Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/131821
Talent Management Selling the Job Candidates for openings should be treated like any highly valued customer. By Rachel Russell When it comes to hiring IT professionals, organizations must balance the need to find high-quality talent able to get the job done and the need to find these resources as fast as possible to keep pace with business demand. This is no easy task, and hiring the wrong person can be a costly mistake. A single bad hire can cost an organization more than $50,000, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey—and that's on top of the intangible damage it causes in terms of productivity and team morale. To baseline how organizations source and screen IT candidates today, and understand the most effective recruiting tactics, TEKsystems surveyed more than 2,000 IT job seekers and more than 1,500 IT employers for their insights. When they're looking for their next career opportunity, IT professionals don't just read and believe—they want to talk to someone who can give them detailed, insider information about the corporate culture and the position they're interested in. Ninety-one percent of IT professionals say that the most helpful resources provide a clear and realistic view of a job opportunity's roles and responsibilities. Eighty-six percent of IT professionals say that they want the ability to have an actual dialogue about an opportunity, rather than just reading about it. Great recruiters meet both needs. By engaging in detailed conversations with the hiring managers about their open positions—the business needs, the IT environment, the culture, the team dynamics, etc.—they can share detailed insights when conversing with potential candidates about these positions. Given that IT professionals receive an average of 23 recruiter calls per week, they prize anything that helps them cut through the noise. Eighty-eight percent of the IT professionals we surveyed say they will return calls from recruiters if the recruiter leaves a message that includes detailed information about the job, including work roles, responsibilities, and who the company stakeholders are. EVP for IT IT professionals report that the employee value propositions (EVP) they look for include a variety of attributes. Eighty-one percent of IT professionals say that career development and advancement are their number one concerns in considering a new job opportunity. Seventy-five percent of the IT professionals say that compensation is top of mind, and 66 percent say work/life balance is key. By digging in and learning more about your organization, a great recruiter can identify the best and most dominant traits of your EVP and work with you to help ensure you are at least competitive in other areas, based on their knowledge of other [34] HRO TODAY MAGAZINE | APRIL 2013 employers in the local market. Gauge how deeply your recruiter probes into the factors that make your organization a great place to work. By asking the right questions, a recruiter will help you source candidates who understand your EVP and are committed to building their careers in your organization Imagine the impact to your business if your workforce couldn't do their jobs adequately. Unfortunately, 41 percent of IT professionals believe that IT candidates obtain positions they are vastly unqualified for, due to inadequate screening processes. According to the survey, only 50 percent of IT professionals say recruiters conduct face-to-face interviews before submitting candidates to hiring managers. A technical assessment is another valuable screening step. It gauges proficiency for a specific skill, confirms a skill highlighted in a resume, and identifies where a candidate lacks competency. But, only 45 percent of respondents say recruiters perform technical assessments before submitting candidates to an employer. Reference checks are also critical screening mechanisms. While 69 percent of respondents say that most recruiters secure at least two references, only 14 percent say the recruiters actually contact references, and more than 50 percent say the references most recruiters obtain are not from past supervisors. The Candidate Experience Candidates' perceptions about an employer can be deeply affected by screening process. To avoid losing out on talented workers with solid experience, employers should consider designing the screening process in part from the applicant's perspective. Seventy-four percent of candidates say the employer's screening process affects their decision to continue or remove themselves from candidacy. Great recruiters should be able to explain how their screening processes take into account the needs of employers and job candidates alike. Every competitive organization requires qualified IT talent. Great recruiters know how to find the best IT professionals, how to engage them, and how to screen them for a good fit. By partnering with the best recruiters, employers can access the most qualified talent in their market and hire only those candidates who can and will make a long-term positive impact as an employee. Rachel Russell is the director of TEKsystems.