While there are many factors contributing to the ongoing tech skills crunch, there are still ways that Australian companies can effectively compete for top tech talent, according to Korn Ferry’s Bridget Gray.
Speaking at the CRN Pipeline 2022 conference in the Gold Coast this week, Gray said companies should look to reimagine their employee’s existing capabilities, lay out their value proposition as an employer and foster employee experience and culture if they want to attract top IT talent to their businesses.
“The power has shifted. Candidates are running the show, and they are interviewing organisations now instead of the other way around,” Gray said.
“There’s certainly a lot more jobs than available candidates, and we are unable to easily access international talent like we once could - and that's fundamentally very challenging - and there is a pay war because of the demand, with salaries, rates and everything else continuing to ramp up.”
Gray said companies should think of what can be controlled instead of what can’t be controlled like a pandemic, government legislation and instantly upskilling people.
“In the meantime, how do we continue to deliver to our clients? How do we continue to grow and how do we attract and secure people?” she said.
Gray shared some observations from employers that have done well in attracting talent, including taking their time to reimagine the capabilities of their staff.
“They look closely at the skill problem they're trying to solve, they think less about jobs and people and more about capabilities, skills and behaviours,” she said. “Because once they start thinking about jobs and people, there's a lot of unconscious bias.”
“I would be looking internally first before rushing to say that all the answers are external, because that’s not always the case.”
Gray also brought up the topic of the so-called “Great Resignation” and why some employees decide to leave their existing companies.
“I think candidates every day - and without fail more often than not - move because they're not given an opportunity within their current organisation or they feel overlooked.
“It’s not just candidates saying ’I have had enough’, it's actually on us as leaders and as organisations to place enough value on our people and develop their careers, because if not, they are going to leave.”
She also said using data to inform a company’s strategy is incredibly important to help track where the talent is, what they are being paid, what sort of skills they have to set it up for success in a more expedited way.
Investing in training, upskilling, reskilling and cross-skilling was also absolutely imperative, helping de-risk business models and increase staff engagement. External accreditation was also found to be important for technologists and digital talent.
Along with keeping skills as current as possible, flexibility was also important to staff, Gray said.
“No surprise here, but 93 percent of people are now saying they value flexibility above all other factors in a job, be that reward, job title, and even training,” she said.
“Flexibility today is tablestakes, but second to that would be the investment piece in their skills whilst they're working for you.”
Branding candidate experience was also identified as another area that can help attract talent, with Gray calling it really important and very effective and that companies can see a big impact if done consistently.
“I would suggest that companies have a staff employee value proposition for the program of work that they are delivering,” she said.
“It should of course talk to the benefits and why people would actually work for you, but also why would they come on this particular journey with you? Why would they choose to come and work for you?”
Employee experience and culture was also mentioned, highlighting that candidate experience must match up with employee experience.
“Trust is everything and we’re working in a world where trust is the currency, so make sure that all these grand promises that we make throughout the interview process actually translate into reality,” Gray said.
Gray added that companies should ensure to get the fundamentals right and do the onboarding as soon as possible.
“Culture is being redifined, and could mean really different things to different organisations. A lot of our traditional methods of building a culture and a team have been turned on its head in the last few years, so I do appreciate that it's really, really hard, but it must be solved for” she said.
“All your people must know why they're there in order to be engaged and to be part of the journey because you are there to say you're not going to be fully bought into your organisation. You need your leaders to take responsibility to ensure that everybody in your business understands why they're there.”
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