One aspect of this was the provision of 6,800 additional permanent migration positions for workers in the tech sector as part of a promised 20% increase in this year’s total permanent migration influx.
This is excellent news for the technology sector and will go a long way in addressing the skills shortage that the industry has been facing for years.
But while the tech and startup communities wait to reap the benefits of these measures, there is still talent to be found and vacancies to fill in the short term: unemployment rates fall and vacancies have increased by 13.8% since February 2022.
So how can tech startups find talent, despite the current workforce crisis? The answer should be clear to the tech sector: use technology.
Step 1: Expand your talent pool
The most effective way to increase your chances of finding a great workforce is to expand your talent pool, which includes all possible candidates that can meet your organization’s current and long-term needs.
But expanding this database of potential new hires requires thinking outside the box — and using data strategically.
For example, most companies lose sight of lost candidates from the past, candidates who were offered a job but never applied, and former employees who would like to return to the fold.
These former failed candidates or former employees can be gold in times of scarcity.
But in times of staff overload, when certain positions have attracted hundreds of applicants, or when staff turnover is high, it can be easy to lose track without the right technology.
In addition, your business and available opportunities can change over time. This means you may now be the right choice for former candidates and ex-employees. It’s essential that you keep these groups up-to-date by treating them like alumni, a previous hotel guest, or a lost customer.
It is essential to use the right relationship management platform to maintain ongoing communication, while keeping in touch through various social channels also adds a much richer experience for the candidate.
Step 2: Automate the heavy lifting by filtering by speed
All HR managers have fallen victim to the old “spray and pray” approach used by some job seekers at one point or another. These candidates apply for any job within 100 miles, regardless of whether they are grossly unqualified or inappropriate, making finding the right candidate that little bit more difficult.
Rather than filtering through a deluge of inappropriate resumes itself, applicant tracking software can process resumes and build a digital profile of candidates. In some cases, advanced artificial intelligence can even rank skills and competencies to bring the cream to the surface.
With all the time saved by automating this process, you can now step in and excite the candidate with stories about the brand’s mission and vision, and explore how a collaborative journey could work for everyone.
Step 3: Get those reference (and other) checks before the match
According to an LinkedIn research, only 30% of companies can fill a position within 30 days. Others take a daunting 1 to 4 months, during which time the best candidates can be picked up by other companies.
This is certainly not ideal in a market where everyone is crazy about finding talent in a small talent pool.
You’ve already filtered out your top contenders by obediently following my advice in the previous section. What an excellent start. But how many weeks are you going to waste manually searching for multiple references and other checks?
None, if you follow this next advice!
This ‘checks’ part of the process can be the most confrontational for the candidate, who often has no visibility or control over the progress of their credentials or checks. It would be devastating to lose a candidate for taking too long or not keeping them updated, despite the job and company being ideal.
Automated reference checking services can provide the required ID, employment, right to work and criminal justice checks in a matter of hours or even minutes. But the more advanced providers, such as Xref, are expanding this service further to offer additional innovative trust products that perform more sophisticated checks, such as verifying tertiary qualifications or analyzing social media activity.
Getting these checks right from the start is imperative if you want to avoid repeating the hiring process in the near future after some questionable (flammable) online activity of your promising new employee surfaced.
Use technology to do the heavy lifting, provide insight, and impress your candidate with all the extra time you’ve just freed up to tell your employer’s story and get to know the candidate well.
Because the more technology you use in this process, the more time you need to get to know them as a person.
Happy talent show.
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