We have all heard that small and medium-sized businesses face enterprise-sized challenges, and that is certainly true in IT hiring. Securing IT talent is one of the top five initiatives of technology leaders, and with today’s competitive market, organizations across the U.S. are facing hiring challenges for technical positions.
As IT becomes more complex and challenging, small and medium-sized companies are finding it difficult to find that ideal IT candidate. When it comes to recruiting top IT talent, a significant challenge that small businesses face is over-sized competition from larger organizations. Bigger companies often offer stronger benefits packages, higher salaries, and other perks that SMBs typically cannot.
The Problem at Hand
At small and medium-sized businesses, HR, IT Directors, and Managers are not typically set up to recruit and identify the best IT talent for a few reasons:
- HR and Hiring Managers simply don’t have time to spend on recruiting, as their business and IT demands take up all or most of their time and focus.
- Once a position is posted, they do not have the time and bandwidth to properly pre-screen candidates.
- HR does not have the IT network to leverage that will recruit the IT requirements and skillsets necessary to identify the best candidates.
- IT job requirements continue to change and are becoming more demanding.
- As the IT environments continue to become more complex, teams don’t have the internal resources to train and utilize their current staff.
- Lack of budgets and benefits usually are smaller and not as robust versus larger companies.
- Small and medium-sized businesses are challenged to provide the necessary resources to an ever-changing employee landscape to support an evolving remote and virtual workforce. As a result, they don’t have a national hiring network to leverage to meet those demands.
But small and medium-sized companies do have their own advantages. So what are they doing to compete to attract the best IT talent?
The Trends in Small and Medium-sized Business IT Hiring
We are seeing trends that small and medium-sized companies are offering more to potential IT employees. Here’s what you can do to attract and retain IT talent:
- Highlight that you’re offering more challenging and robust IT positions that meet business demands—it’s not simply help desk and tech support positions anymore.
- Deliver the opportunity to become more well-rounded and the chance to expand individuals’ skillsets in areas they might not be able to in a larger environment.
- Provide more competitive salaries and benefit packages that include performance incentives and company performance.
- Offer more perks, such as flexible schedules and the opportunity to work remotely, in addition to more defined career paths.
- Identify when to hire “just in time” contract specialty skills that you need for a project and when to invest in areas to hire fulltime employees.
- Work with IT services partners to expand your ability to identify the best IT talent—which saves you time and effort so you can focus on your core business areas.
Related: How to Attract the Best IT Talent in 2021
If you’re looking to hire, but need assistance, working with a trusted partner can help you accomplish your goals. Employers looking for specific IT skills can gain access to a larger talent pool and more qualified candidates. By working with a partner that deals solely with IT and has a solid track record of success, you increase the likelihood of finding that unicorn candidate you’re looking for. Talk to a potential recruiter and ask if they sort talent not only by skill type and level, but by industry expertise. If so, you’re on the right track. Even if they don’t have a unicorn today, they’re in the best position to corral one for you when they come along.
If you’re ready to get started, reach out to Connection and speak to our IT Staffing/Recruiting team. We offer staffing solutions designed to attract and hire IT talent in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner. We’re here to help you get the talent you need.
Tim Duffy
Tim Duffy is a Lifecycle Staffing Services BDM at Connection with more than 25 years of experience. When he has free time, Tim enjoys spending time with his family and is an avid sports fan.
