As a recruiting partner, we’re often asked, what really impacts the amount of time for a tech hire? The real answer to this age-old question? It depends. BWBacon has helped companies hire qualified candidates within one day of a job opening being posted, and seen other high-level searches that took months.
If you tried baking a loaf of bread during quarantine, finding the right person to join your team has a similar balance of blending the right ingredients, setting the temperature, and leaving the ‘dough’ time to rise. Understanding the overlapping elements that influence your time to hire can help expedite the process. This post will cover tips for tweaking your process, and breakdown a few interesting hiring statistics.
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Bringing Together The Right Elements
Recruiting in the tech industry has evolved over the last several years. Hiring managers understand that rushing the time to hire through surface-level adjustments can create a disconnect of intention versus impact. This self-fulfilling prophecy effects the tech industry at higher rates than any other industry, with a turnover rate of 13.2% a year.
It’s important to distinguish steps in your process that focus on securing top candidates over putting butts in seats. What do we mean by this? Qualifying a candidate’s skill sets, how they are able to work independently and with others, and preparing new hires for continued growth are some examples of how to reduce that dreaded turnover cost.
The Top 3 Factors That Can Reshape The Hiring Process
- Define the role.
- It may seem obvious, but having a clear picture of what you are looking for in an ideal candidate from the get-go can save a lot of time returning to the drawing board if your job description is not specific enough. Refresh your job descriptions and consider if they are asking for three engineers in one, or accurately describing what the person would be doing if hired.
- In addition to tech skill requirements, consider the other qualities that make a great hire like are they reliable? Do they get along with coworkers? What unique perspectives do they bring to the table? Use a variety of assessments and questions to flesh out how someone would excel in the role.
- Provide quality interview feedback.
- When working with a recruiting partner, timely interview feedback can reduce the amount of time for a tech hire. The global pandemic will continue to impact the way we work, therefore staying on top of communication in the hiring process ensures good candidates stay engaged. Take a look at our post on providing quality interview feedback here.
- Examine who your candidate pipeline attracts.
- There is no better time than now to examine how your company builds its candidate pipeline. With sustained remote work, digital job boards are more significant than ever. You can further the reach of your company’s job postings by utilizing less traditional online job boards and tech-specific platforms. Working with a local recruiting partner also increases that visibility in local tech communities.
- Finally, if work remains online, reducing the requirements for job descriptions ensures your role will attract a range of qualified candidates. Does the language in your JD exclude any groups? Flexible work can also diversify teams and encourage working parents, especially women, and BIPOC to be hired for leadership roles.
Tech Hiring By The Numbers
- According to Workable, the global average for filling tech roles is 62 days, and hiring senior engineers has an even higher average time to fill at 70.5 days. Here in Denver’s resilient tech scene, our team fills senior roles in an average of 38 days.
- Referrals matter. Stack Overflow found that nearly 30% of developers found their current role from a former colleague or friend, emphasizing the importance of having a strong, active network of candidates even when not hiring.
- 55% of engineers and developers surveyed by Codility listed opportunities for professional development as the most important factor for choosing an employer, closely followed by salary. Knowing the market value of the level of engineer you are seeking, and openly discussing their opportunities for growth will give your offer the competitive edge.
- 57% of developers have less than 5 years of professional coding experience. Why does this matter? Understanding the talent pool can allow for organizational shifts that focus on training and investing in learning opportunities for up and coming technologists to grow your business.
- Investing in your process actually matters. 63% of job seekers will likely reject a job offer due to a bad or untimely candidate experience, and we have seen it firsthand.
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Can You Determine The Amount Of Time For A Tech Hire Based On Roles?
To sum up, the amount of time for a tech hire is influenced by conjoining factors. From examining your job descriptions to providing timely feedback, the virtual workplace needs intentional and organized interview processes more than ever.
The amount of time for a tech hire also varies based on the type of position your company is hiring for. For example, C-level hiring can be a far more meticulous process that requires a lot of people to be on board before committing to a new relationship. Often, finding the right executive hire can be tedious, as this person could shape the future of the company.
While there are schools of thought on how to accelerate the amount of time for a tech hire, there is no silver bullet. This time has been an opportunity for companies to breathe new life into their interview process, and try new ways of evaluating candidates virtually.
Want more numbers on tech hiring? Get the Details In Our BWBacon Infographic!
Here at BWBacon Group, we know and live what you are experiencing as an employer or job seeker in Denver, Boulder, Dallas, San Francisco, New York City or any of the other cities we work in. We believe great recruiting starts and ends with understanding people.
If you have any questions about living, working or playing any of the areas we serve, please contact us. We are happy to help. Seize the day, every day, that’s what we say!