What Is the Best Way To Hire Technical Staff?

As organizations grow, so does their need for specialized, highly trained professionals. Technical specialists, such as information security engineers and robotics technologists, make an enormous difference in risk management, compliance, cybersecurity, and productivity solutions. What is the best way to hire technical staff? This guide shows how to attract top talent for your industry and overcome common hiring challenges.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO COMPANIES FACE WHEN LOOKING FOR TECHNICAL STAFF?

Technical staff includes many high-demand occupations, such as AI designers, application developers, software architects, cybersecurity specialists, telecom/electronics engineers, and data center technicians. Just the field of infosec analysts is predicted to grow by 30% a year for the next decade. This means that organizations hunting for specialized staff face heavy competition.

The niche nature of many technical professions also creates unique hiring challenges:

• Identifying: What specific qualifications and abilities are necessary to fill the role and deliver a strong return on investment?
• Finding: Where can you find niche specialists who may not even be looking for a job?
• Choosing: How do you evaluate candidates for such specialized roles if your HR staff doesn’t understand the technical job details in the first place?
• Attracting: How can you successfully win top talent from competitors while balancing your hiring budget?
• Retaining: How do you avoid losing technical professionals to a better offer?

All of these issues have solutions that work for mid-sized businesses and large-scale enterprises alike. But you need to be proactive. You can’t expect top talent to simply fall into your lap. 

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO HIRE TECHNICAL STAFF FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION?

Some companies leave the hiring process to their in-house HR department. Others hire technical recruiters. Depending on the role, contracting or contract-to-hire can also be options. Which avenue works best?

1. Weigh the Costs of Recruiting Vs. Upskilling

One workaround for IT recruitment challenges is to employ less-experienced technicians and invest in ongoing training and education. Hiring a college grad for IT is like starting with a base Toyota Camry and adding aftermarket parts to create a supercharged street racer.

The upskilling approach results in technical workers who are customized to your organization’s needs, which is a strong advantage for future expansion. At the same time, there are risks due to front-loaded costs in exchange for payoffs later.

The right answer depends on your short-term and long-term objectives. Are you hiring for a one-time project, or will your needs in the field continue to grow? Upskilling is a good fit for evolving, core investments in your brand, such as enterprise data centers, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance roles. 

2. Create a Hiring Plan

Specialized hires require a different approach than filling run-of-the-mill positions. It’s worth taking the time to create a strategic hiring plan that checks all of your organization’s boxes:

• Project needs and objectives
• Role definitions and expectations
• Skill and experience requirements
• Budget
• Number of openings
• Hiring deadlines

Before you successfully attract the right technical staff, you need to know exactly what you’re looking for. If you have regulatory needs, such as experience with GDPR or HIPAA compliance, make them a central focus of your search. Specialized candidates often reject job offers that are vague about responsibilities or expectations.

3. Use a Reverse Recruitment Approach

Normally, job seekers are the ones initiating contact, visiting work boards and applying for advertised positions. But many engineers and IT professionals aren’t looking for work. They already have a well-paying job, so they probably don’t hang out on Indeed or ZipRecruiter.

With reverse recruiting, your organization reaches out to specialists, not the other way around. Think of it as pitching your business the same way colleges try to attract leading athletes for their sports programs.

To find these tech professionals, you have to think outside the box:

• Specialized social media groups on Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn
• Technical forums like Bleeping Computer, AntiOnline, Cisco Community, StackOverflow, and Reddit (r/netsec and r/cybersecurity, etc.)
• Industry conferences
• Events (hackathons, dev showcases, etc.)
• In-house connections (e.g., respected coworkers or colleagues of your current tech staff)
• LinkedIn profiles for competitor organizations

The reverse recruiting approach is more complicated, but it’s one of the best ways to actually connect with expert-level workers. Trying to post a job advertisement for niche roles often only results in deceptive applications from individuals who have far less experience than claimed.

4. Let Technical Specialists Handle Hiring

Even if you normally don’t work with recruitment agencies, hiring technical staff is a good time to start — unless you have an in-house recruiter with the required IT background. Successfully verifying a candidate’s technical skills means balancing interviews and reference checks with relevant testing and assessment questions.

A recruitment agency may be worth it if you have urgent needs or have trouble connecting with candidates who are serious contenders for your specialized position. Many tech roles are key positions that drive the execution of company objectives, so it’s worth investing in individuals you can trust.

5. Provide an Attractive Offer

How much you can offer depends on your hiring budget, but you need to make your offer stand out. An enticing salary is a good place to start. Many candidates look for quality of life benefits, such as health insurance, paid time off, and hybrid work schedules. If you require five days a week in the office, engineers may go somewhere with a better work-life balance.

6. Be Specific About Roles, Responsibilities, and Opportunities

When you deal with job candidates who have their pick of work opportunities, you need to communicate why your brand is worth the specialist’s time. Many tech analysts want to keep growing professionally, eventually becoming CISOs or team leaders.

Outline what the role entails now and share any plans for growth. Show candidates why their work will be valuable and satisfying, along with any opportunities for ongoing education or mentorship.

LOOK BEYOND HIRING TECHNICAL STAFF AND RETAIN YOUR TOP TALENT

Knowing how to hire technical staff is only half the battle; you also need to develop a retention strategy for top performers. Having a third-party agency manage your tech staff promotes worker satisfaction and engagement. At TSP, we have decades of experience with technical recruitment solutions. Contact us today for specialized roles and requirements.