It’s no secret that the market for digital talent is extremely tight right now. Once upon a time, posting a role to Seek or LinkedIn would result in streams of candidate applications – qualified and unqualified. Needless to say, the ‘post-it and they shall come’ approach worked, and it worked well. But now, global talent shortages across a range of industries and specialisations are forcing companies to think outside the box to secure candidates. But where do you start?

As a digital recruitment agency navigating today’s restricted market, we have seen a number of interesting approaches clients have taken to approach this hurdle. And we want to share them with you.

Here are our top 8 techniques for building your pipeline and finding more candidates:

1. Build your own pipeline

If you can’t buy the talent you’re seeking, why not build it? Many clients are looking at how they can bring in and upskill new talent or move existing employees through added training and support. Some of the trending options we’ve seen and recommend include:

• Offering an internship/graduate program: This will help to widen your talent pipeline by opening your company to external applications.
• Helping transition existing staff into technology through an internal training academy/program: The upside of this? You will end up with employees that are already a company culture fit, know the inner workings of the company and who will be grateful (and loyal) for the investment you make in them.
• Engaging with talent pipeline partners: Organisations like She Codes and Coder Academy provide recruitment-adjacent candidate sourcing options that help students of all ages gain technical skills through introductory courses. They then partner with value-aligned employers (like you!) to facilitate an entry point for their graduates into the industry.

2. Explore social media

LinkedIn, Twitter and Medium are a few channels where professional thought leadership reigns supreme. Use these channels to share more about your company and its’ values to attract like-minded professionals.

There is also a growing number of TikTok users who are interested in transitioning into technology careers – that includes young people starting their careers as well as more established professionals who are keen to transition into a technical career. Sharing ‘a day in the life’ snapshot allows these individuals to understand what it is like to work in technology on a personal level. With over 800 million active users worldwide, this also presents a huge employer branding opportunity that could help build out your ‘top of the funnel’ recruitment pipeline.

3. Consider job sharing

Another option to access talent is job sharing – an emerging trend that hasn’t quite taken off yet.

Is 2022 the year for job sharing to become mainstream? I asked my LinkedIn network what they thought, and the results were a little different to what I expected. 41% said yes, 37% said no, and 23% were unsure. Given many candidates are seeking more flexible ways of working, we see this as an exciting way to capture talent.

Similarly, employers that are interested in bolstering their diversity may be interested to understand that offering job sharing and other flexible work arrangements may help businesses recruit and retain employees. This includes employees with disabilities, older employees and employees with caring responsibilities.

4. Give niche job boards a try

If Seek and LinkedIn haven’t worked for you, why not try more targeted job boards? We recommend:

• Work180 for more diverse talent
• Ethical Jobs for those seeking value-aligned talent
• GradConnect and any University Job Board
• Pedestrian for creative / marketing talent
• Stack Overflow for developers / technical talent
• AngelList to find candidates that are excited about working within a start-up/scale-up.

The caveat here? You will need to make sure your opportunity and organisation ‘speaks’ to the type of community you are targeting.

5. Offer a referral incentive scheme

This is not a new strategy by any means but it is a tool not always utilised. Asking your existing employees to refer a friend and offering a referral bonus for successful recruitment outcomes should open up a new talent pipeline.

Conscientious employees are unlikely to refer their unqualified or unprofessional friends which means a referred employee is quite likely to be a good culture fit.

6. Open the office doors up

Similarly, hosting industry meetups often attracts great talent who are passionate about refining their skillset and meeting new people. By offering to host industry meetups you can increase awareness of who you are and what you do, meet prospective talent, and of course share more about your company and potential career opportunities.

7. Promote diversity

There is a significant amount of untapped talent in the marketplace when considering candidates that have non-linear careers. Think about those return-to-work mums, career change champions or minority group members that haven’t considered careers in technology… the list goes on! Can your company provide additional support through the recruitment and onboarding process to unleash their ability and subsequent loyalty? Diverse candidates represent a high potential segment of the talent marketplace that brings business benefits in greater customer empathy and innovation.

8. Headhunt, headhunt, headhunt!

And finally… you can’t go past headhunting. This is a tried and true method of wooing a candidate to join your workplace. Time-consuming? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. This is something your friendly boutique recruitment agency Hunt & Co. can also help with!

Looking for a recruitment partner to help you with your digital recruitment needs? Contact us and get in touch with our team today to see how we help you and your company.

Career Tips, Diversity & Inclusion

Tags: diversity and inclusion, flexible work, job sharing