4 MISTAKES COMPANIES ARE MAKING WHEN HIRING TOP TECH TALENT DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS

All of us in the technology industry have heard the words “war on talent” for years. It’s just as true now during the COVID-19 pandemic as it was this time last year. If you think that “A” players are being affected through no fault of their own, you’re right, but if you think they are sitting on the market long after being laid off, you couldn’t be more wrong. We at Tier4 Group are seeing some mistakes and missteps from hiring teams and it’s unfortunate, because now could be a great time to pick up a rock star developer, data scientist, or cybersecurity analyst on your team. A strong candidate is a strong candidate… in any market.  

Mistake #1: We can pay less because unemployment is so high.

We met with a potential customer a few weeks ago who said they believed they could hire the same caliber network engineer for 25-30% less in salary because there would be more people looking for a job. Dice, a leading tech career site published an interesting study a few days ago. Postings for technical jobs across the US actually increased in many up-and-coming tech hubs from February to March 2020, and even some of the largest cities such as New York, Atlanta, and Houston, experienced only relatively minor declines. Additionally, more companies are now open to hiring remotely, so the same talent that was bound by geography just a few short months ago, is now looking at options across the US. And when the economy fully recovers (and we believe it will), if you did manage to find and hire a technologist at a substantially lower than market rate, they will likely leave your organization, making all of the time, training, and resources spent on on-boarding that employee a waste.

Mistake #2: We can take our time in hiring the right candidate.

We understand that all of us are busy right now being employees, teachers, and caregivers all at once; however, time is still not on your side in hiring top IT talent, especially Software Developers and Cybersecurity Engineers. The A players will be off the market… FAST… and likely with multiple offers. A major FinTech firm in the Southeast, known for hiring very talented Engineers, laid off half of its staff last month. Almost all of the key players we personally knew had found other jobs within a few weeks.

We have also seen several companies refuse to adapt their normal hiring process to make accommodations for moving quickly such as combining multi-step interviews into a single step or speed up their process when they learned a candidate had another offer to respond to quickly. There’s an old saying that “Time Kills All Deals” and if there’s one thing we know from our collective experience as a team at Tier4 Group, is that this is true.

Mistake #3: Candidate hiring experience is not a priority.

This is probably the worst mistake a company could make at the moment. Candidate experience is important in any market, but we’d argue it’s even more important right now. How you treat a potential employee during this crisis will give candidates insight as to how you treat actual employees. Another real-world example for you: A Java Developer/ Site Reliability Engineer was laid off at the beginning of March. Within a few weeks, this candidate had 4 offers to choose from. It was the companies that a) had the best candidate experience, b) did not try to undercut the candidate’s previous salary, and c) adapted their hiring process to move the quickest that won out in the end. Embrace the video interviews. Overcommunicate (no news is still news) and don’t leave people hanging as to where they stand in the process. Lay out the red carpet to secure a great hire for your team.

Mistake #4: We do not need help from an external recruiting partner because applications have increased.

Your Human Resources and Talent teams (if your company even has them) are super busy taking care of existing employees, adapting each day to the changes in protocols, regulations, the latest CDC and OSHA recommendations, and prepping for employees to return to physical offices, etc. They are likely reactive right now and not proactive as good recruiting partners tend to be. We’ve heard from some companies that they’ve seen an uptick in applications for their job postings, but does more applicants mean better applicants? Does your team have the bandwidth right now to screen all of those additional applications to see if there are any rock stars? By that time, the strong applicants could be gone. A good external recruiting partner is worth their weight in gold and brings you an already qualified, interviewed, referenced candidate. It’s like starting with a foot off of second base ready to run home versus just strolling out of the dugout to take a few warm up swings in the batter's box. The Java candidate mentioned in Mistake #3…the winning offer was brokered by a recruiting agency.

In closing, let’s take these 4 mistakes, flip the script, and create a new guidebook for smarter hiring during the COVID-19 crisis:

1. Pay candidates what they are worth in the market.
2. Move through the hiring process as efficiently and as quickly as possible.
3. Elevate the candidate experience to an unprecedented high.
4. Utilize quality, consultative partners to help you hire.

And remember to be kind and show grace to one another during these unprecedented times. :)