Attracting And Retaining Tech Talent Isn’t Rocket Science
Technologists like to learn and solve problems – well, at least the good ones do – and if you let them, you’ll have the building blocks of culture that naturally attracts talent.
All you need to do is:
- Show your team that it is ok to take risks and speak up
- Carve a growth path for every member of the team
- And interview effectively
Then live up to your promises. Carve your commitments into your heart and your staff will start to see your company’s success as their own.
Upward Mobility
The first thing that potential hires look for is upward mobility. Most engineers would rather commit to a stable job that will reward years of hard work than jump from company to company in search of better opportunities.
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If you tell your staff that there’s no room to grow, expect them to start dusting off their resumes!
People work harder when the are valued, and your commitment to upward mobility shows your team that you value their growth and technical improvement. They’ll work harder and be happier.
I don’t mean “talking about upward mobility”, I mean actually creating it.
I’ve seen the technical team of a billion dollar enterprise ripped to shreds because the CTO failed to tell the top engineers how to advance their careers. Read more here: Failing to Create Upward Mobility For Your Staff Will Destroy Your Team
Churn
The second thing engineers look at is how often engineers leave your organization.
From an applicant’s perspective, why bother working for an organization that can’t keep people around? It’s probably a place that won’t value the applicant and won’t create a rewarding environment.
This really comes down to psychological safety.
But psychological safety is about more than knowing you have a job to come back to the next day. It’s about creating communication and processes that give everyone a voice.
Here is a really easy way to kickstart a healthy environment: Notify Then Do.
Screening
Sadly, most companies do not know how to interview the technical talent they attract.
Treat applicants the way you would prospective clients. After all, this is a sales & marketing effort more than anything else. Cater to them and ask lots of questions about where they are going and why.
Parading applicants before your top engineers to answer a bunch of silly questions won’t tell you if an applicant is any good, and is almost guaranteed to make the applicant want to work elsewhere.
And for the love of god, don’t give them a coding exam until the end of the process. Why would any good engineer waste his or her time on an anxiety filled test when they can go interview with a different company that just wants to chat?
Here is an in depth article on the right way to screen technical talent: How To Interview Engineers And Build A Great Team.
Voila
You have the building blocks of culture that naturally attracts talent.
Now that your foundation is in place, get to work on how your team communicates about goals, cultivates autonomy, and shares information.
Or, checkout How To Be A Great CTO – 8 Things All Great CTOs Do.
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