Mastering Candidate Evaluation: The Best Methods for Effective Screening in 2024

An effective strategy for candidate evaluation is crucial to ensuring you make the right decisions on who to add to your tech team. While hundreds of people might apply for a job, many companies only invite a small percentage to an interview.

The screening process is how business leaders shortlist candidates based on their skills, experience, and attributes. However, not every screening strategy is alike.

To ensure they’re not missing out on valuable talent or adding unnecessary complexity to the hiring process, companies need to analyse and implement the right screening methods for their specific needs. Here, we’ll explore some of the best ways to screen candidates this year.

CV Screening Works With Limitations

CV screening is among the most commonly used candidate evaluation methods. CVs and cover letters provide companies with a quick insight into a candidate’s experience, critical skills, and capabilities.

Unfortunately, CV screening has limitations.

If you receive hundreds of applications for a specific role, manually reading through everyone you receive takes time. Since HR teams have a lot of additional work to do each day, it’s easy to “rush through” reviews (even with the help of AI) and miss important details.

What’s more, a paper or digital document cannot provide a complete view of each candidate. It’s difficult to understand how well a candidate will fit into a company’s culture based on this method alone.

That’s why it’s so important for companies to take the right approach to screening by:

Using Technology

Leveraging technology, like automated screening tools, can help businesses or their recruitment partner rapidly sort through applications, searching for mentions of keywords or terms relevant to the job role. This can help companies quickly create short lists of candidates with the correct skills or capabilities.

Combining CV Screening with Other Methods

Companies should consider combining insights from CVs with other screening methods rather than relying exclusively on this method to find the right fit for a role. Conducting skill tests, using profiling tools, or working with a recruitment company to conduct initial phone interviews can be a great way to unlock additional insights into each candidate.

Profiling Tools for Candidate Evaluation

Profiling tools are an excellent way to dive deeper into the specific capabilities and personality traits of a potential tech candidate. Companies can use various types of profiling solutions. For instance, personality profiling tests are an excellent way to learn about candidates’ attributes and determine how well they might fit into your company’s culture.

Options like the DiSC profile can help companies determine which candidates will fit well into leadership roles. Skills tests are also extremely useful, allowing companies to validate candidates’ competencies before they invite them for an interview.

Certain tests can examine critical soft skills, such as communication and collaboration skills, resiliency, or time management capabilities. Aside from helping companies shortlist candidates faster, skills tests can even help to reduce bias in hiring decisions, ensuring companies choose staff members based on their abilities.

Video Interviews

Video interviews have become increasingly common in recent years. They offer a fantastic replacement for in-person interviews, allowing for more flexibility, eliminating the need for candidates to travel long distances and employer scheduling challenges to arrange in-person interviews.

Video interviews can also be excellent for tech candidate evaluation. They offer a fast-paced and convenient way to interact with multiple candidates, ask standardized questions, and get a feel for each applicant’s personality and communication skills.

Thanks to the rise of video conferencing and recording software, scheduling and conducting synchronous and asynchronous interviews is easier than ever today. Asynchronous video interviews can be particularly valuable for candidate evaluation, as they allow applicants to record answers to pre-set questions at a time that suits them.

Business leaders can then review these videos, compare them, and make notes throughout the process to help enhance their hiring strategies.

When conducting video interviews, it makes sense to focus on a few key things, such as making the interview process as simple as possible for candidates and asking questions that offer insights into soft and hard skills.

Leveraging AI and Automation in Hiring

Advanced technology, such as AI and automation solutions, can streamline hiring strategies and enhance the screening process. Already, many organisations use some form of automated technology to help optimise screening.

For instance, applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can help shortlist tech candidates instantly by searching for mentions of specific phrases and terms in cover letters and CVs. AI in hiring is increasingly common as companies leverage intelligent tools to analyse, and match candidates to job descriptions.

Both automation and AI in hiring processes can save companies time and effort in the screening process. However, it’s important to be cautious when relying on these tools.

Some automated solutions can disregard applications from valuable candidates simply because they haven’t used a specific keyword in their CV.

Additionally, AI systems can demonstrate bias due to limited data sets.

Additional Screening Methods to Consider

Alongside the four popular candidate evaluation methods mentioned above, some tech companies will benefit from using additional strategies for screening. For instance, in highly regulated industries, background checks are an excellent way to confirm a CV accuracy and learn more about a candidate’s history.

References are another excellent tool, allowing companies to gather insights from previous employers who can confirm a person’s skills and behavioural traits.

Best Practices for Better Candidate Evaluation

Regardless of which screening methods you choose to evaluate tech candidates, there are some best practices you should keep in mind, which we have shared here.

Use Multiple Screening Methods

Rather than relying exclusively on one screening strategy, like reviewing CVs, combine various methods for a comprehensive picture of each candidate. Consider using phone or video screening to help inform your hiring decisions.

Be Consistent

Build a comprehensive, standardised screening strategy, and use it every time you hire a new team member. A consistent approach will make it easier to assess candidates rapidly and ensure you’re making decisions fairly, with minimal bias.

Collaborate

Get multiple stakeholders involved in making hiring decisions. Ensure everyone has access to the same screening insights and data. This will help to reduce bias in hiring decisions. You can also work with tech recruitment companies, who can conduct some of the screening process for you and save you considerable time.

Remember Candidate Experience

Put the experience of the candidate first throughout the hiring journey. Ensure you provide clear assessment instructions, make it easy for candidates to attend video screening sessions, and follow up with candidates after each stage in the hiring process.

Optimise and Improve

Gather feedback from your candidates (including the people you don’t hire) for insights into how you can improve the screening process. The right feedback will help you make your hiring strategy more efficient and improve your employer brand.

Final Points To Consider

Candidate evaluation is critical. When screening potential employees, you’ll need to consider various factors, from a person’s skills to how well they’ll fit into or improve your current company culture. Leveraging the right technology and process can help you streamline your screening process, but remember that you still need to keep human beings at the heart of your process.

Working with a tech recruitment company can save significant time, effort, and money if you struggle with a time-consuming and complex screening process.

The right partner will be able to handle various aspects of the screening process for you, optimising candidate experiences and boosting your chances of making the right decisions for your 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.

Book a Call with James Shenton

Strategies to Streamline Your Tech Recruitment Process

Hiring the right people is crucial to the success of any tech company. Unfortunately, recruitment can be time-consuming, complex, and expensive in today’s skills-short environment.

If you don’t have an efficient hiring strategy, you could spend months struggling to fill the gaps in your team. Every extra day you spend finding and screening candidates contributes to additional lost opportunities and dipping morale among team members.

So, how do you make talent acquisition more efficient? Business leaders can explore a few strategies; however, the best method in the current challenging marketplace is to work with an experienced recruitment company.

The Role of Recruiters in Efficient Hiring

Working with a tech recruitment company is the best way to make your hiring process more efficient and effective. Recruiters come in many forms, from internal recruitment teams to external companies and specialised hiring experts.

More than 90% of companies rely on recruitment companies to help them access wider talent pools, overcome skill shortages, and optimise their recruitment strategies.

They deliver excellent results regarding improving talent acquisition. External recruitment teams focused on the tech industry are experts at streamlining hiring processes.

They handle various complex and time-consuming tasks, from sourcing candidates from different environments, ensuring you can build a diverse talent pool, and even giving you ways to improve the candidate experience.

The Benefits of Using Recruiters in the Hiring Process

On a broad level, working with a recruitment company doesn’t just allow you to access top talent faster. It expands your talent pool, helps you make better hiring decisions, and can elevate your employer brand, attracting more people to your team.

A recruitment company delivers:

Access to Larger Talent Pools

Recruitment companies in the tech industry spend significant time building incredible networks and databases of potential candidates. They attend industry events, connect with new candidates and help you find passive candidates, comprising around 70% of the job seekers available to companies.

Time Savings

One of the biggest benefits of working with an experienced company is that they save your company a lot of time. Recruiters deal with various stages in the hiring process, identifying the right talent for the role, searching for and screening candidates, and shortlisting potential employees based on their skills and experience. This significantly reduces the workload for your HR team and helps accelerate the decision-making process..

Expertise

Recruiters specialising in the tech industry have in-depth knowledge they can share with business leaders. They offer detailed insights into where you can find talent to fill gaps in your team and provide ways to enhance your employer brand and employee value proposition. They can help you understand what candidates want in the current market and determine which skills and characteristics you should be prioritising when making hiring decisions.

Enhanced Candidate Experience

A great candidate experience is crucial today, as an employer’s branding increasingly influences candidates. Recruiters can help enhance the candidate experience, offering ways to conduct efficient interviews and managing candidate relationships to ensure applicants remain informed throughout the hiring process.

Cost Savings

Business leaders in the tech industry often assume working with a recruitment company will be expensive. However, while recruiters charge for their services, they can save companies money in the long term by accelerating the recruitment journey and delivering better candidates.

Working with Recruiters on an Efficient Hiring Strategy

Working with a recruitment company is the best way to enhance your recruitment process, improve efficiency, and make better hiring decisions. However, there are several ways to improve your work with your tech recruitment company.

1.    Choose the Right Recruiter

The first step in ensuring you get as much value as possible is choosing the right partner to work with. The best recruitment company for your needs will have extensive experience, expertise, and a strong track record of success.

Do your research and talk to them about their approach to hiring, how they build candidate databases, their success rate and what they do to ensure you make the right hiring decisions.

2.    Know Your Requirements in Advance and ask for Their Advice

An effective tech recruitment company can offer advice on the skills and characteristics you might need to prioritise when making hiring decisions. However, have a clear idea of what your company needs in advance.

Speak to leaders throughout your company about the key skill gaps you must fill to improve your performance. Think carefully about the responsibilities your new hires will have and what competencies they’ll need to deliver results in their role.

3. Collaborate on Stronger Job Descriptions

A tech recruitment company can help to connect your company with countless candidates and talented professionals. However, you must still attract the right people to your role with effective and clear job descriptions.

A great job description should clearly outline the responsibilities assigned to your new hire the skills and attributes they need. Prioritise writing diverse, inclusive job descriptions without discriminatory or biased language, and ensure you’re drawing attention to your employee value proposition.

4.    Perfect the Screening Process

Your recruitment partner can screen candidates for you, conduct background checks, read cover letters, and assign skill tests to potential team members. Since effective screening is crucial to focus your time on the right candidates, ensure you know your recruitment team’s methods and strategies.

Provide the recruitment company with clear instructions on what to look for when reviewing applicants.

5.    Work With Recruiters on a Better Candidate Experience

Delivering an excellent candidate experience is crucial. The experience you give candidates will influence whether they accept any job offers you provide. It will impact your overall employer brand and ability to attract talent in the future.

Ask recruiters to communicate regularly with candidates throughout the hiring process. Let them know what kind of interviews you’ll be conducting so they can help candidates prepare effectively. Tell them how long it will take to decide so they can keep candidates informed after an interview has been conducted.

You can also ask your tech recruitment company to help standardise the interview process, reduce the risk of bias in your hiring decisions, and accelerate talent acquisition.

6.    Integrate Recruiters into Your Full Hiring Strategy

Finally, look for ways to embed your tech recruitment company into your overall hiring strategy. Ask for their feedback on improving the candidate experience, sourcing more candidates from diverse environments, and streamlining your interview process.

Ask them to gather feedback from candidates you can use to enhance your employer brand in the future. This will give you a pool of relevant candidates you can tap into whenever a new gap emerges in your team. However, it will require you to commit to constantly communicating with the people in your network and keep them updated on the latest developments.

Recruitment companies are experts at streamlining hiring processes, enhancing talent acquisition, and providing crucial direction and guidance to business leaders.

Investing in an efficient hiring strategy is crucial for today’s tech business leaders. The more you optimise your recruitment process, the more time and money you’ll save when building an effective team. Recruiter collaboration is the number one way to drive better recruitment results.

Common Hiring Mistakes in the Tech Industry That You Should Know About

Recruiting new employees for your tech team might seem simple enough, but the process is full of complicated challenges, particularly in the current market.

Talent shortages are everywhere, candidate expectations are evolving, and the impact of a poor hiring decision is growing, costing companies not only money but also their time and reputation.

A successful recruiting strategy requires a careful, calculated and considered approach based on understanding the challenges you’re likely to face in the quest for the ideal candidates.

In this article, we’ll cover some of the most common hiring mistakes tech companies are making this year and what you can do to overcome them.

1. Hiring Too Slow

A gap in your tech team can be extremely detrimental, leading to lost opportunities, diminished team morale, and poor productivity. Unfortunately, even though many hiring managers know this, they delay the recruiting process.

In today’s competitive landscape, where the best talent is in high demand, a sluggish hiring process can be detrimental to employers in numerous ways.

Firstly, prolonged hiring timelines can result in missed opportunities to secure skilled candidates, as talented individuals may accept offers from faster-moving competitors.

A slow hiring process can tarnish an employer’s reputation, making it appear indecisive or disorganised to potential candidates, which may deter future applicants.

Delaying hiring decisions can hinder a company’s ability to innovate and adapt to market changes, putting it at a significant disadvantage compared to its competitors.

Working with an experienced tech recruitment company and implementing a structured process can help you identify the right people for the role while reducing your chances of making the wrong decision.

Before diving into the recruitment process, ensure you have a clear plan. Determine how you will evaluate candidates (focusing on skills to reduce bias). Think about how you’ll manage the screening process and conduct interviews.

2. Neglecting The Impact of Your Employer Branding

In today’s skills-short environment, it’s more important than ever for companies to “sell themselves” to the ideal candidate. The top tech talent will likely have plenty of opportunities, and you can’t always rely only on a competitive wage to convince them to choose you.

In addition, focus on presenting yourself as the “ideal employer” with a brand that conveys your focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, supporting employee development, and nurturing an exceptional company culture.

Invest in building your employer brand in various ways. You might start with an active social media profile on LinkedIn, where you share thought leadership content, highlight your employees and demonstrate your accomplishments.

Ask your team members to contribute to your branding by sharing testimonials about their experiences with your company.

3. Relying Solely on Traditional Recruitment Channels

In a skills-short tech market, business leaders need to be more creative about how they search for candidates. Simply posting job listings on your website or a job board isn’t enough to attract the level of talent with the skills your company needs.

A logical strategy is working with experienced tech recruiters partners to tap into their network of candidates.

Many employers don’t realise that recruiters professionals are mapping the tech market for the best people daily, so you or your internal talent team don’t have to.

4. Overlooking Soft Skills and Cultural Fit

While technical skills and valuable tech qualifications are undoubtedly essential to choosing the right candidates, they’re not the only things worth considering. First, it’s more important than ever for organisations to consider the value of transferrable soft skills.

Around 93% of employers say assessing soft skills is critical to choosing the right candidate. Skills like exceptional communication and teamwork will be valuable in any role. Resiliency, agility, and adaptability are becoming increasingly crucial in a dynamic and ever-changing industry.
If you haven’t read our blog on recruiting agile employees, you can read it here.

Alongside soft skills, evaluating how each hire will fit into or contribute to your company culture is important. Employees with the same values, priorities, and principles as your existing team members will more easily migrate into their new roles. This can improve employee morale, reduce turnover and increase productivity.

Add behavioural and cultural fit assessments into your hiring process, and prioritise choosing candidates that have the right blend of hard and soft skills, and core attributes.

5. Neglecting Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are key in today’s tech landscape. Not only do employees prefer companies that demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, but prioritising these factors will also help you build a more effective team.

Diverse teams and inclusive company cultures drive greater innovation and creativity, enhance employee satisfaction, and help your businesses unlock new opportunities. Unfortunately, many tech employers struggle to nurture diversity and inclusion, thanks to unconscious bias and poorly structured hiring strategies.

Work with a recruitment company to mitigate these issues, using strategies like blind resume screening and diverse interview panels. Consider how you can appeal to a broader selection of candidates with unique benefits and support programs that support well-being. Prioritising diversity and inclusion will increase your talent pool and help you build a more creative and resilient workforce.

6. Failing to Prioritize Candidate Experience

The candidate’s experience is one of the most important factors in the hiring process, determining how likely candidates are to accept a job offer. A strong candidate experience helps to shape and augment your tech employer brand, particularly in a world where candidates regularly review companies online.

Consider how quickly your team follows up with candidates and keeps them informed throughout the hiring process. Ensuring you write clear and informative job descriptions can improve the candidate experience. Plus, creating comprehensive onboarding and training programs for new hires will help ease them into your company culture and transform them into advocates for your brand.

Overcome Common Hiring Mistakes with the Right Support

Ultimately, there are many hurdles to successfully hiring the ideal tech employee. If you want to avoid the mistakes listed above, you need a proactive approach to optimising your recruitment strategy.

All the listed strategies will help expand your talent pool, boost your chances of making the right hiring decisions, and pave the way for success.

The right recruitment company can help you enhance your employer brand, diversify your recruitment channels, screen candidates effectively, and foster diversity and inclusion. Plus, they can improve the candidate experience for every professional you interact with.

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.

Opus Resourcing recruits world-class SaaS, technology, commercial and executive talent for companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies within the UK, Europe, and the US.

Book a Call with James Shenton

Building a Dynamic SaaS Workforce: Harnessing the Potential of Agile Employees

The SaaS landscape is evolving at an incredible rate, driven by rapid digital transformation, new customer trends, and market dynamics. To grow in this space, businesses need more than an innovative mindset; they need resilient, adaptable, and agile teams.

Agility is no longer just a concept prized by software developers and technology vendors; it’s something every organisation needs to develop in their teams to ensure they can remain competitive.

Whether hiring new team members or upskilling your existing employees, here’s why you should focus on cultivating agility in the years ahead.

Let’s start with a definition.

What Are Agile SaaS Employees?

On a broad scale, agile employees can adapt rapidly to shifting and uncertain working environments. They’re resilient and positive in the face of change, proactive about resolving problems and experimenting with new processes, and committed to constant development.

In the past, agility was often associated with software development, the project management landscape, or hybrid and remote work. However, any SaaS company can build and nurture an agile team.

Developing an agile team means hiring employees and developing existing team members’ skills, focusing on strengthening a specific mindset and core characteristics. Fundamentally, agile employees in any industry are those who show high levels of:

Proactivity

Agile employees can effectively anticipate challenges and changes and explore creative solutions. They stay up-to-date with market trends, pay attention to feedback, and use their insights to foster a growth mindset.

Resilience

Agility and resilience often go hand-in-hand. To adapt rapidly to changing environments, SaaS team members need strong emotional intelligence. They need to recognise the value of change and be open to addressing new challenges.

Flexibility

Although agile employees don’t necessarily need to work in a hybrid or remote environment, they should have a flexible approach. They should be able to cope with unforeseen changes in working environments and adapt to different requirements.

Competence

Agile employees know that they need to constantly upgrade their skills and develop new competencies to thrive in a changing landscape. They commit to lifelong learning and development and take advantage of opportunities as they arise in the tech workplace.

Collaboration

Collaboration fosters exceptional agility in any workplace. When teams collaborate, share ideas, and access the same resources and data, they can quickly and creatively resolve problems. They also benefit from a higher level of psychological security, which boosts resilience.

The Many Ways Agile Employees Support SaaS Companies

So, why are agile employees so important to SaaS companies? Simply put, the world is moving at a faster pace today than ever before. In the last five years alone, organisations of every size have had to adapt to everything from new regulatory requirements to macro socioeconomic changes, new generations in the consumer market, and technology transformations.

Innovation will only continue to skyrocket, and if your employees can’t adapt to these changes with speed and professionalism, your customers and business will be the ones that suffer.

Investing in hiring and developing agile employees means SaaS businesses benefit from:

1.    Comprehensive Adaptability

Agility and adaptability are closely connected. They’re also two of the skills that analysts like McKinsey believe will be crucial to the future success of any team. In a traditional workplace, where agility isn’t prioritised, changes in customer preferences, the technologies used by your company, and your processes can lead to massive disruptions and costly change management.

However, agile employees tackle each change with speed and grace. They stay up-to-date with changing market dynamics, technological advancements, and customer preferences and constantly adapt their skills and practices based on their learning. This means they can pivot and creatively respond to challenges effectively in an ever-shifting landscape.

2.    Collaborative Innovation

One of the main characteristics of an agile SaaS employee is the ability to collaborate and work effectively as part of a team. As a leader in an agile workplace, you’ll foster a culture of cross-functional teamwork, authentic and transparent communication, and inclusion.

Breaking down the silos between teams and encouraging staff members to share diverse perspectives and experiences doesn’t just lead to faster problem-solving. It also helps to improve the adoption of new technologies and processes by keeping everyone focused on the same vision and goals.

Plus, it can catalyse, innovation and creativity within your workforce, leading to continuous improvement and regular breakthroughs.

3.    Customer Centricity

In many agile software development methods, teams rely on constant feedback from users and testers to make iterative changes to product designs. In an agile SaaS company, teams rely on the insights they gather from consumers to adapt their approach to product development, customer success, and buyer retention.

Agile employees prioritise customer needs and feedback and constantly stay closely attuned to market trends to enhance your brand’s reputation. McKinsey’s agility study found that agile workforce transformations significantly improve operational performance and customer satisfaction.

4.    Efficiency and Effectiveness

Efficiency is a priority for many SaaS organisations, particularly as an uncertain economy pushes companies to attempt to accomplish more with less. Agile employees are masters of efficiency. They constantly look for ways to streamline workflows, eliminate waste, and improve resource utilisation.

What’s more, because they’re open to embracing new technologies to boost their performance, such as AI and automation, they can often achieve new levels of productivity much faster. The agile employees’ focus on constantly improving their performance ensures your company can reduce time-to-market, enhance return on investment, and reduce operational costs.

5.    Resilience and Improved Talent Retention

Resilient employees are crucial in an era of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Today’s tech companies are constantly struggling to retain team members in an age of talent shortages and rapid employee burnout. Nurturing agile employees can help you create the resilience you need in your team to overcome these challenges.

Employees who can adapt quickly to new challenges, shift into new working styles, and easily embrace new roles and responsibilities give your company greater strength.

In today’s evolving SaaS landscape, the value of agility can’t be understated. The success of your organisation the satisfaction of your customers, the engagement of your employees, and even your ability to remain competitive hinges on agility.

You can stay strong in the face of endless challenges by hiring agile employees and nurturing a culture that values collaboration, adaptability, and innovation.

Working with a tech recruitment company can help you identify the candidates most likely to support and augment your agile team. With the right recruitment agency, you can build a diverse workforce brimming with people who show high levels of resilience and adaptability.

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.

Opus Resourcing recruits world-class SaaS, technology, commercial and executive talent for companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies within the UK, Europe, and the US.

Book a Call with James Shenton

How To Make Your SME Attractive for Tech Candidates

In a skills-short tech landscape, attracting standout talent is challenging for every organisation. Unfortunately, it can be particularly hard for small to mid-sized businesses and enterprises SME.

Not only do these companies lack the same resources as larger, more established businesses, but they can also struggle to capture the attention of candidates keen to work with industry giants.

According to data shared by several industry bodies across the globe, over 80% of businesses with fewer than 50 staff members struggle to fill open positions. By contrast, 67% of large companies are experiencing the same issue.

Fortunately, the right strategies can still help smaller companies stand out and appeal to exceptional candidates in the tech industry. Here are several ways to give your SME an edge.

1.   Define and Demonstrate Your Company’s Culture

Tech candidates are no longer influenced exclusively by salary and benefits. Driven by a desire for meaningful work, empathetic employers, and exceptional work-life balance, candidates focus more on company culture to help them identify the ideal role.

Identifying the core components of an excellent company culture and showcasing how this translates in job descriptions, websites, and interviews will help enhance talent acquisition. In today’s tech space, an excellent company culture should include:

• A clear vision: Companies with a clear vision or mission benefit from a more aligned, collaborative company culture. They also attract candidates searching for meaning and purpose in their tech roles. Show your candidates how you commit to improving your community, industry, or world.
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion: A strong “DEI” initiative is now essential to attracting a broad range of talented professionals to your team. Demonstrate how you treat every employee with fairness and respect, ensuring every team member is valued and fully integrated into the dynamics of your workplace.
• A commitment to employee wellbeing: Candidates want to see evidence that you respect their need for work-life balance. Highlight how you enable flexible working options for team members, promote wellness by encouraging team members to take time off, and contribute to reducing burnout and stress among employees.

2.   Offer Competitive Compensations and Benefits

Though 58% of employees now say they’re more attracted to other factors, such as career development opportunities and job security than excellent remuneration, a competitive salary and benefits will still boost your chances of attracting the talent you want.

Depending on the size and financial health of your tech business, you may be unable to match the compensation packages bigger companies offer. However, it’s still important to conduct regular salary benchmarking assessments to ensure you’re offering staff a fair wage.

If your compensation package is on the lower end of the scale for the role you’re trying to fill, look for ways to enhance the appeal of your role with unique benefits. Consider offering team members performance-based incentives to encourage ongoing motivation. Look at opportunities for flexible work arrangements, such as hybrid work or four-day work weeks and more holidays.

It’s also worth committing to regular wage reviews to improve your chances of retaining staff and maintaining their loyalty.

3.   Emphasise Opportunities for Growth and Development

Career advancement is a priority for many tech candidates. This is particularly true now that the workplace is growing more dynamic, and the demand for diverse skill sets and digital literacy is evolving.

Showing candidates they can learn and grow in your organisation, with training solutions for hard and soft skills, will help expand your talent pool. Consider experimenting with training and mentorship programs, highlighting career progression programs in interviews and job descriptions, and sharing employee achievements on your website.

Investing in a strong approach to learning and development opportunities helps attract candidates to your team. It builds resilience in your workplace, ensuring your company can constantly adapt to changing tech dynamics. Plus, development opportunities can improve retention. As a recent article on LinkedIn shared, 94% of employees say they’d stay with a company longer if it invests in their professional growth and development.

4.   Build an Incredible Employer Brand

In today’s digital world, tech candidates have more opportunities to review and assess the “brands” of their employers than ever before. Up to 88% of candidates say they examine employer branding when deciding whether to apply for a role.

Building an effective employer brand means finding ways to draw attention to the unique aspects of your business that should make it appealing to candidates. Always promote your employee value proposition (EVP), highlighting learning opportunities, compensation packages, and company culture on every platform.

Don’t only create a powerful “About Us” page and share stories from employees on your website. Give your team members a voice on social media. Share videos of team-building events and regularly draw attention to your organisation/organization’s latest accomplishments.

5.   Improve the Recruitment Process

Candidate experience is another crucial factor influencing how easily SME tech companies can attract talent. The more complex or frustrating it is for employees to get a role within your business, the more likely they will avoid you. Remember, candidates who have a bad experience can easily share their insights on social media and online forums, harming your brand.

Assess your recruitment process carefully, looking for ways to reduce friction and frustration for candidates. Consider how easy it is for potential employees to find information about your company, fill out application forms, and take screening tests.

Consider updating how you interview candidates offering remote and video interviews to reduce the need for travel. Additionally, think carefully about how you follow up with candidates during the hiring process. Regular communication can improve a candidate’s perception of your brand. Even if you don’t hire every candidate you meet, leaving them with a positive impression of your brand means they’ll be more likely to join your talent pool.

6.   Work with an Experienced Tech Recruitment Company

While there are various ways you can make your tech SME more appealing to talented candidates, working with an experienced recruitment company is the best way to increase your reach and reduce talent gaps.

An experienced recruitment company will allow you to tap into talent pools you wouldn’t otherwise be able to access. They can leverage their existing networks to fill your pipeline with relevant passive and active candidates ideally suited to your role.

Moreover, their knowledge of the industry and candidate priorities will help you define the best way to capture the attention of talented professionals with the right benefits and rewards. Your partner can even help you refine processes like writing job descriptions, promoting your employer brand, and streamlining interviews.

Finding valuable talent in a skills-short tech environment can be complicated for any company, but it’s particularly challenging for smaller businesses with limited resources. The strategies above will ensure you can expand the reach of your employer brand, connect with more relevant candidates, and increase your chances of filling talent gaps.

Plus, working with a recruitment company will help you further build on these methods, ensuring you can position yourself as the “employer of choice” for the right talent, regardless of your company’s size.

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.

Opus Resourcing recruits world-class SaaS, technology, commercial and executive talent for companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies within the UK, Europe, and the US.

Easy Ways Managers Miss-Motivate Teams: Avoid These Pitfalls

Motivation is the lifeblood of a successful tech team. Motivated employees are more productive, engaged, and creative than their counterparts. They’re also more likely to stay with your business and adapt rapidly to changing workplace dynamics.

That’s crucial when the tech industry is navigating constant evolution and growing skill shortages. Unfortunately, motivation can be difficult to cultivate and preserve. Even the most committed team members can lose their drive and enthusiasm over time.

The good news is there are ways to nurture motivation in your workforce. Here, we’ll examine some of the easiest but frequently overlooked ways you can reinvigorate your team.

1.   Unify Your Team Around a Shared Vision and Goals

A person’s motivation is largely affected by their sense of purpose in the workplace. It’s hard to feel enthusiastic about a role and the tasks you complete each day if you don’t know what you’re working towards or how your efforts are paying off.

Unfortunately, many business leaders and managers in the tech industry fail to share their vision with their team. Simply helping your employees understand their purpose in the workplace, what their targets should be, and why their work is important makes a huge difference.

Based on your knowledge of your company’s goals, set clear, realistic, and measurable goals for your team members, and help them understand how their targets align with your organisation’s “bigger picture”.

2.   Cultivate a Culture of Appreciation with Regular Recognition

A Nectar study found that 83.6% of participants believe regular recognition directly impacts how motivated they feel at work. Praising your tech employees’ efforts and celebrating achievements helps reinforce good behaviours in the workplace and keeps teams pushing towards new targets.

There are plenty of ways to reward your team members, from giving them additional paid time off, financial bonuses, or flexible work opportunities. However, expressing genuine gratitude with a personalised message or comment can make a huge difference.

Additionally, when giving positive feedback, it’s worth explaining exactly what you’re commending your employee for. Don’t just tell your team members they’ve done a “good job”; tell them you appreciate their creativity, intuition, or adaptability.

3.   Provide Opportunities for Growth and Development

Tech employees are more likely to feel motivated if they see they’re making genuine progress in their careers. Prioritising your team’s development doesn’t just help them become more efficient and productive in their roles; it also improves their job satisfaction.

It also shows your team members that you believe in their potential and see a future for them within your business. Provide your staff members with various ways to improve soft and hard skills through training, mentorship, and online courses.

Try to tailor these development opportunities to each employee’s professional goals and aspirations, as well as the needs of your business. This will boost motivation and ensure your tech company can benefit from a more skilled, adaptive workforce.

4.   Build an Inclusive, Collaborative Environment

A supportive, collaborative, and inclusive company culture is crucial for success in the tech landscape. A recent study by Forbes revealed that companies with robust cultures have up to 72% more engaged employees, and engagement is closely linked with motivation.

First, focus on building an inclusive environment where every team member feels respected and valued by their managers and colleagues. Next, ensure you’re constantly strengthening the bonds between your team members with cross-departmental collaborative work, team-building activities, and regular meetings.

Encourage staff members to get to know each other and praise employees who empower and elevate their colleagues. When hiring new team members, consider how they’ll contribute to the company culture you’re trying to build.

5.   Create a Feedback Loop

We’ve already mentioned the importance of sharing positive feedback with your [sector] team, but all feedback forms are valuable for growth. Constructive feedback, even when addressing an error or mistake, directs your team members.

It shows them that you believe in their ability to improve and inspires employees to keep progressing with a growth mindset. Crucially, however, feedback shouldn’t be one-way.

Opening yourself up to feedback from your team is also important. When team members can freely share their thoughts and opinions, they feel more invested in the company. Additionally, showing your staff you value their input shows trust and respect, improving team morale.

6.   Promote Work-Life Balance and Wellbeing

Burnout and stress harm employee motivation and engagement. Unfortunately, in today’s fast-paced tech workplace, it’s easy to overlook the importance of employee wellbeing. Creating an environment that promotes good mental and physical health reduces the risk of burnout and shows your team members you care about them.

Consider offering access to flexible work schedules to ensure your team members can balance their work with their personal responsibilities. Encourage teams to make the most of their time outside the office and allow them to “disconnect” from the workplace by turning off notifications.

You could even look into implementing wellness programs, giving employees access to discounted therapy sessions, gym memberships and healthy food. The happier and healthier your teams are, the more motivated they’re likely to be.

7.   Empower Through Autonomy

In the competitive tech landscape, it can be difficult for managers to let go and give their employees independence. However, micromanagement stifles creativity, demotivates employees and even increases turnover. Up to 69% of people say they’ve considered leaving their role after being constantly micromanaged.

Show your employees you trust them by giving them the freedom to complete tasks in their own way and make their own decisions. If you need to monitor the progress of a project, arrange an end-of-week meeting where you can discuss things with your team and plan the next steps.

You can even improve autonomy by clarifying how often you expect your team members to check in and provide updates at the start of a project.

8.   Embrace Frequent and Open Communication

Communication also has a direct impact on how motivated your employees feel. The more your team members can connect and share information with their colleagues and supervisors, the more clarity they’ll have on their goals and targets.

Additionally, creating an environment of open communication, where everyone is encouraged to share insights, feedback, and ideas, nurtures creativity. Committing to constant and transparent communication with your tech team is also beneficial.

Regularly keeping employees up-to-date about project changes or important things happening in the organisation makes them more likely to trust their managers. It’s hard to feel motivated when you don’t know whether you’re being kept out of the loop.

Finally

Consistent motivation is crucial to success in any industry. However, nurturing high motivation levels in your tech team requires more than a commitment to setting goals and occasionally distributing rewards. By implementing the strategies outlined above, you can boost your chances of keeping your staff members motivated and engaged.

What’s more, you’ll benefit from a stronger, more attractive company culture that helps reduce talent turnover and attract new employees.

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.

Opus Resourcing recruits world-class SaaS, technology, commercial and executive talent for companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies within the UK, Europe, and the US.

Book a Call with James Shenton

The hiring process has evolved in the competitive tech recruitment landscape. Candidates now have more options when deciding which companies to work with and which roles to pursue.

Their expectations for employers are higher than ever, and business leaders need to work to ensure they’re constantly enhancing their employer brands and attracting the right talent.

Delivering an excellent candidate experience is the key to improving your chances of skilled professionals accepting your job offers. What’s more, it directly impacts your reputation as an employer, influencing who you’ll attract to roles in the future.

Plus, it can pave the way for a successful introduction to your company’s culture and values for your employees.

With 58% of candidates turning down job offers based entirely on poor candidate experience, learning how to optimise interactions with candidates is more important than ever.

Here’s how you can enhance the candidate experience in 2024.

Understanding the Current Hiring Landscape

Candidate experience has become a valuable differentiator for talent-short tech employers. Almost 73% of organisations agree that a great candidate experience is critical to the success of their hiring strategy. Yet only 17% of employers measure candidate experience at every available opportunity.

Though strong candidate experiences have always impacted recruitment success, they’ve grown increasingly crucial in 2024. In the tech space, a significant deficit in skilled workers leads to competition for talent among employers.

A candidate experience boosts your chances of attracting key people to your company by enhancing your employer brand. Plus, it can help to ensure candidates refer other talent to your team.

Alternatively, in a candidate-driven market, a poor candidate experience increases the chances that your job offers will be rejected. It can also reduce your talent pool, dissuading candidates from applying for other roles in the future.

Leveraging AI Without Compromising Human Touch

One of the reasons delivering a consistently strong candidate experience is so difficult is that the recruitment landscape is constantly changing. New technologies, like AI-powered tools and automated software, have emerged in recent years to streamline processes and enhance efficiency.

Around 44% of recruiters believe that AI helps them save time in the hiring process. In some cases, these tools can even reduce bias in tech candidate selection by assessing applications based on skills rather than characteristics or attributes.

AI-powered and automated tools can help source and screen candidates who fit well for job opportunities and reduce hiring time. Still, it also has limitations as it overlooks candidates with unique talents and attributes and is trained to search for applications that fit specific criteria.

Striking a Balance Between AI and the Human Touch

While AI and automation can significantly enhance the recruitment process, it’s important to recognise its limitations. You can reduce the chances of losing talented candidates due to issues with AI by:

• Working with a recruitment company: A specialist tech recruitment company can review candidate applications alongside your AI and automated tools. This creates an opportunity to pinpoint valuable candidates missed by your technology. A recruitment company offers expertise and insights based on their knowledge of the trends and dynamics of the current market.
• Interact with each candidate: Automated responses sent to candidates thanking them for their application can help streamline recruitment processes and maintain ongoing communication. However, not every discussion can be automated. Ensure you acknowledge and interact with each candidate individually.
• Review your tools carefully: Assess the outcomes of your AI-powered hiring strategies carefully. Review regularly to see if important candidates are being missed during the filtering process due to issues with your model’s review methods.

Emphasising Professionalism and Clarity

Improving candidate experience in the tech landscape often involves enhancing the application process demonstrating consistent professionalism and clarity. The key to success is setting clear expectations from day one and simplifying the application process.

Up to 60% of candidates have stopped applying for a role halfway through the process due to its complexity or length. With this in mind:

Write Clear Job Descriptions

Clear, concise job descriptions highlighting the key skills your tech candidates need are crucial. Avoid using industry jargon and complex terms, even if you believe your candidates will be familiar with them. Work with a tech recruitment company to ensure you’re leveraging the right language and removing any terms that might be seen as biased towards a group of candidates.

When crafting your job descriptions, focus on must-have skills and attributes for candidates rather than nice-to-have skills and qualities. Additionally, ensure your job descriptions are structured to be easy to read, with clear sub-headings and bullet points.

Demonstrate Professionalism In Communication

Every interaction with your candidates should reflect your company’s values and commitment to showing respect, inclusivity, and transparency. From the initial message you send to candidates thanking them for their application to when you send a rejection email or job offer, ensure your communication is clear and professional.

Refer to your candidate by name, and be clear about the next steps in the hiring process. Explain what’s happening at each review stage, and provide clear timelines to show tech candidates how long they can expect to wait for the next update.

Setting Expectations

Clarity is crucial throughout the hiring process. When a candidate chooses to apply for your role, clearly outline your hiring process to them, letting them know what kind of interviews they may need to attend or tests they may be asked to do.

Highlight how you’ll evaluate each candidate clearly and define how long they’ll need to wait for an update on their application’s outcome. Clarifying the hiring processes and timelines will enhance your candidate’s perception of your brand.

Candidates notified regularly of application outcomes are 3.5 times more likely to re-apply for another position with the same company.

The Importance of Feedback and Communication

While numerous factors can influence your candidate’s experience, few things are more important to your tech employer brand than consistent communication and feedback. Currently, 65% of candidates say they never receive an update on their application.

Whether your candidates successfully apply for a role or not, provide them with clear and constructive feedback. This demonstrates respect for your candidates’ time and effort in the application process. Plus, positive feedback can help candidates understand your company’s values and prepare them for success within your organisation.

Negative feedback could also assist a candidate in improving their chances of getting the right tech role in future, whether with your company or another business. This improves their perception of your employer brand.

Remember to source feedback from candidates, too. The insights they can provide into the experience they received throughout the application and interviewing process can help you optimise candidate experience in future.

Optimise the Candidate Experience

In a talent-scarce tech landscape, delivering an excellent candidate experience has never been more important. Embracing professionalism throughout the hiring process, demonstrating a commitment to transparency and clarity, and connecting with candidates on a human level will boost your chances of attracting and retaining the right talent.

Happy candidates are up to 38% more likely to accept your job offers. If you’re struggling to make the most of your candidate experience, working with a tech recruitment company is the easiest option.

They can offer insights into what your candidates are looking for and give you tips that help you excel at everything from writing job descriptions to screening candidates and conducting interviews.

 

Effective Recruitment Models for Tech Companies

Recruiting has always been a complex process, affected by changes in candidate preferences, evolving technology, and market dynamics.

Choosing the right recruitment process for your tech organisation can be complex. That’s particularly true with growing skill shortages, evolving AI applications, and changing working styles, like hybrid and remote work.

However, the ideal recruitment strategy is crucial to attracting and retaining talent and cultivating a thriving workforce.

So, how do you define the process that’s right for you? Here, we’ll guide you through the pros and cons of different recruiting strategies and the steps you’ll need to take to boost your chances of hiring success.

The Groundwork: Preparing for Your Recruiting Campaign

Though access to talent is growing in some areas, particularly for tech companies who offer remote working options, we’re still in a skills-short market. In the past 6 years, according to data from Statistica, the global research company over half of all organisations have suffered from severe skill shortages.

The UK, the US, and Australia face consistent difficulties filling skilled roles. To give yourself the best chance of attracting talent, you need two core things: an excellent employer brand and a fantastic candidate experience.

Let’s start by looking at your employer brand.

Building a Strong Employer Brand

Today, according to some recent data from LinkedIn, 88% of candidates consider a tech company’s employer brand when applying for a role. A powerful employer brand is what tells candidates why they should work with your company. It highlights your unique benefits, draws attention to your company culture, and helps you and your recruitment company  “market” your company.

A stronger employer brand helps you attract high-performing talent by highlighting the positive aspects of your company culture. If you deliver exceptional benefits, promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, and invest in developing your team, they will also likely stick with your company.

To make the most of your employer brand:

• Identify what candidates want: Find out what tech candidates are looking for in your industry. Flexible working options are extremely popular, whether they include hybrid work options or flexible schedules. Consider giving your teams more freedom over their workday and exploring various unique benefits.
• Create a compelling company culture: Highlight the unique culture of your company. Draw attention to how you promote professional growth with training and development. Showcase your efforts to support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and ensure every team member feels comfortable within the workplace.
• Promote your brand: Make it easy for tech candidates to understand your employer’s value proposition. Draw attention to your employees and their success stories on your website. Share insights on your social media pages, and advertise the benefits you can offer on job descriptions.

Optimizing the Candidate Experience

Regardless of which recruitment process you choose for your tech company, your focus should always be on delivering an excellent candidate experience. Improving the candidate experience doesn’t just make candidates more likely to accept your job offers.

It’s also a good way to enhance your employer brand and make you more appealing to future candidates. Focus on things like:

• Simplifying the application process: More than 70% of candidates say they won’t submit a job application if it takes more than 15 minutes. Make the process simpler by allowing customers to sync their LinkedIn profiles or upload CVs instantly.
• Communicating transparently with candidates: Give your candidates a clear view of where they are in the application process by communicating with them regularly. Let them know when you’ve received their application and when you’re reviewing it.
• Requesting feedback: Ask successful and unsuccessful candidates to share insights into what they liked and disliked about the candidate experience. This will help you to identify areas where you might need to improve.

Choosing Your Tech Recruitment Process

Once you have a strong employer brand and an insight into your candidate experience, it’s time to choose your recruitment strategy. There are a few options for tech companies to consider, all with their pros and cons.

The most common options include:

• Recruitment companies: Working with a recruitment company to outsource your hiring process to a team of dedicated and experienced professionals.
• DIY Recruitment: Use your own time and that of your team to help with the recruitment process. This would include advertising, CV, screening, initial interviews, writing Job descriptions, etc.
• Internal Talent Team: Recruit an internal talent acquisition team who may still work with an external recruiter to focus exclusively on recruitment and ensure your hiring strategies align with your business goals.

Let’s explore the pros and cons of each option.

DIY Recruitment: The Pros and Cons

Smaller businesses and those with limited budgets often rely heavily on DIY recruitment. They assume the easiest way to reduce the costs of recruiting is to use the resources they already have. However, there are downsides to a DIY strategy.

Pros:

• Cost savings: Tech DIY recruitment removes the need to hire additional employees for recruitment purposes or pay a recruitment company, making it a more budget-friendly option for smaller organisations.
• In-house control: Since you’re handling everything yourself, you get complete control over the recruitment process, from how you’ll source talent to where you’ll search for candidates and even the candidate experience.
• Direct communication: In a DIY strategy, you’ll communicate directly with candidates, which can give you a better insight into their competencies and skills, improving hiring decisions.

Cons:

• Time-consuming: Managing the whole recruitment process internally can be time-consuming and complex. There’s a lot of work to do to source, filter through, and interview candidates. You could even lose money if crucial members of your team are spending more time on recruiting than on their technological tasks.
• Limited reach: The chances are that your internal team members won’t have access to the same extensive talent networks and specialists’ resources. This could limit your ability to tap into different tech talent pools.
• Lacking expertise: The people you choose to be responsible for your recruiting process might not have any expertise in recruitment. They may not know how to write great job descriptions, conduct effective interviews, or connect with new talent sources.

Internal Talent Team: Pros and Cons

Using an internal team involves hiring HR professionals with expertise in the recruitment world to work within your tech company. This gives you a similar level of control to DIY recruitment and access to some of the specialist skills you might be missing.

Pros:

• Dedicated expertise: An internal talent team brings specialist knowledge, experience, and insights to your recruitment process. They’re focused exclusively on hiring for your business and don’t have to direct their attention anywhere else.
• Alignment: Internal teams will better understand your tech company culture and employee value proposition because they’re constantly exposed to it. This can make it easier for them to find the right talent for your team.
• Consistent access: Building an internal talent team means you’ll have long-term access to the recruitment professionals you need. They can help build a consistent recruitment strategy that grows with your company.

However, there are issues with this approach, too.

Cons:

• Resource intensive: Establishing and maintaining your internal talent team will require significant investment. You’ll need to hire HR professionals, train them on your recruitment strategies, and pay their salaries long-term.
• Limited perspectives: Because your internal team only works with your tech company, they may have a restricted view of the trends and patterns in the wider industry. They could be susceptible to biases and blind spots that make it harder to hire a diverse team.
• Scalability: With internal teams, you may have periods when you don’t need to hire anyone and must rapidly increase your recruitment strategy. Scaling up and down to meet those changes can be complicated.

Recruitment Company: Pros and Cons

Overall, working with a specialist tech recruitment company is currently the best way to ensure you get the talent and support you need. That’s one of the reasons up to 90% of companies use professional recruitment agencies.

While there are downsides, the benefits of working with a company can save you time and money in the long term and improve your chances of making the right hiring decisions. 

Pros:

• Access to Expertise: Recruitment companies offer access to specialist knowledge of your industry, the talent market, and the recruitment landscape. They have pre-built networks to help with talent sourcing and can dedicate resources to help you with everything from interviewing to writing more effective job descriptions.
• Expanded Reach: Agencies spend years developing extensive candidate databases and industry connections. They can help you source active talent and passive candidates ready to explore new opportunities. They can also position your employer brand perfectly in front of candidates, boosting your chances of attracting the right people to build your team.
• Time efficiency: Outsourcing recruitment to an agency frees up your tech company’s internal resources, so you can focus on growing your company and profits. They’ll handle the tough parts of the recruitment process, saving you significant long-term money. They can even fill talent gaps faster than an internal or DIY team.

On top of all this, recruitment companies can help you identify trends that will improve your employer branding, enhance your candidate experience, and assist you with factors like writing job descriptions and conducting interviews. They can give you the expertise and insight you need to build a future talent pipeline.

Building the Ideal Recruitment Process

An effective tech recruitment process is crucial to ensuring you can develop a thriving workforce for your company. While all businesses need a strong employer brand and an excellent candidate process, various ways to approach your recruitment strategy exist.

Overall, however, working with a tech recruitment agency is the best way to improve your chances of achieving your recruitment goals. Their expertise, support, and reach will give you a critical edge in a skills-short market.

Opus Resourcing recruits world-class SaaS, technology, commercial and executive talent for companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies within the UK, Europe, and the US.

For more information get in touch with us at, 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Improving Poor Performance in the Tech Industry: Strategies and Tips

Improving poor employee performance in tech isn’t simple, but countless business leaders must handle it regularly.

Employee performance issues emerge for various reasons. Stress and anxiety caused by problematic company cultures or external factors like economic distress, personal problems at home and a lack of skills or motivation can lead to issues with productivity and engagement.

Poor management abilities in a tech business can cause inefficiencies and problems for employees.

A lack of purpose, direction, and ongoing support can impair a team member’s ability to deliver consistent results.

Fortunately, there are ways to manage and improve poor performance issues in tech. Here’s how you can empathetically and effectively manage and improve performance problems as a tech leader.

Understanding the Root Causes of Poor Performance

The first step to improving poor performance in the tech workforce is understanding what’s causing the issue. Underperformance can appear in various forms, from employees who fail to meet deadlines or turn up to work on time to those who have a negative, sometimes toxic attitude that impacts the morale of other staff members.

Diagnosing the issues resulting in decreased productivity and inefficiencies ensures you can implement the right strategies to fix the problem.

Some of the most common root causes of poor performance include:

• Inefficient processes or systems: Up to 42% of HR professionals say poor systems and processes cause problematic productivity. If your employees don’t have access to the right technologies, standard operating procedures, and guidelines, they’re more likely to make mistakes.
• Personal issues: Work and life aren’t entirely disconnected. Personal stress, medical problems, and family and relationship issues can affect productivity.
• Burnout: As tech roles become more demanding, burnout is becoming increasingly common. Employees overwhelmed by unrealistic schedules and limited support can quickly lose motivation and find it difficult to deliver results for their employer.
• Company culture: A problematic company culture caused by poor leadership, limited support or collaboration, and even conflict between coworkers can harm employee performance.Alternatively, a strong company culture empowers staff members to thrive in a diverse, inclusive, and friendly environment.
• Skill Gaps: According to this report from Gartner, 70% of employees think they haven’t mastered the skills they need to thrive in their careers. Gaps in hard and soft skills make it impossible for employees to unlock their true potential and increase the risk of burnout.
• Demotivation: Sometimes, employees don’t feel motivated enough to perform well at work. They can’t see the purpose or impact of their work, and their responsibilities are unclear, making it difficult for them to excel.

Addressing Poor Performance: The Step-by-Step Guide

Once you’ve explored the common root causes of performance issues in your tech business, the next step is implementing a holistic strategy for overcoming the issue, which requires more than just a commitment to training people.

Business leaders must combine effective communication, clear development plans, and a strong company culture to achieve results.

Step 1: Implementing Effective Communication Strategies

Exceptional communication is a crucial cornerstone of any successful business. Unfortunately, many companies struggle to communicate consistently and effectively with their teams.

The problem begins with ensuring team members know their roles, responsibilities, and company expectations.

To address this issue, leaders need to ensure that team members are clear on their tasks and responsibilities and how what they do contributes to the company’s broader goals and the purpose they serve. This helps to pave the way for exceptional performance.

Beyond setting clear expectations, business leaders must ensure clear and honest communication is consistent in the workplace culture.

Robust communication strategies can help managers and supervisors identify the root cause of performance problems more effectively and work with team members to find resolutions collaboratively.

Ensure you have a strategy in place for:

• Consistently delivering performance reviews: Don’t just tell your employees what they need to improve or what they excel at once a year.Ensure you’re regularly sharing feedback, both motivational and developmental.Motivational feedback highlights what a team member is doing well and encourages them to continue to operate in this way.Developmental feedback is required when someone isn’t quite meeting expectations, and you want to draw their attention to the impact of how they are currently operating and what you want them to do instead.Active listening and empathy: Demonstrating empathy for your employees and actively listening to their issues helps to forge stronger relationships between team members, managers and the company.

  It also means your team members are more likely to inform you if they’re concerned about burnout or overwhelmed at work.

Give your team members plenty of ways to share feedback about the company culture, work processes, and challenges they face. It will give you a broader overview of the problems affecting your team.

Step 2: Developing Personal Improvement Plans

Based on your conversations with employees and the insights you gather into the root causes of performance issues, you can begin to develop comprehensive “performance improvement plans”.

Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) are personalised documents that outline the steps team members need to take to overcome underperformance issues and achieve their goals.

They should include:

• Clear, realistic goals: Discuss your employee’s goals for their career and how they align with the broader goals of the business.Set clear, measurable targets for your team members to work towards. Ensure these targets are realistic, based on the existing strengths and weaknesses of your team members and the support you can offer.Use frequently monitored milestones and support the employee in returning their performance to company standards and expectations.
• Strategies for development: Outline the resources you can offer individuals to assist with their on-the-job development so that they have the necessary skill set to return to their previous performance levels or achieve the required performance levels for their role.This could mean providing access to training courses to address skill gaps that may be virtual or in-person or have additional coaching.
• Consistent feedback and monitoring strategies: Determine how often you’ll meet with your tech employee to review their progress towards their goals. Define which metrics or KPIs you’ll monitor and continue to reinforce the company’s expectations.Ensure your team members know who they can turn to for extra support if they encounter problems.

 

Performance plans are tailored to the specific issues and needs of the employee you want to support. Consider their learning style and unique requirements carefully, and regularly check in to ensure your team members have all the support they need.

Step 3: Creating a Supportive Work Environment

Over recent years, a growing body of research has demonstrated that a positive work environment directly impacts employee performance and productivity.

According to the University of Oxford, happy workers are up to 13% more productive.

Creating a happy workforce starts with developing a positive and supportive company culture, which means turning your workplace into an environment based on company values that will often revolve around trust, respect, and collaboration.

Examples of areas that companies prioritise are:

• Diversity, equity, and inclusion: Ensure you provide equal support to all staff members, regardless of their background. Encourage cross-team collaboration and give every employee a voice when making crucial business decisions.
• Motivating employees: Find ways to motivate your tech employees by creating reward and recognition programs that champion their hard work. Offer meaningful feedback regularly and request input from employees in return.
• Exceptional leadership: Train your team leaders and managers to model desired behaviours, such as inclusivity, honest and transparent communication, and a commitment to collaboration.

Crucially, ensure your team members can connect with business leaders or HR professionals when they discover an issue with the company culture.

Overcoming Poor Workplace Performance

Addressing poor performance in the tech industry can be complex. Business leaders must take a holistic, strategic, and empathetic approach to address the causes of disengagement, poor motivation, and diminishing productivity.

Most importantly, commit to constantly optimising performance, assessing the outcomes of your staff members, and ensuring you’re aware of any issues individuals and teams might be facing.

Fortunately, with the right strategy, you can improve performance, enhance your employer brand, attract more talent to your business, and increase retention.

Opus Resourcing recruits world-class SaaS, technology, commercial and executive talent for companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies within the UK, Europe, and the US.

For more information get in touch with us at, 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

Book A Call With James Shenton

Attracting Top Talent: How to Become an Employer of Choice in the Tech Sector

The hiring market in the tech industry has been candidate-driven for some time.

Countless companies are now competing for candidates with critical skills to help their organisations thrive in a challenging economy. This means talented professionals have more freedom to select positions that align with their priorities and values.

Positioning yourself as an “Employer of Choice” (E.O.C.) in the tech sector is critical to reducing the costs and complexity of the recruitment process, as well as accessing the right talent.

How do you develop a reputation as the “ultimate” business to work for?

Here, we’ll look at some of the most valuable strategies business leaders can use to position themselves as an employer of choice.

Attracting Top Talent: Why It Matters Now

Rampant skill shortages and increasing competition for talent have led to a complex recruitment environment for tech companies. Up to 80% of businesses in the U.K. are having trouble persistently filling roles, and the issue extends worldwide.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that there are currently 9.5 million job openings in the U.S. and only 6.5 million unemployed workers.

Simply put, the number of talented professionals in the job market is dwindling, and these candidates are becoming more discerning about which companies they choose to work for.

Employees now expect organisations to offer a combination of diversity, equity, inclusion, a supportive company culture, a commitment to the environment and sustainability, and exceptional growth opportunities.

All the while, they’re still searching for flexibility and compassion from employers.

This trend will only continue as Gen Z enters the workforce, prioritising ethical behaviour, wellbeing, and workplace perks ahead of higher salaries.

Hiring the wrong candidate isn’t an option, with a poor hire costing companies from 30% of a hire’s first-year salary up to $/£ 240,000 for senior hires.

This means companies must invest more heavily in positioning themselves as the ideal employer for their intended workforce.

Becoming an employer of choice:

• Increases productivity and profitability: Well-supported, satisfied, and happy staff members are more productive and profitable.Companies with a positive people-first company culture achieve four times higher profits than their competitors.
• Simplifies recruitment and retention: Passive candidates and top talent are more likely to apply for a role with a company considered an “employer of choice”.
• Enhances brand equity: A satisfied workforce is likelier to speak highly of their employer, refer new team members to the company, and deliver excellent results.

Key Strategies to Become a Company People Want to Join

Becoming an employer of choice in the tech space requires a multi-faceted approach to addressing the needs and expectations of your candidates. Several strategies in today’s hiring market can boost your chances of attracting and retaining talent.

1.    Cultivating a Strong Company Culture

Culture is increasingly crucial to top talent in the tech landscape. Employees want to work with a supportive, empathetic, and flexible company. According to an Inc.com survey, winning companies consistently demonstrated a more significant commitment to building a culture that delighted and engaged employees.

Building a strong culture in the current environment involves:

• Concentrating on employee engagement: Look for ways to consistently engage employees, delivering feedback, recognition, and rewards for their work. Enable consistent collaboration and communication between teams, and invest in team-building exercises.
• Offering flexibility: 93% of candidates say they want a flexible role. While remote and hybrid working might not be an option for every tech company, there are other ways to offer flexibility, such as giving employees more ownership of their schedules.
• Supporting work/life balance: Wellbeing and work/life balance are crucial concerns, particularly for younger Gen Z employees. Encouraging team members to use their paid time off or allowing them to manage their work schedules around their lives is becoming increasingly essential.

Additionally, employees are searching for more ethical employers committed to protecting the environment, supporting different communities, and treating people compassionately.

2.    Offer Competitive Benefits and Compensation

While many tech candidates are looking beyond salary in the search for the ideal role, the right remuneration is still crucial to attracting candidates.

A complex economic environment and cost of living issues are prompting many employees to leave their old roles for better income.

A Gallup study found the importance of a higher salary had risen in priority from no four to no one since 2015.

Ensuring your remuneration packages align with or exceed the industry standard will help you attract more loyal, engaged employees.

However, it’s crucial to look beyond direct remuneration, too. Gen Z and X members say they would quit their jobs tomorrow for one with benefits supporting their wellbeing. Consider which benefits are most likely to appeal to your target candidates.

Many standard drivers for many employees are flexible, remote, and hybrid work. However, access to other benefits, such as mental and physical health support or the ability to spend time volunteering for causes they care about, will be valuable to some tech candidates.

3.    Invest in Employee Development and Growth

A strong employee development program has always been a priority for the best tech candidates. Every employee wants to expand their skill set and become more valuable to their employer. More importantly, they want to see a future with your company.

This is particularly true in recent years, as employees continue to worry about the growing issue of job insecurity. With this in mind, invest in your employees’ development and look at opportunities to help them enhance critical hard skills (digital literacy) and soft skills, such as communication, collaboration, and resiliency.

Explore options such as:

• Online learning and courses: Online learning initiatives can give tech employees more freedom to choose and manage their development paths. They can explore a range of courses related to their role in their own time.
• In-person training: Empower employees to attend in-person classes or workshops. Allow them to visit events and conferences where they can expand their network.
• Mentorship: Consider creating a mentorship program where your high-level employees can provide consistent guidance to newer staff members.
• On-the-job development: Create opportunities for team members to participate in additional projects or lead a project. Delegate tasks to them that will stretch or develop
  new skills, or build their competency.

4.    Embed Inclusivity and Diversity

Tech candidates, particularly in the Gen Z and millennial landscape, believe inclusivity and diversity is critical to building an enduring company culture. They’re looking for employers who deliver supportive, equitable environments to team members from all backgrounds.

Reports from analysts like McKinsey also show that companies that are diverse, equitable, and inclusive are better able to respond to challenges, find top talent, and address the needs of an evolving customer base.

Communicate clearly with your employees about your diversity and inclusion efforts and how they relate to your organisation’s core values. Introduce training initiatives focused on diversity and inclusion. Explore cross-team collaboration exercises that encourage people from different backgrounds to collaborate and share perspectives.

You can also demonstrate your commitment by ensuring you’re taking an unbiased approach to hiring. If this is an area you can develop further, working with a specialist recruitment company like Opus Resourcing can help.

5.    Embrace Transparency and Open Communication

Today’s world is plagued by confusion and uncertainty, making it more critical than ever for tech employers to demonstrate transparency with their staff members. Employees want clarity, not just when it comes to identifying their roles and responsibilities, but also regarding understanding their purpose and impact on the company.

Open communication is crucial, which means sharing updates (both positive and negative) with your employees about the direction your business is moving in and what it means for them.

Remember, open communication is also about listening.

Gathering feedback from team members about what you can do to give them a better work-life balance or experience will improve your prospects of retaining staff and enhancing your employer brand.

Becoming an Employer of Choice

The shift to a candidate-driven, skills-short market means tech companies need to work harder than ever to attract and retain the top talent. Developing a strategy to improve your employer brand and value proposition through flexibility, diversity, inclusion, and empathy is crucial.

Perhaps the easiest way to start this transformative journey is to work with a tech recruitment company that can guide your business.

The right recruitment company will help diversify your talent pool, guide you through creating an exceptional company culture, and offer insights into the priorities of your candidates.

Opus Resourcing recruits world-class SaaS, technology, commercial and executive talent for companies ranging from seed-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies within the UK, Europe, and the US.

For more information get in touch with us at, 01580 857179 or send us an email here.

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