Tech candidates are in demand like never before – but it’s vital to make sure they can deliver on the salaries they now find themselves scoring.
This is the view of Eddie Lewis, co-founder of recruitment platform Final Stage, speaking ahead of BusinessCloud’s The Tech Recruitment Timebomb event in London on Wednesday 10th October.
Final Stage connects companies looking for new hires, so that candidates that are unsuccessful with one company can then find similar opportunities elsewhere within the network.
The danger for companies hiring tech talent is that candidates are now so in demand they may end up unable to deliver, says Lewis.
“A core part of recruiting tech talent is actually whether candidates are then going to deliver on what they promise,” he told BusinessCloud.
“There’s a shortage of tech candidates so salaries are going up but it’s not always in line with experience, so if you’re hiring make sure you’re not bumping up the candidate’s salary too much.
“It sets high expectations if you’re going into a role where you managed to get a salary of £10,000 more because you’re needed, not because you’re necessarily qualified.”
Lewis has seen candidates bartering between companies but who then can’t deliver the value when they get into the role.
“It comes from both sides – employers need to want the candidates but there’s a fine balance because they also don’t want to attract arrogant employees who then can’t deliver,” he said.
“Tech plays a part but it’s more about the value proposition and whether it’s in line with company culture and the ethos of the employee wanting to work there.”
This idea of culture is vital, says Lewis, and will set companies searching for the right candidate apart – but it’s important not to confuse perks with culture.
“Companies get it mixed up,” he said. “Just because you put a bar in the office doesn’t mean you’ve got a cool culture.
“To attract tech talent, employers have to build up a decent brand and a reputation for providing employee value and opportunities for growth, alongside things like flexi-time and other quirky extras.
“It’s driven from the top in the work ethos and what the employer expects. And not everyone wants to be in cool quirky offices – sometimes it’s just about treating them well and getting the job done.”
Lewis will be sharing more advice and insights at our The Tech Recruitment Timebomb event in London on Wednesday 10th October.
The event is tackling the fact that recruitment remains the number one challenge facing London’s booming tech sector. Repeated surveys have found the problem has reached chronic levels and uncertainty over Brexit is only set to make it worse with 13 per cent of posts currently filled by international workers.
The skills shortage has seen salaries spiral with over a third of digital tech businesses reporting that candidates are wanting more money than they can afford to pay. The event will look at the problem and what can be done to tackle it, such as getting more women into tech, creating training academies and turning to automation.