When I hear the excuse ‘There aren’t enough engineers on the market,’ after 20 years in IT recruiting, it makes me tempted to question it.
How can it be possible that some companies receive 40+ applicants for certain IT job positions and others none?
Companies tend to complicate things when it comes to hiring, adding piles of tools and one-size-fits-all solutions without considering if they fit their hiring process and do their personnel has an overall understanding of which tool or action helps solve a specific problem.
Let’s look at the abundance of company behaviors watering down the IT hiring market.
Why are some companies able to hire software engineers and others don’t?
Firsthand I will list the most occurring issues that most possibly degrade your potential.
The ATS/hiring system issue
Some companies transform their job posting into a candidate Black Hole.
Actions like these negatively degrade employer branding and influence current and future recruitment results.
The negative impact widens up when candidates apply but never hear back from the recruiter or are contacted months later.
According to my experience, if software engineers are actively looking for a job, they will find a job in just one week.
Wouldn’t it be easier to use ATS with a one-click application instead of filling out 40 separate fields? Think about it for a moment, if they aren’t that motivated to switch jobs, would they fill up the endless list of empty fields in your ATS?
I think you already know the answer.
Hey, IT recruiters, remember IT people (regularly) already have a job. Is it the right way to motivate them to change jobs by starting it with the waste of their time?” - Ana Gospodinova, Director Talent Management, WeAreDevelopers
There are plenty of non-time-consuming application platforms for hiring software engineers, making an excuse for change by saying that you already have installed ATS is redundant.
The gray area of IT jobs
Number of available IT regularly defines the industry competitiveness level. We mostly forget that some of these job openings are only for promotional purposes.
Additionally, some job postings are listed as pipeline builders for future needs, while others help companies get better visibility. This is obviously a not contributing factor.
If you want to build a pipeline, a community of software engineers, or just to get visibility, you should consider using different channels such as:
- IT events
- IT workshops
- Specialized dev community events
And then, some IT job openings aim to only hire if, while the company does operate in perfect condition without the actual need for additional software engineer.
Not to mention that this is wrong, making qualified candidates part of a dead application pool. Actions like these build distrust against job boards and recruiters in general.
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A big enigma for IT recruiters.
You should dedicate time to the following if you don’t want to be affected by the lack of software engineers applications:
- Remote: Most of the time, companies located at unattractive locations tend to attract and hire on-site software engineers. This practice requires experience in remote onboarding and managing remote teams while constantly revisiting employee retention practices.
- Salary: Simultaneously, there is no cheap and super-experienced software engineer. At least not that many. Remember, there are no software engineers who would change their jobs for less than what they currently earn.
- Visa applicants: Rejecting candidates even if they fit technology requirements just because they need a working visa is a common practice. I often hear the argument that the visa process takes too long and that company needs a certain candidate asap.
Hiring a local software engineer usually takes longer than going through the visa procedure.
How big the talent pool primarily depends on how open the company is.
- Local language: Oftenly, I see some IT positions open for more than a year. The local country language might be needed initially for some companies, while others only stick to this requirement because of their comfort. It further narrows the talent pool.
English is the language that most software engineers speak.
- Qualified management: Build your management around people who understand hiring, managing, and retaining in IT.
Failing professionalism when hiring software engineers
Often neglected and hard to accept.
Lack of professionalism pushes companies into a death trap. Usually, failing to hire software engineers just because they have unskilled IT recruiters or they fail to provide the appropriate training for them.
As much needed for software engineers, growth opportunities and education for IT recruiters become an investment into competitiveness.
Forward-thinking hiring managers can early spot the difference in the market and embrace new angles.
Conclusion
Thinking out of the box is one of the ways to prevail in challenging times, and without further saying IT industry is in it at the moment.
Introspecting that the root of the problem lies in our current approach, instead of being seen in everything else around, opens new bold possibilities and, in the end, will improve the number of applicants per open job posting.
Don’t forget that how big the talent pool primarily depends on how a company is open for a change.
