I N S P I R E D A P P R O A C H E S +I N N O VAT I V E TA T E C H =I N C R E D I B L E O U T C O M E S

TECH RECRUITING’SNEW FORMULA

TABLE OF CONTENTS03: Introduction04: From Funnel to Loop: Why Yesterday’s Recruiting Model No Longer Works07: The Tech Talent Landscape: Critical Insights13: A Better Tomorrow: The Top 5 Automations for Tech Recruiters19: Conclusion

I M A G I N E

INTRODUCTIONExperienced technical recruiters won’t be surprised to learn that, according to a CompTIA analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the unemployment rate for technology occupations recently fell to 1.3%. This represents a 20-year low and presents a dire hiring scenario that’s further complicated by a decreasing number of H1-B petitions and approvals.

Against this backdrop, tech recruiters are struggling, understandably, to identify and attract qualified talent. The Dice 2018 Recruitment Automation Report reveals that nearly half of respondents (49%) say they spend at least 30 hours each week—or roughly 75% of their time—trying to source candidates. Further, 44% agree that a lack of automation has resulted in “missed hiring opportunities.”

Inspired Approaches + Innovative TA Tech = Incredible Outcomes

Fortunately, a steady stream of innovations continues to automate the most time-consuming aspects of the hiring process while helping recruiters fill their pipelines with qualified talent in minutes. In this E-Book, we take a closer look at:

• Why yesterday’s recruiting model no longer works … and how to adapt• The tech talent trends that matter most to an organization’s recruiting strategy• Ways to leverage TA tech to overcome even the biggest hiring roadblocks

2019 Tech Talent Demands

Top 3 Jobs1

• Cybersecurity engineer

• AI/machine learning engineer

• Full stack developer

Top 5 Technical Skills2

• JavaScript (70%)

• SQL (57%)

• Java (48%)

• HTML/CSS (46%)

• .NET/C# (41%)

1TechRepublic

2Devskiller Global Technical Hiring & Skills Report

We’re all familiar with the recruiting funnel and its basic elements, which reflect hiring practices established long ago when recruiting lacked the complexity that defines it today. At the top of the funnel are a good number of prospective candidates—the majority have applied in response to a job posting. Talent leads are vetted. The unqualified are removed, while the rest are pre-screened, interviewed and (hopefully) hired.

The underlying premise of the funnel has always been a numbers game: number of leads × position yield rate = number of applicants required. It assumes that the hiring process unfolds in succession and that choices must be made based on the given applicant pool for a specific requisition. But the fallacy of this long-standing approach is its emphasis on talent that’s actively pursuing a new job as opposed to the best talent for the role and the organization’s culture, regardless of a candidate’s search activity or status.

FROM FUNNEL TO LOOP:WHY YESTERDAY’S RECRUITING MODEL NO LONGER WORKS

A FULL LIFECYLE APPROACH: MEET THE CONTINUOUS TALENT DELIVERY LOOP

Emerging recruitment models, like the Continuous Talent Delivery Loop,support a full lifecycle approach to talent engagement that recognizes there’s no longer a beginning and end point.

The focus becomes quality over quantity with candidates entering an organization’s pipeline through various channels, where they are strategically segmented, prioritized and nurtured.

As the demand for the best qualified, interested and available

talent within tech continues to increase rapidly, organizations are making it a top priority to adapt to

a new model of recruiting—the Continuous Talent Delivery Loop,

where personalization and engagement are among the most

critical success factors.

Loop model characteristics most critical to talent acquisition success:

• Technology plays a major role in supporting key candidate touchpoints while ensuring that communications and engagement maintain the forward momentum that’s needed to deliver more interested, qualified and available talent.

• Audience segmentation is used to attract and nurture the very best talent—as opposed to simply available talent—because it makes the creation of personalized communications and experiences possible.

• Talent acquisition teams build pipelines instead of matching talent to requisitions, seeking out the best talent across the entire market and keeping them engaged throughout their journey.

• Comprehensive data collection and analysis bring together a broad set of data points for the meaningful insights needed to continually advance recruiting efficiency and effectiveness and support business results.

HIRE

ATTRACT

RE-ENGAGEENGAGE

AI Job Recommendations& Personalization

Career Website/Employer Brand

Pipeline Management

Employee ReferralCampus & Events

Chatbot

Landing Pages/Microsites

PipelineConversion

Auto Nurture & Drip Campaigns

Internal Mobility

Silver Medalists

Apply to Job Interview Management

Offer Management

Onboarding

Video Interviewing

AI Talent Sourcing

Chat/Text/EmailChannels

THE CONTINUOUS TALENT DELIVERY LOOP

However, it’s not just our recruiting model that has been transformed. Worker expectations and preferences continue to shift as the nature of work evolves, which means that continually checking the “pulse” of your target audience will benefit recruiting strategies from both channel and messaging perspectives, as well as geographic considerations.

THE TECH TALENT LANDSCAPE: CRITICAL INSIGHTS

While the nation’s traditional tech markets—think Silicon Valley, Seattle, New York and Boston—continue to drive the most high-tech job growth, new cities are luring tech companies in search of both talent and lower operating costs. Among the North American metros identified as emerging tech markets:

EMERGING TECH MARKETS PRESENT NEW RECRUITING OPPORTUNITIES

St. Louis

Montreal Toronto

Charlotte

Los Angeles Orange County

Source: Visual Capitalist

Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska

Huntsville and Birmingham, AlabamaAmes and Des Moines, Iowa

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri

Source: MarketWatch

#GR8TIPRather than compete for the same pool of workers in traditional tech markets, expand your reach by targeting smaller and emerging tech markets. If your current telecommuting policy makes this difficult, build a case for change.

Tech workers are also exhibiting an interest in relocating to smaller markets. According to Hired’sState of Salaries 2019, 60% of respondents say that they plan to leave their current city of residence within the next five years with markets such as Austin and Denver topping their list of desirable destinations. Not surprisingly, these are the same markets where a tech salary goes much further than it does in San Francisco or New York.

Finally, keep in mind that Hired also finds a high percentage of tech workers are open to remote work arrangements—65% based on the results of its 2019 Global Brand Health Report.

#GR8TIPWork with hiring managers to rethink degree requirements for tech roles. Identify tech bootcamps and start developing relationships with program administrators and instructors so that you can take full advantage of opportunities to recruit new bootcamp grads and build tech talent pipelines for future hiring needs.

Degree Requirements Get the Boot

Technical training bootcamps, both those offered through traditional colleges and universities and those at standalone schools, are on the rise. They’re not just for workers seeking to transition to tech, either. The Stack Overflow 2018 Global Developer Hiring Landscape notes that 45.5% of respondents indicate that they “already had a full-time job as a developer” when starting a bootcamp program—strong evidence that tech workers consider learning a lifelong aspect of their work.

From the employer perspective, Indeed’s research suggests that the quality of bootcamp graduates is high with 72% of employers indicating that “bootcamp grads are ‘just as prepared’ to be high performers as degree holders” are, while nearly all who have hired a coding bootcamp grad for a technical role say “they would do so again.”

Perhaps one of the most promising aspects of bootcamp recruiting is that it may begin to address the IT profession’s lack of diversity. More than half (51%) of the companies surveyed by Indeed feel that “hiring bootcamp grads is a good way to help job seekers from underrepresented groups find work in the technology sector.”

Where Developers Learn to Code

• 46% earned a computer science degree• 21% self-taught• 20% earned a relevant college degree• 13% attended a developer bootcamp

Among those who attended a bootcamp, more than three-quarters (76%) say it provided the preparation needed to land a software engineering job.

Source: Hired, 2019 State of Software Engineers

#GR8TIPIf you’re failing to hear back from prospective tech candidates, make sure your communications lead with details about salary and other forms of compensation. While organizations typically resist providing salary information this early in the process, the research is clear—not doing so is the biggest reason you’re not hearing back from tech talent.

Tech Talent Says, “Show Me the Money!”

Both Dice and Hired confirm through their research that salary remains the most influential factor, in terms of both actively making a change and when it comes to responding to direct outreach from a recruiter. Dice’s 2019 Tech Salary Report reveals that 45% of tech professionals plan to change employers in the next year with “higher compensation” cited as the primary factor for seeking a new job.

According to Hired’s 2019 Global Brand Health Report, 71% of tech professionals say they’d be more likely to respond to a recruiter if the salary range was provided up front.

#GR8TIPThink about the various job attributes that you can promote when reaching out to tech talent, and make sure your communications are crafted accordingly. While there are clear trends in terms of what gets their attention, don’t forget to address the nuances whenever possible as this will increase the odds of getting a response.

Beyond Salaries: Exciting Projects & Career Development

Granted, compensation may be the driving factor when it comes to getting tech talent’s attention, but there are other job attributes that influence their willingness to consider a job change. First, there’s the chance to work on exciting projects. Both Stack Overflow and Hired find that the projects tech workers would be assigned to are influential, as are the technology used by the company and career development opportunities. Less important, though still of interest, is information about the team members, perks and culture.

However, your candidate outreach messaging may need to shift depending on who you are targeting. Dice cautions in its report, What Tech Talent Wants, that female tech professionals often have different values regarding employer attributes. Namely, benefits outrank salary as the #1 attribute, while manageable work hours takes the #3 spot among women, compared to #8 for men.

And, a 2019 Indeed survey of 1,000 tech workers demonstrates that job attributes can also differ by company size. For example, those working for an employer with less than 100 employees are more likely to cite “flexibility and work/life balance” as the most important job attributes while those working for large employers favor “better benefits and perks,” as well as a “higher salary.”

#GR8TIPUse coding test benchmarks to gauge how many candidates will need to receive coding tests in order to generate the desired number of total candidates for your hiring process. You can also automate your coding test invitations to increase response rates by scheduling them to go out on Tuesdays as opposed to later in the week.

Coding Tests: Keep the Momentum Going

Finally, one of the biggest barriers to tech recruiting is the delay that occurs when candidates are required to complete a coding test. As Devskiller notes, most organizations require coding tests as part of the recruiting process yet approximately one-quarter of all candidates don’t complete the tests that are sent to them.

Among the candidates who do complete coding tests, Devskiller finds that the average time for completion among developers is 2.88 days from receiving the testing notification. Tuesdays seem to generate the fastest turnaround times, while Wednesdays are linked to the longest turnaround times. Also, don’t assume that weekends are when your candidates will get around to a coding test—it appears they’re far more likely to complete a coding test during the week, so skip sending the test invitation on a Friday.

C O M P A R I S O N P O I N T 1 C O M P A R I S O N P O I N T 2

A BETTER TOMORROW: THE TOP 5 AUTOMATIONS FOR TECH RECRUITERS

Armed with critical tech talent insights and a new model for recruiting, the Continuous Talent Delivery Loop, it’s time to review specific ways in which AI-driven recruiting solutions and automation are being applied to key points of the hiring process.

These applications are taking over time-consuming, low-value recruiter tasks and improving the candidate experience through greater personalization. The results include expanded access to talent, reduced time to hire averages and the ability to secure the tech workers organizations need to remain competitive.

44% of recruiters estimate that they’re losing between five and

10 hours a week completing tasks that could be automated,

while another 16% estimate they’re losing between 11 and

20 hours.

Source: Dice, 2018 Recruiting Automation Report

1. Jobs Find MeAutonomous Talent DeliverySelf-scheduling TechnologyHiring Process RemindersCandidate Communications

Jobs Find Me

Tech workers can tap into a broad range of career and employer information, but it’s your career website that they flock to for an in-depth understanding of what it’s like to work for your brand. And, no matter what type of technical role they’re looking for, they all have high expectations for the career website experience—namely one that resembles their online experience as consumers.

A “Jobs Find Me” approach ensures that your career site delivers a super-personalized experience from the first touchpoint. How? Information that a candidate quickly provides regarding skills, experience level, tech certifications, current job title and more can activate AI-driven job recommendations and custom content for new and returning candidates.

Imagine your career site recognizing candidate preferences for the types of projects they want to work on or the technology they want to use, as well as the training and development opportunities they seek. It’s this level of personalization that will have a huge impact on converting talent quickly.

ONE

Autonomous Talent Delivery

Artificial intelligence is rapidly making inroads across all aspects of hiring, furthering an organization’s ability to identify and capture talent—both internally and externally—to fill pipelines with in-demand candidates. Recruiters can leverage AI-driven automated talent matching and delivery solutions, allowing machines to search for talent against specific job criteria and technical certifications. Relevant matches are provided automatically, eliminating the time-consuming task work associated with sourcing.

Automated talent delivery offers significant value for tech positions. For example, the technology can be used to source internal candidates seeking relevant advancement opportunities, while also leveraging it to identify tech professionals currently working for top competitors and invite them to apply to openings.

TWO

Self-scheduling Technology

We know from personal experience how convenient self-scheduling technology is, whether you’re in need of a tune-up for your car or a dentist appointment. This same preference holds true in hiring, so make sure you’re using your ATS self-scheduling technology for phone screens and interviews.

Self-scheduling eliminates tedious and repetitive tasks, such as playing endless rounds of phone or email tag, by automating the email calendar invitation and confirmation process. The interviewer’s availability is automatically updated as candidates select their preferred time slots.

You’ll likely experience an increase in response rates among candidates invited to interview as well, simply because of the convenience self-scheduling affords.

THREE

Hiring Process Reminders

In addition to self-scheduling technology, automated reminders are another ATS function that can deliver tremendous value to your recruiting function by speeding up the hiring process. From candidate assessments and interview feedback to job and offer approvals, automated reminders on both the employer and applicant side are highly effective in moving candidates through the pipeline more quickly and converting them to hires.

Tech recruiters can look to automated reminders sent directly from the ATS to reduce coding test completion times, too, especially if they’re scheduled for distribution on days of the week that typically result in faster turnaround.

Another plus is the ability for employers to track the results of their reminders, demonstrating the impact they have on shortening time to hire averages and, thereby, reducing the costs associated with both recruiting and with openings that go unfilled.

FOUR

Candidate Communications

Among the top complaints of tech workers is being contacted about opportunities that aren’t relevant to their experience and interests.

To be fair to recruiters—who are under incredible pressure to produce candidates—sourcing takes up an extraordinary amount of time and is often akin to finding a needle in a haystack. However, as noted in #2, recruiting teams can dramatically improve accuracy by looking to AI-driven sourcing technology to do the heavy lifting when it comes to matching candidates against specific job criteria.

Once ideal matches are made, automation should also be used to immediately notify candidates of a match and encourage them to apply via email (yes, tech pros prefer email over a phone call for initial outreach). Structure outreach templates to include the details tech workers seek at this stage—salary ranges, career development, innovative projects and the cutting-edge technologies used most frequently by the organization—thereby improving the odds that prospective candidates respond to your opportunity.

FIVE

Connecting with tech talent requires changing nearly everything about the way most organizations approach recruitment. This means abandoning the outdated funnel recruiting model in favor of models such as the Continuous Talent Delivery Loop, which ensures that AI and smart automation are applied across key aspects of the hiring process and in support of moving candidates through the pipeline as quickly as possible. Backed by technology and armed with insights into tech candidate preferences, perspectives and behaviors, recruiters can improve accuracy while delivering the personalized communications and experiences that produce results.

CONCLUSION

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