If you’re short on IT talent, you’re in good company. A 2017 Talemetry survey reported that 71% of organizations struggled to find qualified candidates for their positions. A perfect storm of different factors (the IT talent gap and an increase in passive job seekers among them) has made hiring for IT positions nationwide harder. How are businesses staying competitive? Some are turning to contingent workforce solutions to provide them with the high-quality candidates they need most. Here are just a few of the advantages of going with contingent staffing (and how partnering with IT staffing firms that make regular contact with consultants a priority can be an advantage to you).
The U.S. contingent workforce is predicted to grow beyond 40% of the total labor pool. What’s the appeal? Tech professionals are drawn to the flexibility and variety of work that IT consulting positions provide. With a larger population of IT contract workers, the talent pool becomes more fluid. IT talent in limited supply like mobile developers, cloud specialists, and data analysts are locked down for shorter periods of time, and their expertise is better distributed throughout the job market.
Companies that tap into the IT consultant segment of the workforce are better adapted to filling their open positions. Additionally, they have the ability to transition tech professionals into permanent roles through a contract-to-hire agreement. That way, if the candidate appears to be more of a long-term fit, you can take their commitment and creative problem-solving skills on more permanently.
Acquiring top talent depends on your timing. The limited supply of technical professionals becomes available (or willing to change jobs) at different times. A strong talent pipeline in which your hiring team builds stable relationships with numerous candidates improves the odds that candidates’ availability and your opportunities will correspond.
The difficulty arises from the time and effort it takes to build your pipeline. Making the time to learn the skills, goals, and personalities of hundreds of potential candidates is a full-time job. In fact, that’s exactly what our Engagement Managers do. They keep up communication with a wide range of candidates across different skill sets, building deep connections that last. They regularly check in with IT professionals, take them out to coffee or lunch, and determine where candidates are in the job search process. This empowering experience builds trust, making IT professionals confident in the career recommendations our team makes.
The IT talent gap makes every relationship you build indispensable. Why go through the struggle of building new bonds with unknown commodities when you’ve already found top performers? It’s a little redundant. However, if you are not regularly reestablishing a firm connection with IT consultants, they’ll drift away on the whim of the wind. Employee retention strategies keep tech talent grounded, but your team needs to be willing to make ongoing re-engagement a primary focus.
Our own Engagement Management Program prioritizes re-engagement with our top IT consultants. We check in as contracts wind down, determining how candidates want to grow personally and professionally before finding a position with one of our clients to satisfy those goals. In this way, we take the initiative to maintain our relationships, putting in the effort so that all parties can share in our success. Plus, we incentivize top IT consultants to stick around, giving them a share and a say in our success through our ESOP if they continue to work with IDR. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Does getting a flexible and loyal workforce with hard-to-find skill sets sound too good to be true? It doesn’t have to be. The IDR team is experienced with providing contingent workforce management solutions that takes the time and effort out of our clients’ hands. Get in touch with your local IDR office to make the most of your talent search as you work around the IT skills gap.
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