System Not Compatible: What’s Shaping The Process on How You Are Getting Your Best Technical Hires

Fraught with competition, recruiting and hiring frequently get equated to military-style operations, and in the ongoing “war for talent,” no one wants to lose. This basic fact is a significant driver in the rapid and continued advancement of HR technologies. That, and a host of outside influences including low unemployment rates and an ever-widening skills gap.

Collectively, the need to improve recruiting and hiring feeds an expansive culture of innovation – and well-established marketplace. Do even the slightest research on HR or recruiting technology, and witness firsthand the sheer number of available solutions, designed to automate every last step in the process. To the point that some fear they may become obsolete. It’s overwhelming – and for a good reason.

There’s an obvious need.

Don’t become obsolete: Keep on evolving

Let’s take a moment to pause for introspection. Now, there are countless recruiting-related statistics out there in the world, but very little information about the people doing the hiring. Much like the roles that organizations look to fill, recruiters traverse multiple generations, potentially skewing towards the younger end of the spectrum, with the elders in senior positions.

In terms of understanding and leveraging recruiting technology, this is an important distinction.

For some, there is no life before technology. Period. For others, the digital transformation happened in front of their eyes. As a result, some are quicker to adopt than others, despite a possible divide between those doing the buying and those doing the using. To avoid a prospective hurdle, recognize technology as a means to an end, vs. the other way around. One that requires regular updating, recurrent monitoring, and periodic appraisal to stay compatible, compliant and valuable to the organization.

A tall order, indeed. But one with meaningful, measurable hiring outcomes.

Stay Compatible: Ways to stay in the know

To accomplish this, on top of everything else in one’s job description, there needs to be time set aside for thinking and reading. Famously, Warren Buffet reads more than 6 hours each day.

Here’s a few key ways to ensure you remain in the know.

• Keep up with industry news. Put aside time for learning. This doesn’t have to be in the evening. Learning is part of your job and should be incorporated into your day.
• Understand the key players in your industry. Go local, go national, go global. The idea is that you are following thought leaders in the industry that you are targeting. You cannot expect to have intelligent conversations with top talent if you are not educated.
• Engage an analyst. An analyst can help sort through the solutions and steer a clear path to the best tech for the organization’s hiring needs. But ultimately, how this happens is less important than getting in the habit.

See that’s the key. Like running system updates, reviewing and refreshing tech is ongoing. By the time a solution gets up and running, there’s a new integration available, a new strategy to support or, new legislation changing the rules of the game. This is where those military references come into play again. With recruiting operating as a game of risk and reward, however, the only way to stay a step ahead is to continue changing stance.

Readily available tech resources

We’re not talking about subscribing to the next big ATS or marketing automation tool. We’re talking about arming yourself with the resources to break standard. Whether physically subscribing to newsletters or securing research from outside experts, the information is there for the taking.

Content and experiential tactics for technical hiring

We get it. How does reading an online publication help to land your next great technical hire? On the surface, it’s hard to make the connection. Indirectly, the plethora of knowledge is substantially more than spending your time “liking” the latest “how to” video on Facebook.

• Start by perusing tech news sites like TechCrunch. In addition to covering giants of industry, it also profiles tons of startups, new business, and emerging products.
• Up until 2015, TechCrunch ran Crunchbase, now a separate entity, an incredibly useful site for learning more about the particulars of both public and private companies.
• For “tech news you won’t read anywhere else,” there’s The Information, a subscription-based option that offers yearly packages ranging from $199 for young professionals to a $749 all-access account.
• Other tech sites worth a follow include Recode, VentureBeat, WIRED and the list goes on.

With traditional media focused solely on big organizations that help move the market up and down, turning into any of these online publications will provide a more in-depth and immersive tech education. Aside from general tech, look for niche outlets that focus in on specific talent acquisition topics. Tech trends and vendors get to play here, too.

Beyond the headlines

Beyond browsing headlines, don’t overlook the more interactive experiences. Many publications host local events, meetups, large-scale conferences and online functions like webinars and social chats. Find and follow writers that resonate. If a question needs an answer, ask it. Without following the conversation, there’s no way to comprehend its impact on everyday operations. Without staying informed, there’s no way to unlock that competitive advantage everyone’s chasing.

Knowing what’s out there shaping the process, supports finding exactly who is out there, talent-wise. It’s the only way to play to the game, or in this case, win the war.

Tech hiring managers and recruiters face a big problem. They badly need effective tech talent, but they struggle to acquire it. According to an Indeed survey, 86% say they find it challenging to find and hire tech talent, with 36% saying they find it “very” challenging.

This raises a question: How can the HR tech industry help solve this problem? During a new edition of the Today’s Innovation Channel Podcast, titled “Do You Speak Geek? Meet eTeki,” eTeki Director of Operations Amanda Cole argued that solution stacks are a big part of the answer.
Cole joined host Peter Clayton for the podcast. They also discussed:

• What eTeki does, and how our technical interview service works for clients
• eTeki’s network of freelance tech interviewers, and how interviewers are vetted
• Why job boards need to be looking at partnerships to stay relevant
• Cole’s HR tech predictions for 2017

Solution Stacks: Good for Employers and Providers
What are solution stacks? Why do we believe they will improve employers’ tech recruiting success?

At their core, as Cole explained in the podcast, solution stacks are committed teams of businesses working together to help the same group of customers meet their business objectives. The businesses’ solutions are combined—or stacked—to become a unified solution.

That may be confusing, but becomes clear when we look at an actual example. In the case of finding and hiring tech talent, a solution stack could include a reference check provider, an employment background screening provider, a personality assessment provider, and a technical interview provider (eTeki). Instead of each provider just performing its small part of the screening process, they are layered together to provide a unified solution that provides all of an employer’s candidate screening, separating the contenders from the pretenders.

“HR tech alliances are going to be essential (moving forward),” Cole said during the podcast. “Employers don’t need multiple vendors to manage. They don’t need many different billing schedules. (They) don’t need confusion about where to put what in the recruiting process.”

Meanwhile, HR tech alliances can deliver what employers do need: better solutions. In the case of a tech recruiting solution stack, employers will get faster and more accurate screening results—candidates not only will be delivered more quickly to hiring managers, but they also will be of higher quality.

Of course, alliances are also attractive to providers, as their offerings are more attractive because being part of a solution stack makes them more robust and efficient. Additionally, providers can share referrals and combine on marketing efforts, among other benefits.

Lose the Bad Hires and Make Everybody Happy
Ultimately, Cole explained, it’s critical for all employers—from startups to market leaders—to identify the right tech candidates the first time. Bad hires cost more than $10,000 per year and wipe out the gains of more than two superstar employees, according to Cornerstone OnDemand. Bad tech hires, meanwhile, almost surely are even costlier. Among the ramifications:

• Technical problems contribute to products not being delivered properly or on time to customers
• Software and other technologies not working properly for customers and internally
• Lower morale on technical teams
• Work backlogs

As Cole noted, companies today need to differentiate themselves with their technology, and they need strong IT and tech teams to make that happen. By stacking their solutions, HR tech providers can help HR and tech leaders get the talent they need.

“When the hiring manager is happy, we’re all happy,” she said. “When the HR director, the VP of HR are happy, we’re all happy.”
We believe that the right stack of screening solutions, including technical screening, will make everybody involved with tech recruiting happy.

The podcast is embedded above.