Are you on the hunt for business technology talent?
You may be working to improve processes, but you need some fresh perspective or even to delegate projects to new members.
Due to the rapidly evolving nature of the business technology field, finding the perfect addition to your team poses unique challenges. The ideal colleague needs to be open to change, quick to evolve, and not attached to one way of doing things. In addition to being nimble and adaptive, this person needs to be both tech- and business-minded to best support your team.
Finding someone who can fulfill all of those needs is no easy feat, so we’ve outlined six ways to help you find the right person for your team.
1. Make use of LinkedIn
Share the position with your network
Are you on LinkedIn? Now would be a great time to sign up. The online professional network is a place to connect and learn skills, but it is also a great place to advertise your team’s opening.
You’re likely connected with professionals from your past companies, or others who work in BT, and you can ask them to help you spread the word by making a simple post about the position. Put yourself in a candidate’s shoes: What would you want to know? You could write about your team’s culture, the company’s mission, and the main responsibilities this candidate will assume.
At the end of the post, link to the application page. Also, don’t forget to add a note asking your connections to send your post to the qualified technology professionals they know or even reshare the post on their feed.
Work with HR on your job description
Take a look at your job description—could it be more informative? You know the ins and outs of your team, so consider working with the recruiting team to write a description that accurately portrays what the role requires. While you bring the position-specific knowledge, your HR team can help format the information in a digestible way for candidates and suggest ways to make the job description more enticing to the professionals you are trying to attract.
Recuiter Box, a recruitment software and applicant tracking system, recommends a few additional areas to beef up your job description: Tell candidates how the company hopes to evolve in the future instead of focusing on the past; be transparent about the day-to-day responsibilities that come with the role; and outline the salary range and benefits the company offers.
Make use of your company profile features
If your HR team hasn’t added your job to your company’s public LinkedIn page, you should team up with them to do so.
If you’re hiring someone to lead financial systems, for example, posting the job on LinkedIn will give candidates who are actively searching a chance to find your listing through the platform.
2. Enlist a hiring agency
Another path to consider is working with a professional hiring agency. You can tell them who you are looking for and let their team do the heavy lifting.
Indeed gives a quick overview of what the recruiting process looks like with a staffing agency. You start by providing them with details about the position. From there, they advertise it within their network to find qualified candidates. Before bringing your team in to interview the candidate, they will screen applicants to make sure your team is only spending time on the prospects most likely to be a match. Staffing agencies may also handle some of the paperwork that slows down the hiring process like contracts or employment taxes (though this is more common for temporary positions).
This is a great path to consider if you are looking for a candidate to fill a specialized role, like an enterprise systems architect or a head of revenue operations. According to recruiting firm Robert Half, staffing agencies often employ recruiters who have worked in positions similar to the one they recruit for, which helps them select the candidates that would make a good fit.
Although hiring an agency comes with an expense, it can save you the time and energy you would spend sorting through and screening applicants. If you can find a firm with business systems knowledge or tech expertise, it could provide a leg up in your search.
3. Take advantage of industry job boards
If you want to get more eyes on an open role you have on your team, look into posting the position on industry-specific job boards like the one hosted here on Systematic. Employers can submit open positions, and candidates can search for business technology jobs in areas ranging from financial systems to revenue operations.
After you’ve submitted your job to the Systematic job board, take inventory of any other professional communities you are a part of and check to see if they have a forum for sharing jobs. The more exposure you can get for your job, the better.
If your role is highly specialized, consider searching for boards created specifically to post jobs that require application-specific expertise. A quick Google search might lead you to a board dedicated solely to Salesforce, a website where you can post any tech-related job, or a platform that caters to highly experienced candidates across a variety of industries. Whatever kind of forum you’re looking for, there’s a good chance you can find it.
4. Consider hiring a generalist
While you may have your sights set on someone with a very specific skill set, it could be worth considering a generalist.
Erik Lopez, Lead Technical Architect at CN Solutions Group, actually prefers the generalist mindset.
Lopez started his systems journey focused on Salesforce, but with time and experience he realized that his job went past just working in Salesforce. He had requests to integrate various systems, implement new tools, and more. While his initial exposure to Salesforce gave him a good foundation, expanding his knowledge to include other applications broadened his understanding of how systems work together.
When it comes to finding solutions, Lopez notes that people often get stuck focusing on a certain platform and how to solve things within it. The generalist mindset allows people to zoom out and think more holistically about the total application ecosystem, and then consider tools and strategies to solve problems.
There are benefits to working with specialists, but if you are having trouble in your search, consider branching out and bringing someone with broader expertise to your team.
5. Recruit in new locations
Another path for finding talent is by recruiting in new areas.
At our Biz Systems Magic conference last summer, we heard from Kathryn Finney, author and founder of digitalundivided, and Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, on bringing social responsibility to your tech organization.
In the efforts to diversify your organization, one of Finney’s recommendations revolved around recruiting at diverse colleges and universities. For example, in the search for African American talent she recommends a HBCUs, like Tennessee state or Tuskegee. She also recommends the University of Texas at El Paso, which she mentions is premondimontely Latino.
If your organization is struggling to create a more inclusive and open workspace, considering starting with your business technology team. Lead by example and bring new perspectives to your company’s projects.
Maybe you’ve already committed to diversifying your business technology team, but now that many organizations are remote, you can use this opportunity to reach even further.
6. Encourage referrals
According to a study by referral software Erin, “82% of employees rated employee referrals above all other sourcing options to yield the best ROI.”
For this reason, the best place to start when hiring for a new role might be with your own team. Your teammates may have friends or past colleagues that could be a good fit for your open role, so consider asking them to brainstorm individuals they know with the qualifications you are looking for.
It isn’t uncommon for companies to have referral incentives, so be sure to leverage any potential benefits your employees could receive for referring a candidate who makes it through the hiring process—whether the reward is a cash bonus or a few extra vacation days.
Erin found that employee referrals make it through the hiring process 20 to 25 days faster than candidates who go through the traditional recruiting process and are four times more likely to be hired, so it’s important to keep your team up to date on your recruiting efforts.
Time to start your search for talent
Now that you’ve got these six approaches to searching for business technology talent, it’s time to find your new teammates!
Want to ask your fellow business technology peers how they are navigating hiring? Request to join our business systems community here.
