5 Things To Do To Improve Your Strategy For Hiring Tech Talent

The hiring market is returning to pre-pandemic levels in Malaysia, yet there still remains a gap between roles that need to be filled and jobseekers looking for their ideal jobs. This is especially felt in tech jobs, as the demand in tech talent continues to rise while a tech talent shortage persists. Companies therefore must become more competitive in this tight race by developing a sound strategy for hiring tech talent.

Just how in-demand is tech talent these days? 81% of tech talent in Asia are approached with several job opportunities per year, according to Jobstreet’s report on What Tech Jobseekers Wish Employers Knew. Many of them are aware of this growing demand and it is affecting the way they negotiate in their job applications, with 71% of tech jobseekers feeling they have a strong position.

If your company truly wants to grow and stay competitive in a world that is increasingly becoming digital, you should be able to consistently attract top tech talent. Your process and strategy for hiring tech talent matters. As the the report reveals, 47% of tech talent in Asia refuse attractive job offers if they go through a negative experience during recruitment. This represents a huge lost opportunity that can be avoided just by having an effective strategy for hiring tech talent.

Want to avoid missing out on the best tech candidates out there? Here are some tips in improving your strategy for hiring tech talent.

To attract the best talent, your organisation needs to possess the qualities that they are looking for. For tech jobseekers right now, that would be a hybrid work setup. A majority of tech talents in Asia prefer work arrangements that allow for flexibility – alternately working onsite or remotely based on a schedule. JobStreet’s report shows that 64% prefer the hybrid work model while only 18% would like to return to the office full-time.

Tech work mainly exists in the digital space, making it ideal for remote work. Make sure that your company embraces the necessary tech solutions that would make hybrid work possible for your employees. Apps and software that enable secured file sharing, video conferencing, and remote work monitoring can help establish the digital infrastructure that would allow your employees to work from home or any remote location.

Giving employees more flexibility in the workplace can also help them achieve better work-life balance, which is also one of the top factors that Asian tech talent are considering when looking for a job. In fact, work-life balance, at 19%, is not far off from their number one deal-breaker, which is financial compensation (24%).

As an organisation, you should put a premium on innovation, especially when it comes to embracing technology. This is one of the best ways to attract the best tech talent. To improve your strategy for hiring tech talent, you need to first create the kind of environment where they can excel and showcase their skills.

As indicated in the latest JobStreet report, tech jobseekers are more motivated by the projects they are working on than by job title or status. Tech workers are problem-solvers by nature, and what they want more than anything is a challenging or exciting puzzle to solve. They derive satisfaction from products or software that provide exciting solutions.

So, if you want to acquire the very best in tech, you should offer them opportunities to work on the best that tech can offer. Ask yourself: how can the latest technologies improve your products and services? How can you usher your company into the next stage of the tech revolution? The clearer your vision, the better you can sell it to tech jobseekers.

The current shortage of available candidates is one of the great challenges of hiring tech talent. One way to overcome this is to find those diamonds in the rough, whether outside or within your own organisation.

One of the most interesting findings in JobStreet’s report on tech talent is that they do not necessarily come from formal tech backgrounds anymore. There may be some qualified candidates out there that have developed tech skills through non-traditional means, such as through online courses, hackathons, or workshops. If you limit your talent search to only those with formal tech education and backgrounds, then there are a lot of worthy candidates that may fall through the cracks.

One of these candidates may already be a member of your organisation, hiding in plain sight. To discover hidden talent in candidates, you must always keep your mind open. Identify employees within your own company who have interests in tech. Give them opportunities to upskill by providing training or even allowing them to have time for online courses in their work schedule.

Another top consideration for tech jobseekers is job security and opportunity for growth. According to JobStreet’s report, 44% of tech talent’s ideal career path involves joining a good company where they can progress to a leadership position.

To make your organisation attractive to tech talent, you must create a corporate environment that is conducive to growth. Make sure you have development plans in place for your employees where you can track their progress and then chart their possible areas for promotion within your organisational chart.

During the job interview, you can share your personal experience of moving up in the corporate ladder to candidates. You can attest to the company’s willingness to encourage and foster career growth by pointing to your own career, especially if you moved up the ranks as a tech employee.

Most tech talent are digital natives, which means they gravitate towards digital and online sources for all the information they need. This is especially true when it comes to job opportunities. To find the tech talent that you need, you must stand out in various online and digital platforms.

As we have discovered in the latest JobStreet report, tech jobseekers look primarily to recruitment platforms, professional social media platforms, company websites, and search engines for job leads. Even tech talent who are not actively looking for jobs find out about job openings through outreach by recruitment platforms and job and employer ads on professional social media platforms.

This is why it is important to maximise all of these digital platforms in order to reach out to your ideal tech candidates. Being visible on social media and recruitment platforms improves your overall company profile, as it creates better brand recall in jobseekers’ minds. If you want to be associated as a tech-friendly company, even if you are not in the tech industry per se, then you need to be present in all the digital spaces where your dream candidates can see you.

Make sure you are getting the best online visibility by registering to JobStreet, where you can get instant access to over 5 million talents in Malaysia. Make full use of our Talent Search, so you can find your dream candidates for your tech jobs. If you want more in-depth stats and insights to help you improve your company’s strategy for hiring tech talent, download all insights and other resources from our Employer Insights page, covering everything from employment trends, talent acquisition, talent management, as well as other signature reports.