The war for talent - and more specifically, technical talent - is real. Competition is fierce, the "Great Resignation" is in full effect, and what employees need to succeed is changing rapidly. While all of these factors and more have made building tech talent more challenging, it’s not impossible. The right approach is all it takes to succeed.
Here are four key ways to build tech talent in 2022 and beyond.
1. Pair employees with contractors
Imagine that you’re a recently hired manager who quickly finds that your new team doesn’t have the skillset they need to accomplish all of your goals for the group. It’s a common problem with two potential solutions:
- Hire a new employee (or employees) with the necessary skill.
- Pair the employee with a contractor who has that skill.
The hiring process can be long, tedious, and costly. It’s the right solution in some cases, but pairing an employee with a skilled contractor is often a quicker, more efficient, and more affordable way to get the employee up to speed. The necessary tasks get done efficiently, and your employees learn new and valuable skills. The end result is the same, but this option creates less resistance along the way.
2. Get serious about remote work
According to McKinsey Insights, 87 percent of employees who are offered remote work embrace the opportunity by spending an average of three days per week working from home. Translation: at least partial remote work is here to stay.
One of the primary benefits of remote work is the ability to source tech talent from around the globe. There’s no need for physical office space in Silicon Valley, Austin, Texas, or Seattle, Washington. A physical office can help, but it’s not required to land top talent.
A successful remote work program hinges on your ability to properly train and communicate with your employees. One of the best ways to do this is by taking the “middle ground.” Group employees with each other for a brief period and then move them to a remote environment. Face-to-face time allows them to connect on a personal level.
3. Weigh the pros and cons of hiring vs. developing
Generally speaking, it’s better to develop tech talent from within. But that doesn’t always work. Weigh the pros and cons of hiring vs. developing to determine which path to take. And remember, this can and will change with varied circumstances.
Take, for example, a programmer. This person respects the code and the technical debt that went into it. They also understand how it works, including the good and bad, and the steps to take when upgrades are needed.
Conversely, internal people are often stuck in their ways. They rely on the same processes and same ideas. They’ve been trained to do things a certain way.
The best solution is a mix of developing internal employees and hiring new talent. This gives you the best of both worlds. In this example, you retain the programmer who wrote and understands the code while bringing in outside talent for a new perspective.
4. Compare the management track and the individual contributor track
Michael Jordan was a great basketball player. Perhaps the greatest of all time. But does that mean his talent could translate to the baseball field? Definitely not. We found that out in 1994.
As an employee gains more skill and takes on more responsibility, you want to pay them more. Your first consideration for doing so is to move them into a management role. That could be a mistake.
Just because an employee has moved up the corporate ladder doesn’t mean they should lead others. Some people just aren’t cut out to lead. They’re better off maintaining their track as an individual contributor, without missing out on the opportunity for greater compensation.
Don’t force a solid individual contributor into a manager role just so you can pay them more. Should an employee insist on becoming a manager to advance their career, run a pilot test, and review the results together. This is a low-risk way to determine the best path forward.
Final tip: Be genuine with diversity and inclusion
You’ve heard it before: we want to be more diverse in our hiring. This is good, but only if you’re genuine in your approach. Don’t make a token hire just to say that your company is diverse. It’ll eventually backfire.
The better strategy is to change your process. Change where you recruit. Change how you recruit. Don’t hire your friends and “friends of friends.” When you change the process, you’ll naturally change the results.
The way you build technical talent can differentiate your company from its competitors. It doesn’t matter if you’re hiring or developing from within; a defined strategy will lead you to make informed decisions with a positive long-term impact.
