Change is difficult. This is especially true in IT recruitment. You’re caught in the constant ebb and flow or sourcing and placing top talent.
At the end of the day, there’s little time left to stop, consider new options, and put them to the test. Besides, if you have talent in your pipeline and you’re placing candidates, why make any major changes?
Unfortunately, hesitating to make changes when all seems “good enough” is detrimental in the staffing world. While you’re busy moving through your processes, the recruitment industry is constantly changing. Candidates have new expectations, the job market shifts, new technology arrives on the scene, in addition to numerous other factors.
It’s challenging, then, to keep up with the evolution of the industry if you remain stagnant. This could result in you being left behind the times or even short of your full recruiting potential. That’s why it’s important to recognize, now, where your IT recruitment strategy may actually not be working well.
Here are four signs your IT recruitment strategy isn’t working as effectively as you thought:
1. Your talent pipeline numbers have leveled out
Your talent pipeline is your lifeline. You use it to quickly pull top talent to fill critical roles for clients. Without it, you need to source new talent and run the risk of taking too long to fulfill clients’ needs.
During a talent shortage, you’re even more aware when these numbers drop. However, if they’ve leveled out, it can still appear your talent pipeline is constantly full. And if it remains at a considerably-full level, there should be no cause for concern.
On the surface, this seems accurate. However, when your talent pipeline levels off it means you’re not refueling and refilling at a rate that keeps top new options at your and your clients’ fingertips.
2. Your communication with talent is slowing
Every IT recruiter is a busy recruiter. Unfortunately, this isn’t always a sign of success if your priorities get scattered in the day-to-day hustle and bustle. Being ‘busy’ can mean you’re focused so intently on sourcing and placing talent that there’s barely any time left to network and build strong relationships with candidates.
Candidates in today’s job market have high communication expectations. In fact, according to respondents in the 2018 North American Candidate Experience Benchmark Research Report those who were interviewed and given job-related feedback that day were 52% more likely to increase their relationships with employers.
For IT candidates, this is especially important to make them feel respected and valued. A mere 17% of today’s IT employees in a recent TINYpulse survey say they feel strongly valued at work. Lacking communication can feed these feelings of underappreciation and decrease your chances of placing top talent.
3. Your metrics are outdated
Thinking your recruitment strategy is operating at full capacity is one thing, but knowing is another. It’s nearly impossible to know what’s working well within your IT recruitment strategy — and what isn’t — without frequently-updated metrics and performance reviews.
With the ever-evolving needs and expectations of candidates, outdated metrics don’t set you up for ultimate success.
4. You don’t know current candidate expectations
New generations and changing worldviews impact values at work. These values should relate directly back to your recruitment strategy.
For example, candidates in the IT field, of course, need specific experiences and training. However, more candidates believe companies should hire them based on their soft skills and train them on hard skills. As a result, 91% of recruitment and HR professionals agree the importance of soft skills is a trend reshaping the future of recruiting, according to a 2019 LinkedIn report.
IT workers, specifically, revealed in an IBM services survey that they want their choice of work location (74%) and tools to work from anywhere (74%).
Flexibility and the heightened importance of soft skills are two trends shaping the IT recruitment world. Not keeping your finger on the pulse of changing trends, like these, means you’re missing opportunities to alter your clients’ branding materials, requisition information, and job descriptions.
