How to effectively conduct IT recruitment?

In a situation where the organization lacks specialized staff, and in particular in the IT department, the company faces a number of demanding challenges that it should deal with quickly. These challenges include problems with delivering products and services to the end customer, lack of technical support from other departments in the company or stagnation and lack of technological development.

In the era of ever-increasing competition, when trade in a homogeneous product is no longer so easy, and the supply of services begins to grow drastically, an organization should surround itself with the best employees and keep up with the prevailing trends. However, this is not possible without a qualified group of specialists. So how to recruit technical specialists, what steps to take to make the process successful?

First: the profile of the ideal candidate

At the very beginning of the process, the organization should define who it needs and what tasks the potential candidate will perform. If there is a problem within the organization with defining the requirements for the candidate, the company should seek professional advice from a personnel consulting agency (such advice can be obtained, for example, from Talentica). Thanks to the well-specified assumptions of a specific recruitment project, we increase the chance of reaching the selected target group of our candidates. When creating a profile of the ideal candidate, it is worth paying attention to such aspects as:
 

The above points are only an overview of the information necessary in the recruitment process, which the organization should specify before starting the process itself. Starting the process without collecting precise assumptions results in a lack of professionalism in the eyes of potential candidates, putting the company at risk of losing its reputation and employer branding consequences.

Second: you are a seller, so prepare a professional advertisement

If the organization already has all the design assumptions, it is worth starting designing a professional job advertisement. This advertisement should not only contain details about the company, specific requirements and information listed above, but should also include relevant keywords tailored to the specific target group. When constructing a job advertisement, it should be borne in mind that the organization acts as a seller and the candidate is its client. It is worth remembering, however, that just like a seller who is dishonest towards his customers, a company looking for the perfect candidate, and supporting itself with, for example, false information in its advertisements or incorrect data, is exposed to serious consequences not only in terms of lost reputation but also from a legal point of view. It is very important here to treat future co-workers with the highest possible respect, only in this way this "sale" makes sense. Under no circumstances should the advertisement contain information inconsistent with the facts. Instead, it should highlight important aspects of the job that are worth considering, tailored to the specific profile of the candidate. For example, when carrying out a recruitment project for a Java Developer, it should be emphasized what technologies the candidate will be dealing with, what he will be working on (detailed description of the project), how big the team is, etc. This is very important information from the candidate's point of view, without which good specialists are hard to find.

Be visible and place an ad on well-known portals

The next step is to support job portals. Many seasoned recruiters will consider this method obsolete when it comes to the IT industry, but it is still a very helpful form of acquiring talent (especially if we are looking for people with less experience). There are many such portals on the market, the most popular are, of course, praca.pl and pracuj.pl, but there are also many others, such as olx.pl, gumtree.pl or gowork.pl. When placing an ad on such a portal, it is worth taking advantage of the additional promotion of the ad, such as bolding, raising the ad to higher positions, etc. These elements will certainly not hurt, are not too expensive, and can help significantly.

"You praise others, you don't know your own..." or employee orders in practice

The internal team of the organization is a powerful force. If specific people work within the organization, it means that they did not get the "job" by chance, or at least this scenario is unlikely if we are talking about an intelligent, self-learning organization, a 21st century organization where nepotism does not play the "first fiddle". So if we are satisfied with the current employees, there is a good chance that if they recommend their friends to work, they will be equally effective. In such a situation, it is worth rewarding effective (signing a contract with the recommended candidate) recruitment, rewarding the employee who made the recommendation. It can be a form of salary supplement (e.g. an additional 15% of his current salary) or an interesting reward (e.g. a trip). Companies use different motivational tricks, each of them fits a specific organization and is usually very effective. Employees are happy to recommend their friends if they feel that the organization they work for is not the one for "one month".

Your online image, i.e. the "Career" tab

A very important element of recruitment is the website itself, which without any doubt should be responsive (adjusted to all types of devices) and properly designed in terms of User Experience and User Interface. If these aspects are met, it is worth taking care of a high-quality "Career" tab with current job offers. This tab can be properly prepared together with a team of designers and programmers of the appropriate technology. Talentica is one of the companies that helps its clients in preparing the right website.

Don't forget about SEO

A very important aspect, apart from the "Career" tab itself, is its positioning in the organic results of the search engine (SEO - Search Engine Optimization). This is a process that we can do ourselves if our knowledge is high enough or it is most convenient to use a professional company that deals with it on a daily basis. SEO is an organic method of promotion, positioning our website for specific keywords, e.g. "java developer job". It is an investment that lasts a long time (at least 6 months to see measurable effects), but it pays off with a vengeance and it is worth being aware of it. Therefore, SEO positioning is worth considering as an investment if our goal is to build brand awareness in the long term and systematically increase website traffic.

Turn to Social Media

Another important point is the presence and activity in social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or the increasingly popular Instagram or Snapchat. The mere presence, however, will not give us much if we do not conduct an active discussion with potential candidates, we do not participate in the comments and actively participate in the discussion (even the one that is inconvenient for us from the point of view of the organization). We can also use social media if you want paid promotion, buy an advertising campaign or participate in specific thematic groups, e.g. IT Jobs in Warsaw.

When other methods fail ... or cooperation with a recruitment agency

If the above methods do not work or we do not have the time and resources to test them, and we are looking for a specialist with niche competences, it is worth considering cooperation with a good recruitment agency. The agency has the advantage that it has a huge number of contacts to potential candidates, so it is much easier for it to find the right specialist in a reasonable time. When choosing it, you should take into account aspects such as references from clients and candidates, scope of operation (it is easiest to cooperate with agencies with experience in implementing global projects), guarantee and specialization. This last aspect is extremely important. It's hard to work with an agency that recruits manual workers on a daily basis, and we need IT specialists. Unfortunately, there are still agencies on the market that specialize in everything, and really do not know any industry well. For example, Talentica is an agency specializing in IT and the company is able to carry out these projects with attention to the smallest details.

Summary: the recruitment process is an extremely complicated process, a process that requires incredible craftsmanship and knowledge of its specifics. Starting from defining the requirements and imagining the perfect candidate, to SEO, Social Media activities or choosing a recruitment agency. A recent study by Antal and Macrologic shows that recruitment is the top priority in the category of HR challenges. 74% of respondents consider this aspect to be very important, and another 22% position it as important. This proves that it is worth taking care of this process internally or with the help of an external company.