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Finding top talent that meets your company's needs is no easy feat, let alone hiring for adaptive and multi-skilled professionals in high-demand fields, like Information Technology (IT).

Most business owners see the value of innovation and how it can create efficiencies and fuel growth. As a result, more businesses are exploring tech solutions and need the right people to support them. They are catching on to the benefits of the hybrid IT pro - the dynamic and multi-dimensional IT professional with strong technical skills and the ability to adapt, communicate, and think creatively. This makes hiring managers' search for top IT talent even more difficult than before. 

As the tech field continues to grow, it's important companies establish a strong talent acquisition strategy and follow these tips for finding and retaining top IT talent.

1. Know the Role

In order to search for and acquire top talent, it's critical first to have an understanding of your company's needs. What role do you need to fill? What level of experience is required? How does this individual fit into the companies long-term tech strategy? Here are a few IT roles you may consider.

• IT Specialist/Hardware Engineer: Maintain and manage computers and servers
• Cyber Security Staff: Focus on defending systems from cyber threats
• Help Desk Support: Troubleshoot and solve technical challenges for customers and employees
• Software Developer: Focus on creating foundations for operative systems
• Business Analyst: Use data and information to solve business problems
• Network Admin/Engineer: Maintain networks
• IT Project Managers: Plan and organize IT projects to meet goals
• Systems Engineer: Oversees complex IT systems and infrastructure
• IT Leadership: IT Director, CIO or CTO

Not uncommon, one of the greatest mistakes a hiring manager can make when interviewing candidates, is not having a clear picture of what they're interviewing for. Getting a feel for what the candidate market is like, or figuring what your company's needs are as you go, is a surefire way to waste time in the recruitment process. Failing to have a clearly defined role puts you at a higher risk of missing out on your ideal candidate.

If you are not technically inclined, understanding the intricacies of an IT role may be tricky. But, establishing a deep comprehension allows hiring managers to extend their reach in the IT candidate pool to recognize not only the primary skill set required, but the secondary skills that will make a candidate truly successful.

2. Craft a Detailed Description

Once the role and requirements are agreed upon internally, the next step is to craft a highly effective job description to attract top IT talent. The job description should encompass required certifications, coding languages, project management styles, management experience, and software knowledge. Keep in mind, the more specific your conditions, the narrower the candidate pool, so be judicious with your requirements.

In a fast-changing industry, where adaptive and dynamic professionals are in high demand, you'll want your job description to stand out. Be very clear with the necessary details and write in a manner that motivates job-seekers to apply. Successful job descriptions detail the necessary qualifications and competencies of the role in a very straight-forward manner. According to Linkedin, one of the top job description writing mistakes is using unnecessary jargon, like rockstar or guru. Be specific with the fundamentals you're looking for in this role, and avoid unnecessary fillers.

If you want to attract innovative and intelligent IT professionals, craft your job description in the same caliber. Incorporate thoughtful and intentional marketing tactics into your job description that set it apart from others. For example, try bringing the company's energy and culture to life through your writing. 

3. Perform a Skill Check

Before moving the candidate through the recruitment process, when it comes to an IT role, it's crucial to find out if the candidate is skilled in what they say they are and to the degree necessary for them to perform the tasks of this role successfully.

Although some candidates may not be the best test-takers, requiring a skills assessment test is an excellent way to weed out those that can't walk-the-talk. An assessment test can help you evaluate their claims.

The timing of administering a skills test is up to your company's discretion, too. It can be great to check the validity of their resumes during the interview process, but it can also be a useful screening method. If you have a high volume of candidates or if you're looking for an effective way to mitigate bias, a skills test is a great pre-screening method to avoid interviewing unqualified candidates. 

4. Work with a Staffing Firm

If you're looking to get one step ahead of other companies that are actively recruiting, have the first-look at top IT talent, and work with experts in the IT field, you may consider working with a staffing agency.

A significant benefit of working with a staffing agency that specializes in finding IT candidates is that they have built strong relationships and have access to an extensive network of connections. Such a large database of potential candidates gives companies that work with staffing agencies, and to top talent as they become available.

Working with a staffing firm not only gives companies the first-look at high-quality candidates but gives them access to specialized experts that are privy to the latest trends in the field. For organizations that don't have a robust IT department or in-depth IT knowledge, hiring a staffing agency may be a smart solution. They'll know how to vet IT professionals properly and ask the right questions along the way.  

Recruiting and finding top talent in IT takes intelligent effort. Companies on the search for highly-skilled and dynamic IT professionals need to take an equally skilled approach in their sourcing and recruiting efforts. 

Working with a staffing agency is an efficient way to do just that, taking much of the hassle out of the process. With access to an extensive pool of high-level candidates, your company will gain a competitive edge when it comes to recruiting top IT talent.

To learn more about hiring a staffing agency and working with FrankCrum Staffing, call 888-670-1844.