talent tech best work job culture recruiting

How to recruit the best tech talent for your businessBy Carl Sautereau, Talent DeckRecruiting the best tech talent for your business can be difficult at the bestof times.Whether you go it alone or bring in a recruiter, the process of recruiting canbe arduous and expensive, with no guarantee the ‘perfect candidate’ will walkthrough the door.However, technology companies are increasingly finding it ever more difficultto attract the best talent, with a severe and growing skills gap meaning thereare many more jobs than skilled workers to fill them.By the end of 2016, one in 10 of all UK job adverts came from the technologyand digital sectors.As tech companies continue to benefit from an influx of investment, thebiggest challenge they now face is making themselves stand out and attract thebest tech talent to continue their growth.Our research has found that 45% of developers are currently looking for a newjob, while 22% would consider a new opportunity if it presented itself, so theopportunity to recruit new talent is there.But, with so much competition, how can they put themselves at the front of theline in a jobs market where talent is freer, and more willing, to hop fromrole to role and talent continues to adapt what is important to them in theirwork?## Define what your company is all aboutCompany culture is becoming more important than ever in recruiting andretaining tech talent, and businesses can no longer rely on just offering moremoney in their efforts to bring in the best people.Particularly among younger workers, plying their trade in a company whichshares their values and understands their motivations is becoming one of themost crucial things they look for.In fact, company culture is so vital in the modern tech business, that ourresearch has found that 42% of workers have left their job within a month—justbecause the culture wasn’t the right fit.## It’s not all about the moneyNot long ago, offering a higher wage was a sure way of convincing talent towork with you, or stay with you.A 2014 study on motivations found that pay was the biggest job factor for 69%of young workers, with culture being important to just 29%.Compare that to today—just three years later—and how much more important non-tangible benefits have become, and you get an idea of the scale of thechallenge facing businesses, which now must change their entire recruitmentprocess and put more work into defining who they are.For today’s top tech talent, career progression and development, theopportunity to contribute to the wider business and a better work-life balanceare now much more important—so businesses must adapt accordingly.## Recruiting and retaining the best is an uphill struggleThere is no shortage of headlines describing the new phenomenon of jobhopping.Long gone are the days when talent found a job they liked and stayed in thesame place for their entire career. The great irony of the tech industry isthat it is technology which has made job hopping so attractive withtalent—particularly younger talent—taking every opportunity to work with thelatest innovations or the next exciting start-up.Mobile, connected devices, and flexible working are all making it possible fortalent to work where they want when they want, and this attitude is beinggrasped with both hands. In the next few years, our attitudes to work will beunrecognizable to the established 9-5 culture—if they aren’t already.All is not lost however, and it is clear that businesses which can offer techtalent what they want—a good culture, progression and the chance to grow withthe business—stand a good chance of retaining tech talent for a long time.The challenge is, ensuring the reasons someone wanted to work with you in thefirst place remain long after they’ve joined and that tech companies continueto embrace changing attitudes to work, creating the kind of culture that thebest tech talent actually wants to work for.Carl Sautereau is the co-founder of Talent Deck