Recruitment is one of the most essential processes for any organisation. Hiring skilled tech employees who add value helps ensure the company meets its goals and stays ahead in the market.

Today’s employment world faces a complex challenge. Despite pools of available applicants, there is a skills gap, making it difficult for employers to find the right people. Recent findings from The IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index reveal that skills shortages are one of the current concerns identified by its members.

In February, the British Chamber of Commerce reported the results of its 2022 survey of 5,600 firms. It revealed that recruitment was harder than ever: two in three firms wanted to hire people, but eight in 10 of these said finding workers was difficult.

And when it comes to hiring tech talent, there is even more of a challenge. A recent study by Gallup and Amazon Web Services found that 72% of UK businesses have vacancies for workers with digital skills, and more than two-thirds (68%) find it challenging to hire the digital workers they need, which 45% attribute to a shortage of qualified applicants.

Cybersecurity, cloud technology, data analytics, and software developer shortages are likely to become more acute as we head towards 2024. Using effective recruitment strategies is a great way to find skilled candidates in niche tech areas such as cloud computing.

A recruitment strategy is designed to attract, recruit, and hire qualified employees. If you are struggling to attract and retain professional tech talent, your recruitment strategy might not be fit for purpose.

When did you last review your recruitment strategy?

As the famous business magnate Henry Ford once said, “If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.”

If you haven’t reviewed your business strategy for a while, it is time to do so.

• Refer to any data you have from past hiring events to see which strategies led to long-term candidate acquisition and which were cost-effective.
• Look at where your current recruiting strategy is ineffective.
• Consider the processes and procedures you want to continue using.

The emerging concept of strategic workforce planning provides tools for modelling future talent supply and demand.

Constant review
Ensure your talent acquisition strategy is aligned with the business strategy and company objectives. Check-in regularly to ensure your hiring plans align with where you expect the business to be in one to three years. This ensures you know what’s coming and can plan, which is vital in areas where in-demand tech skills are hard to come by, such as cloud computing.

Identify the gaps
When it comes to recruitment, it's not just about the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) that you need. You need to have a clear plan for the roles you’re filling and how your new hires will fit into your teams and your business. Have you taken into account your company’s skills gap and considered whether existing employees could be upskilled instead? Candidate acquisition tactics may change depending on the roles and skill sets you are recruiting for, but the strategy needs to be clear and concise.

Employer branding is key
One way to attract ideal candidates is to spend time establishing your company as a great place to work. Make sure your website has a careers page that shares what it's like to work for your business to entice potential candidates to apply. Remember to share your company culture and values on your social media channels too.

Write clear job descriptions
Job descriptions need to reflect your company culture. Avoid writing a long list of tasks the candidate is expected to perform and cover areas including training and development and employee benefits.

Candidate attraction
For entry-level positions requiring little experience, consider advertising on social media. If it's a mid- or top-level position requiring experience and education, look to a specialist agency that has a recruiting network and can attract passive candidates. Most hiring managers focus on active recruiting (candidates who are job hunting), but in skill-short markets, employers need to attract and convert passive candidates to fill positions and meet skills shortages.

The candidate journey
With a recruitment strategy in place, your firm can ensure transparency for prospective candidates during each step of the hiring process. Make sure the candidate understands how the recruitment process works and has a positive interaction with your business. In a fast-paced environment, candidate feedback at each stage is key.

The interview process
For the interviews, provide everyone involved in the process with the job description and candidate profile. This ensures everyone uses the same metrics to evaluate candidates. Interviews are a great time to ensure the candidate is both a good technical fit and a social fit for your business. Use a group of interviewers to help make hiring decisions, rather than one person within the business. This can help avoid unconscious bias and make for a fairer hiring process.

With an effective recruitment strategy, you'll see a more diverse selection of candidates, which is needed to help fill the IT skills gap. And working with an established recruitment partner can help you get the most from your hiring strategy. To learn more about how NU Concept Solutions can support your recruitment strategy, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us on 0330 058 3400.