More often than not, companies choose to source their potential employees from relatively few sources. For the most part, these sources are traditional colleges or universities that are well-known throughout the country. There’s nothing wrong with choosing to recruit solely from a university or college, but it limits the potential pool of applicants drastically.
Discovering the sources of talented tech individuals is going to become increasingly important in the next few years as technology continues to take over every industry of work around the world. However, finding these employees is only half the battle as retaining them is just as important as hiring them in the first place. Below are two unique sources for hiring talented tech workers along with the best way to actually retain the employees you hire.
Tech Bootcamps
Finding the most talented tech employees is entirely dependent on who your company is looking for and what traits they hope to see in a potential employee. Tech bootcamps are a fantastic source of talented tech employees if you are looking to spend little time training the new members of your workforce.
Those who enroll in tech bootcamps traditionally have experience in the tech field and whatever career path they are looking to pursue. Unlike a college or university, a tech bootcamp teaches a student a very specific skill that is applicable to a certain career path. Over the last decade, coding bootcamps became the most well-known of these bootcamps, but a number of different bootcamps have emerged over the years.
For perspective, popular data science bootcamps have arisen over the last few years and made a field that used to require a master’s degree accessible to all. Discounting graduates of this educational source simply because it is an expedited form of education is one of the easiest ways to lose a large number of potential employees.
Trade Schools
Not dissimilar to tech bootcamps, trade schools are a fantastic source for identifying talented individuals. However, trade schools take about a full year to complete, which means the education received is far stronger than alternative sources, such as tech bootcamps. Finding a trade school and partnering with them to recruit graduates is a great way of spotting talented individuals.
A number of trade schools offer a range of classes that have to do with various tech fields. For example, top-rated schools, such as General Assembly, feature courses in product management, full stack development, and engineering immersion, just to name some of many. This means that the potential employees that could be sourced from these schools may have a wider range of talent and skills.
Trade schools are an important and accessible option for anybody who doesn’t want to pay the premium cost that comes with a college or university. Between both of these options, there is no bad choice, but choosing the best option for your company is all about determining who you want to be working at your organization.
Understand Employee Demographics
Assuming you have found the employees who can take your company to the next level, you’re going to need to determine how to retain your employees. The best way to go about this is to offer benefits that actually apply to your employees. For the most part, companies do not take the necessary time to determine what benefits would apply the most to their workforce.
Over 70 percent of millennials were employed in the last few years, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and these employees require different benefits than their older counterparts. Younger employees prefer benefits such as paid time off, rather than the best healthcare. Recognizing what your employees want most is the best way of determining what to offer your employees in order to retain them.
Conclusion
Finding the best employees who can propel your company strongly into the future of work can be a challenging task. With that in mind, the best way to do this is to rely on out-of-the-box sources for talented individuals. Stop relying on standard forms of education for your recruiting strategies and start broadening your horizons. After actually hiring talented workers to your company, though, ensure you take the time to understand the demographics of the workers you hired and what benefits may be of the most interest to them.
