Talent Acquisition and Retention Strategies in Tech for 2022: Part Two

Hiring teams need help. Especially hiring teams trying to figure out how to attract top talent. Tech recruiters everywhere are struggling to develop their talent acquisition solutions. But most of them are also engaged and worried about retaining the IT talent they already have.

Tech shortages coupled with the Great Resignation on top of COVID disruption have made for a tumultuous couple of years in the U.S. We’ve compiled some of the best talent acquisition and retention strategies to help you calm the storm.

Tech Talent Acquisition Strategies

Lever says there are a few talent acquisition trends this year that we should be paying close attention to when developing our talent harvesting strategies, including:

• An increased use of data-driven recruiting. This includes real-time data analytics to track funnels and time-to-hire along with candidate feedback scores. This data should be available as a single source of truth for recruiters and hiring managers to make the recruiting process more seamless for the candidate.
• Automated nurturing campaigns to provide an engaging candidate experience. Not only does this ensure a consistently good experience for any candidate you come in contact with, it improves the workflows of your recruiting team. Manually handling candidate communication is labor-intensive. In the coming years, we will see easy automated flows for candidate-centric communications that seek to keep them interested during the interview process.

While digital solutions can improve the hiring process and help TA, other, more manual processes can bring real weight to your talent acquisition strategies in 2022.

Three that we like include:

• Promoting a tech apprenticeship program.
• Offer temp-to-hire and temp jobs to expand your candidate pool.
• Increase your on-the-job training processes.

Promote Tech Apprenticeships

No IT talent acquisition solution is complete without a tech apprenticeship program. Not only can these programs engage your current workforce by teaching and mentoring new IT talent, it attracts a steady stream of talent that you’re nurturing toward your company. Fast Company says, “smart companies don’t just search for capable employees; they create them.”

• Establishing a tech apprenticeship program can:
• Increase the IT talent pool.
• Build roots in your local community.
• Cut down hiring time.
• Promote diversity.
• Improve your culture.
• Focus your team on generating tech capabilities you’ll need down the road.
• Teach you something about yourself.

There is an element of giving back during this process that can arm your tech recruiters with a compelling story to share with new recruits. This is why a tech apprenticeship program is a win-win for the company, its employees, and candidates.

You can develop a Registered Apprenticeship Program at Apprenticeship.gov. The website offers many resources designed to get you started.

Offer Temp and

Temp-to-Hire Tech Jobs

Temp and temp-to-hire positions allow you to introduce contractors to your company. It gives contract IT workers a chance to try it before they buy it, but also it opens the door to all kinds of talent, even those IT teams that prefer contracting. The point is to offer as many lucrative kinds of jobs in your company to attract a diverse array of IT expertise. Vector Talent Resources can partner with you to make this a seamless, effective part of your recruiting tech talent strategy.

Emphasize On-the-Job Training

Hiring for soft skills and then providing on-the-job training is an important strategy for recruiting talent that will immediately improve your funnel. You can set up a mentoring program for more junior developers, for example, by pairing them with more senior engineers. This opens the door to talent that has the right attitude and cultural fit, but just needs some upskilling.

Stay tuned for Part Three of this series! Coming soon!