Building happy teams

Over the years, as industries try to become more software-driven, the demand for engineers and developers has increased dramatically. Finding the right engineering talent is crucial for the growth of your company and its products. Even in 2020, amid the COVID-19 crisis, engineering has seen the best recovery in terms of jobs in the market though comparatively lower than last year. This field is showing great promise of recovery.

The key to business recovery from the pandemic is going to be innovation. Technology lies at the center of innovation. As Marissa Mayer, Co-Founder of Lumi Labs and former CEO of Yahoo, said, “In technology, it’s about the people. Getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment, and helping to find a way to innovate.”

The demand for engineers remains at an all-time high and expected to increase in months to come, with rapid digital transformation, brought on by COVID-19. Attracting the right talent can be a real challenge for companies, especially smaller companies. Engineers have a lot of options to choose from, and best engineers have the luxury of picking the projects and companies they will work for.

So how do companies appeal to top engineering candidates and stand out as a potential employer?

Based on our own experiences in hiring tech talent for our clients, we are sharing what the companies can do to attract best engineering talent, what engineers are looking for from a potential employer, and more.

Getting started

Every hiring process starts out with building a pipeline of candidates. To create a talent pipeline, it is essential to take stock of one’s branding and see that it positions you as a great place to work for the engineers.

For the tech giants of the world (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) this is easy, their employer brand is already a big draw for the candidates but for smaller organizations it is important to focus on this aspect and build it actively. We have some great tips for building out your employer brand here, check them out and start today.

Show them the problem they will be solving for

The key to attracting the best engineering talent is to show them what opportunities they will have, at your company, to solve significant technological problems alongside other exceptional engineers on your team.

Engineers are problem solvers by nature, and not merely experts defined by their fields (technologies they work with, etc.). If you give them a glimpse into the kind of problems they will be solving for, they can build a better understanding of your challenges and understand precisely how they will be making a difference for.

Focus on communicating your organisation’s story, history and challenges you tackle.

Go beyond competitive salaries

Paychecks matter, but engineers place a lot of stock in, ‘What problems will I be solving along with this company?’, What new will I get to learn here, what technology will I work with, who will be my mentor, etc.

So if you have to compete with huge tech giants of the world for the engineering talent, it would be useful to have clarity on what engaging problems engineers are expected to solve and what will they learn and from whom.

Have your CTO write about interesting problems you solve at your organisation, share what the team does, your work culture, etc. It will go a long way in showcasing your values, problem-solving style, etc. and give you an edge when competing with more prominent companies.

Assess with your real-world challenges

As recruiters, we see an increasing preference among both companies and engineers, that job application processes have assessments which simulate the actual real-world problems the engineers will be working on.

This approach is useful for both employers and applicants. It gives candidates a glimpse of what problems they will be solving for (if they are to work for that organization), gives employers a thorough way to assess the candidates’ abilities, skills and approach towards problem-solving, especially in the company’s context.

Overall, this approach is a win-win for everyone.

Don’t remain stuck on 100% fit, go for other great candidates

Most employers are looking for the ideal candidate who ticks of all the boxes in their list of requirements. It ends up restricting the candidate pool they can interview and hire.

Instead, be flexible and go for candidates who have, e.g. 80% of the skills required to do the job, you can train them to learn the 20% which they don’t know presently, and be the ideal candidate with 100% skills that you were looking for.

You end up saving time, that you would otherwise, end up spending searching for that elusive purple squirrel (candidate with 100% of skills that you are looking for).

Stay in touch during the whole process process

We can’t stress enough about the importance of continuous communication during the entire interview and hiring process.

The number of drop-offs in tech hiring is pretty high compared to other fields. So every update that you share with the candidate matters, especially if it is going to increase your interview time (say the hiring manager is out on leave and can’t do interviews sooner). The continuous stream of communication keeps your candidates engaged, your talent pipeline warm and reduces the drop-off rate.

Close the hire asap

Once you have found your perfect engineering candidate, move fast and close the hire speedily. Don’t draw out salary negotiations, be clear and upfront on this count from the beginning.
Be responsive and keep continuous communication with the candidate, remind the candidate of your company’s story, and why they should be excited to be a part of it.

Invest in employer branding to show your presence and build a community

Remember what we said about building a talent pipeline, it is crucial to cultivate and engage with one, even when you are not actively hiring.

Focus on building a long term relationship with the engineering community, which helps you stay relevant, and positions you as ‘an organization as a place where new ideas and solutions are created and fostered’, even though they are not actively interviewing with you.

• Here are some tips for investing in employer branding:
  Get your engineering or tech team to blog on technical topics.
• Showcase your engineering team prominently on your company platforms, encourage them to share their experiences of working at your company.
• Organize or sponsor hackathons with engineering colleges or other technical institutions. It will help you identify great entry-level talent producing best ideas and also bolster your reputation as a leader in new technology invested in innovation and creativity.

The key to hiring world-class engineers is to share your story and help them see where they fit in it. You’re not just offering them a job; you’re selling them on the next chapter of their life.

Check out this video from our CTO and GMI two-time winner Sudheer Bandaru on hiring and scaling your tech team.

HIRING TECH TALENT? REACH OUT TO US TO TODAY

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With rapid digital transformation brought about this year by COVID-19, in months to come as businesses recover, the competition for hires with digital skills is going to become fiercer.

This competition is going to be tough not just for tech, but for all the sectors.

Many sectors like banking, financial services, insurance (particularly across SSA, etc) across emerging markets are undergoing rapid transformation. Companies from all these sectors have one thing in common – digital talent needs. They are rapidly hiring digital talent for software engineering, digital marketing, data analytics, etc. to drive their digital agendas.

They are competing for the same set of people and skills, given that all businesses are pursuing digital agendas of some sort ranging from added product offerings, operations, mobile apps, etc.

In some instances, the demand outranks the supply, which has led to a sourcing challenge. This is acute for fast-growing SMEs who do not have the budgets and infrastructure to engage in large scale recruitment drives, like MNCs. This requires a need for greater creativity.

So, where should these companies find digital talent? Are there any unlikely places that they are overlooking? We are here to share our own expertise with you on this.

Look beyond traditionally, digital sectors

We’re increasingly seeing great digital talent come from sectors beyond IT and the computer software giants you might think of first (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, etc.). A lot of these emerging sectors have not been digital historically, but are now going through digital transformations. For example, sectors like agriculture, energy, and distribution and logistics are not traditionally tech-forward sectors, but we have seen some great tech talent present there.

• Let’s take the energy access sector, for example. Energy access is increasingly driven by data and finance, so we have found talent which excels at data analysis within energy access companies. Their solutions are driven by software, so they seek out and hire great engineers.
• Agriculture is another sector where a range of companies are providing value-added services to farmers via technology, giving them access to information and data and driving greater market transparency. The digital transformations that are driving change in the agriculture sector are a great grooming environment for tech talent.

Look at locations beyond your own back-yard

Accelerated by COVID-19, digital talent has gone global. So instead of just thinking about what and who, you can find in your own backyard, think global.

Sourcing talent in your location or vicinity is the obvious first place most recruiters start, but the drawback is that you may end up missing out on places with great talent pools especially for digital skills.

Additionally, talent cost is a critical consideration for businesses especially SMEs and SMBs. By looking beyond your backyard (especially if you’re located in an expensive metro city), you can cut down costs and not compromise on talent quality.

There is great talent sitting at large, multinational tech companies no doubt, but hiring from them can prove more cost-prohibitive to most SMBs in the market. By looking at lesser-known talent pools, in less explored markets, your costs can go down significantly while ensuring the quality of candidates is not compromised.

Think of looking outside your city or even country to find high-quality, remote talent. We are increasingly working with large companies in East Africa who are looking for tech talent in India, to access a greater supply of talent at lower costs.

By looking beyond the obvious and closest places, you can better source talent from anywhere in the world.

Cultivate graduate talent pipelines

Cultivating graduate talent pipelines is a non-traditional way to think about sourcing digital talent, but building a strong bench of entry-level digital talent will help you build a sustainable, long-term pipeline of great digital talent. Play the long game.

Given the fierce competition for existing and emerging digital roles, companies should look at entry-level talent which can mature well in the role and technology.

Companies can build relationships with technical institutions known for honing a particular skill or technology, this way they have access to vetted talent, ensuring access to a cost-effective and renewable talent pipeline.

As digital transformation cannons forward and competition for talent grows more intense, companies have to explore unknown places to source talent. We hope these ideas give you some inspiration in your search for great talent.

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At Shortlist, we’re experts in finding digital talent for companies that don’t have multinational budgets for tech talent, match our clients with talent that’s interested in rolling up their sleeves and contributing to high growth environments. Whether you need a new CTO or you’re building out a 50-person tech team, we have the experience and bench of talent to be able to help you grow your digital team. We are uniquely positioned to solve cross-border digital talent needs given our full-team presence across offices in East Africa and India. Beyond our physical presence, we can source talent globally from anywhere in the world and have worked across 25+ countries.

Hiring tech talent? Reach out to us today to see how we can help you.

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So many companies are choosing to go remote to ensure business continuity and safety of their staff, digital skills have become vital for existing employees and new hires. It has become important for employers to upskill or re-skill their workforce so that they get the best of the digital transformation that’s taking place.
It has become important for employers to reflect on how to best equip their company, processes and their workforce for the post-pandemic world.

The digital transformation will require flexibility and acquiring additional skills for the employees if they want to grow and flourish in the new reality over the next 3-4 years.

For employees to continue working in their current job or to find a new job, to present oneself as the top talent, they need to focus on upskilling especially those skills which are going to be vital and in-demand in their chosen field.

Workplaces are definitely set to change in light of events of 2020 and with it, so will the skills that companies will need, with a pronounced focus on digital skills.

Based on our extensive conversations with employers across India and Kenya, here are some digital skills that employers should consider equipping their current workforce with and look for in prospective employees for ensuring success in the post COVID world.

Digital skills: What are they? Setting a baseline…

Digitization will heavily dominate the future of work. All companies will be digitally based to at least a certain extent if not a 100% thanks to COVID-19. Given that this new mode of operation is here to stay, digital skills will be gaining a lot of traction.

Whereas “digital skills” once meant knowing the latest coding languages or working in IT, now having a digital skillset is more inclusive. Companies are looking for employees who can succeed in digital environments, and for those who can communicate across platforms and technologies. People who can keep the digital business running and thriving despite any disruptions (calamities, pandemics, etc), will be highly sought after talent. We anticipate that having a digitally skilled talent pool is going to play a larger role in disaster preparedness planning for companies going forward.

Companies will also rely heavily on digital technologies and skills to improve the quality of the work environment and try and set up strong remote team culture aided by the right infrastructure to make work truly seamless and boundaryless.

Top Skills Employers Should Look Out For (Regardless of Role…)

(1) Tech-savvy

Businesses will be even more reliant on technology in the future, especially as certain organizations plan to have their employees working from home until the end of the year, or even into 2021 (and beyond). Over the course of the next few months and probably even for most of 2021, businesses will be even more reliant on technology, as organizations plan to have their employees work remotely. The best way to prepare for a post-pandemic world is to acquire technology skills.

COVID-19 has already fast-tracked digital transformation in organizations worldwide to become more resilient to future disruptions to business continuity. The 2020 pandemic has also set the stage for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Adoption of new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data, Internet of Things (IoT), etc will serve to improve the resilience of the business. With the adoption of these technologies will come the demand for talent (from people working on the actual tech to people working in other departments like accounting, HR) to work with these advancements capably and effectively.

(2) Soft skills

Success in business and every day at the workplace hinges a lot on how well the team works together. And, turns out, working remotely is not the same as joining co-workers in the office. Though the best technology is available (from video conferencing and messaging through to project management) and it’s relatively easy to master, the way we work as teams has changed and will continue to change.

What’s required for success? Excellent, sound communication with new, requisite soft skills forms the bedrock. Apart from the domain-specific skills needed for the business to function, the pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the need for soft skills like communication, flexibility, self-motivation, and time management to be able for the employees to work well in tandem with others when everyone is not in the same space. These skills are especially important when it is not possible to meet fellow co-workers and clients face-to-face. Soft skills will serve to differentiate the top talent and showcase the inherent ability to work well in a remote setup.

(3) Learning mindset

35% of the skills deemed essential today will change. The only way to remain relevant and competitive in future is to invest in skilling and upskilling your workforce. Not only do the skilled employees bring additional value to the table, contributing to the growth and development of your company, it also serves to have an effect on employee engagement and retention for an organization.

There is going to be a definite race to grab the business in the post-pandemic environment where digital expertise will give the company a definite edge. By making re-skilling and upskilling the top priority, companies can avert or reduce redundancies and lay-offs in the future and protect business interests. This will help companies create a leaner and more agile team that will be able to perform multiple functions.

Reskilling and upskilling has attained new importance, particularly for start-ups & SMEs in this new economy. They will take longer to recuperate from the present crisis, so their experiments with different formats of virtual learning will continue as they seek to upskill and reskill their employees to fill up the gaps that are brought on by innovations in technology.

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The pandemic will be introducing some great new opportunities and to adopt and embrace new technologies and digital skills is going to be the key to surviving and thriving in the future. Companies should optimize existing opportunities through planned growth strategies, investments and digital transformations.

The world is definitely going to witness a need for a stronger workforce with advanced skillset. The companies that will proactively invest in digital transformation and skilling of its current and prospective employees to benefit from this window of opportunity will unlock the best opportunities from this period.
It has become abundantly clear that possessing and investing in digital skills is the need of the hour. An agile workforce with the right technical skills and digital knowledge is going to help companies to stay relevant as they navigate the new world of work.

Are you hiring? Shortlist can help, we offer a wide range of recruitment solutions that help companies build great, diverse teams.

Need help building a team with digital talent? We can help

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