d switch to another job for better benefits, whether that’s more paid holidays, access to free wellness programs, or even equity options in the business.

Look at your compensation package holistically, and ask yourself how much you can “add” to the mix by offering retirement plans, private health insurance, and other perks.

Unique benefits, such as access to mental health support, flexible work schedules, and paid courses, can also make your business more attractive to top talent. Think carefully about the benefits that will appeal most to your target candidates, and be ready to adapt to the different priorities shown by various generations of potential employees.

4.    Prioritise Work-Life Balance

According to a report in People Management magazine, 56% of employees are willing to accept a lower salary in exchange for a better work-life balance. No matter how much your tech candidates love their role, they still want to ensure they have time to focus on their wellbeing and health.

Offering flexible work opportunities, such as remote work, flexible hours, or a four-day work week, can be an excellent way to show your candidate you’re committed to improving their work-life balance. If flexible options aren’t feasible for your company, look for alternatives.

Consider allowing employees to adjust their schedules when necessary so they can still manage other important responsibilities in their lives.

5.    Highlight Career Development and Growth Opportunities

In the tech industry, every employee has a vision for their future. When they join your team, they want evidence that you will help them achieve those goals. This is why offering extensive development and growth opportunities is crucial.

When presenting a job offer to a candidate, discuss the progression paths that might be available to them in the future and answer any questions they have about potential promotions. Tell them about the training and development opportunities you offer, whether it’s access to online courses and certifications or mentorship programs.

Ask your candidates what they want to achieve in the future with their roles, and work with them on developing a plan for success.

6.    Showcase an Incredible Company Culture

Around 88% of job seekers believe a strong culture is crucial to their career success. However, the factors that identify a strong company culture are always changing. Today, candidates are increasingly focused on diverse, inclusive, and equitable cultures where businesses support, respect, and assist people from all backgrounds.

Many tech team members also seek collaborative environments where employee cooperation and relationships are valued and championed. Look at what matters most to your target candidates, and find ways to demonstrate the value of your company culture.

For instance, you might share information about previous employee achievements on your website and social media. You could introduce potential employees to team members and allow them to share their insights into working with your company.

7.    Optimise the Candidate Experience

One of the most crucial factors to focus on when looking for ways to improve your recruitment process and acquire more talent is candidate experience. The nature of your hiring process, from how easy it is to apply for a role to how often you communicate with candidates throughout the journey, can influence the success of your offer.

When recruiting new team members, focus on delivering an excellent, intuitive, and personalised experience. Make sure you answer your candidates’ questions quickly and keep them informed throughout the decision-making process.

If you delight candidates throughout the candidate experience, you’ll forge stronger relationships, boosting the chances of people accepting your job offers.

8.    Present the Offer the Right Way

Finally, a strategic approach is important when presenting a job offer to a tech candidate. Outline all the information your candidate will need to make the right decision, discussing salary, benefits packages, responsibilities, and opportunities.

Look for ways to personalise the offer to the needs of each candidate you consider based on their specific priorities. For instance, some employees may be enticed by the opportunity for remote work, while others are more interested in the free courses you offer.

Concentrate on communicating the total value proposition of what you’re offering, providing an insight into what each candidate will get from working with your business.

Crafting irresistible job offers is crucial to ensuring you can acquire the best talent for your tech team. Simply offering the right salary isn’t enough. You need to think about everything from the individual priorities of your ideal team members to the benefits you can offer, their path for development and growth, and the candidate experience.

Working with a recruitment company will improve your chances of success. When reviewing job offers, a recruitment team can introduce you to the factors that matter most to candidates and give you ideas and strategies to improve your candidate experience.

Consider seeking professional support that will help you constantly refine and optimise your approach to recruitment.

If you’re looking for help with your recruitment strategy, get in touch by calling James Shenton Managing Partner for Technology on 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Book a Call with James Shenton