Ways to attract the best IT candidates

The IT industry has been one of the most dynamically developing in Poland in recent years, which is why the demand for specialists is constantly growing. The IT employee market is ongoing, as employers know very well. A job offer that will interest and persuade the candidate to change should include not only an attractive salary, but also a promise of development and work on interesting projects and a package of benefits, often tailored to the needs of a given candidate. Meeting such high expectations means that more and more companies have difficulties in recruiting IT specialists. The ways in which companies try to attract the best candidates and distinguish themselves from the competition are presented by the IT expert LeasingTeam.

Employer Branding

Employer Branding, i.e. building an employer brand, aims to promote a positive image of the company as a desirable workplace. Due to the different addressees of its activities, Employer Branding can be divided into internal – addressed to employees and external – addressed to candidates. All activities addressed to employees are aimed at creating a friendly atmosphere for work and development, and they include, m.in, professional recruitment processes, onboarding, health care, benefits and bonuses, or the organization of integration trips. In the case of companies employing IT specialists, there are usually even more facilities for employees. Chillout rooms, free fruit, lunch vouchers, remote work, training, to name just a few. All this to make employees satisfied with their company, which will then have a positive impact on their efficiency and commitment. There is also an additional aspect that employers care about. They want satisfied employees to be their ambassadors, who speak positively about the company to their environment.

In order to appear in the awareness of candidates, including recent IT graduates, companies in the area of modern technologies undertake intensified activities that make up external Employer Branding, i.e. the acquisition of candidates. It is participation in job fairs, taking care of the consistency and attractiveness of job offers, organizing campaigns promoting the company, its atmosphere and positive spirit, or recruiting for summer internships and internships. Companies also focus on unusual solutions, such as participation in virtual IT career fairs or the organization of recruitment, during which the main task is, for example, to write an application in one of the programming languages. All activities that distinguish the company from the competition, which at the same time bring it closer to becoming an employer of choice, are welcome.

Our experience shows that candidates are much more willing to accept employment offers from companies with an established position on the market, which, in addition to an attractive salary and benefits package, can boast a good reputation as an employer and a strong brand – he comments Sandra Olchowik, IT Recruitment Specialist in IT LeasingTeam.

Support for recruitment companies

Reaching IT specialists, who are often not actively looking for a job, and getting them interested in the offer is currently a big challenge. IT specialists can receive from a few to a dozen or so professional offers every day, which they often do not even have time to look through. If they decide to participate in the recruitment process, they want the process to be short and want instant feedback. If the recruitment process drags on, it is almost certain that they will receive another job offer and will no longer be interested in other processes. To sum up, people who work in IT are candidates who require a lot of attention from recruiters and a non-standard approach. Companies are not always able to meet their requirements. The solution used by most technology companies is the support of personnel consulting companies specializing in IT recruitment. With the help of appropriate recruitment tools and methods, the consultants working in them are able not only to select the candidate best suited to the expectations of the organization, but also to support the company in choosing an HR solution that will meet the current needs. A company does not always want to hire full-time candidates, very often it needs a whole team of specialists to implement an IT project that will last several months. Thanks to cooperation with a professional employment agency, the company has employees who carry out the project for it, and their employment and HR and payroll services are the responsibility of the supplier. It is also extremely important to know the latest trends, as well as access to a database of proven candidates, which allows you to significantly shorten the duration of recruitment and reduce its costs. The warranty period provided by personnel consulting companies is not without significance. In the event of a candidate’s resignation or the company’s dissatisfaction with their work, the personnel consulting company is obliged to recruit another person free of charge. The duration of the guarantee usually depends on the level of the position for which the candidate was recruited and can last from 1 to 3 months.

Prolonged or unsuccessful recruitments increase the company’s operating costs, so it is worth taking the time to choose a professional company specializing in IT recruitment. Especially when the recruitment concerns hard-to-fill positions, requiring the candidate to have niche competences, such as those that the IT industry is often looking for – says Sandra Olchowik from IT LeasingTeam.

Knowledge of global trends in the field of benefits

IT companies also compete for employees in terms of the package of benefits offered, which is much richer for IT specialists than for other professional groups. The list of non-wage elements of remuneration systems can be divided into standard and non-standard and those that are popular in Poland and abroad. The standard ones include co-financing of education, medical care, sports card, as well as language courses, remote work, chillout rooms, fruit and unlimited snacks. Currently, these benefits often no longer impress IT specialists. As a result, companies are increasingly outdoing each other in creating new benefits packages, offering employees non-standard benefits that are to make it easier for them to function at work and make their private lives more active. Such benefits include, m.in, a holiday bonus for an employee with several years of work experience and an accompanying person, the possibility of using tennis courts, volleyball or basketball courts, a swimming pool or relaxing massages during work. In England and Japan, some IT companies offer their employees the so-called botox leave, i.e. additional leave that they can spend on biological regeneration. There is also a leave for people who have recently experienced a breakup so that they can regain mental balance. Popular non-wage benefits abroad also include car repairs, including oil change, concierge services or layettes for a newborn child. Companies also support people who would like to adopt a child and cover the costs associated with the entire adoption process.

Technology companies in Poland are trying to follow global trends in the field of incentive packages, although we are still far from England or Japan – believes Sandra Olchowik – Currently, the most popular non-standard benefits offered by companies in Poland are discounts on online shopping, relocation packages, vouchers to restaurants, cinemas or theaters or lessons in a selected foreign language – lists the IT expert of LeasingTeam.

Candidate Experience

Transparency and speed of their implementation as well as care for the Candidate Experience, i.e. the experience of the candidate participating in the recruitment process, play a key role in the implementation of recruitment processes for positions in the IT sector. A good IT candidate is worth its weight in gold, so in order to acquire him, you need to act quickly and according to a thorough plan. The recruiter should keep the candidate clearly informed about the various stages of the process, determine their duration, and meet the promised deadline when arranging feedback.

Before the recruitment meeting, it is worth conducting a preliminary verification of the CV and a short phone conversation with selected candidates. This will save time and will allow you to qualify people who fit the position and their financial expectations are within the assumed budget from the very beginning. A good IT recruiter knows that in order to gain the trust of candidates, they must be in constant contact with them. When a candidate gets a job, a few weeks after it starts, it is worth calling to see if they are satisfied with the decision and the new place of employment.

Efficient recruitment of candidates from the IT industry is still one of the biggest challenges for companies. On the market, it is often the employee, not the employer, who dictates the terms, so due to the specificity of this sector, it is very important to take care of the Candidate Experience, a non-standard approach to candidates, offer an attractive salary and benefits package, development prospects and shorten the duration of the recruitment process. There is a constant competition for IT specialists. It is worth ensuring that the company is supported in this process by recruiters who know the IT industry, who, above all, have excellent recruitment, as well as sales and marketing competences.