What Candidates Want – How to Attract the Very Best IT Candidates

What Candidates Want – How to Attract the Very Best IT Candidates

Jul 10, 2021 | IT

What candidates want from a new job has changed significantly for many. The pandemic, lockdown and home working has created a wave of new needs. And now that the jobs market is opening up again, there’s a new problem in the war for talent. If you don’t have your finger on the pulse when it comes to what candidates want, you could be missing out.

We’ve worked with lots of companies throughout the pandemic to help them recruit someone worth recruiting. And now we are advising our clients on what they need to do now to attract the very best candidates. We speak to hundreds of IT candidates each week, and this is what they are telling us.

Salaries

Don’t be fooled into thinking that a mediocre salary is enough to attract the best candidates. When it comes to what candidates want when it comes to salary, you must stretch that little bit further. Or, of course, lower your expectations on what you are looking for from your new hire. Each month we publish a salary guide that shows the average salaries and contractor rates across the UK. It’s a great place to start when it comes to deciding on what you can offer. Are you competitive in the market? Or, what else can you offer on top of salary to attract strong candidates?

We are seeing a huge increase in counteroffers as companies try and hold on to their best staff. The team at Langley James are also seeing multiple offers being delivered to the same candidate. We make sure that we pre-screen all our candidates thoroughly to help prevent this from happening. Finding out what they really want from a new job and helping them find it is the secret to helping make sure you get your first-choice candidate. But it’s not just salary that’s in the list of what candidates want.

work from home

What candidates want when it comes to flexibility

Flexible working was something lots of companies were ‘playing’ with pre-pandemic. But as we went into lockdown in March last year, the world of work was turned on its head. Companies were forced to fast-track their working from home policies as we all stayed at home to protect lives. But now, and we write this just over a week before all restrictions are due to be lifted and Boris tells us all to go back to the office, there’s a higher expectation on flexibility.

Not everyone wants to, or even likes to, work from home. But if you consider the benefits and work out a way to still offer this and have your team back in the office then you will have the edge when it comes to candidate attraction. Think about what candidates want when it comes to flexibility. What are the benefits they experienced over the last 18 months? And what can you continue to offer?

For many, there has been the cost saving of the commute. And the additional time gained from not experiencing the rush hour every day. Think about how you could be flexible with start times, or a hybrid office based / home based set up. We appreciate that not every company is able to offer this. So instead, having an open mind to ad-hoc flexibility. This can go a long way when it comes to attracting the best candidates.

Training

Did you learn a new skill during lockdown? The coronavirus-fuelled trend for learning a new skills is more than fleeting, and we all need to be mindful of this when it comes to work. What can you offer that helps to satisfy the need for continuous learning? These are the small things that help you stand out in an overcrowded jobs market.

By offering additional training and development you not only get the edge on attracting the best candidates, but you can also benefit by ups killing your team. Think about what you need in 2-4 years and implemented a training plan now to make sure you are there.

How we can help

If you would like advice on how to make sure you are getting the best candidate for your open job, get in touch. We pride ourselves on working with you and sharing market insight. By sharing this with you we can help you make decisions on what you really need to do to fill your IT job with the right candidate, first time. Don’t just give your job to an agency and hope for the best. Work with a company who have as much interest as you do in filling the job!

We have been recruiting IT experts for permanent and contract roles since 1999 and our team has a huge amount of experience between them. We love what we do and we’re pretty good at it! Experience the difference of dealing with a true specialist – get in touch with our specialist consultants today.

Top 3 IT Recruitment Trends for 2021

Top 3 IT Recruitment Trends for 2021

May 25, 2021 | IT

IT recruitment trends change from year to year. But never before have we experienced a year anything like 2020! So, what does that mean for 2021? As the ‘new normal’ continues to dominate our lives, what changes can you expect to see when it comes to IT recruitment?

Recruitment has seen lots of ups and downs over the last 12 months. But with recent reports showing that job vacancies are now above pre-pandemic levels, there’s lots of opportunities out there again. Great news for the UK jobs market, but it does mean that the war for talent is officially on again. The skills shortage hasn’t gone away and there’s only so much a salary can do.

With the rapid move to working from home and utilising more technology, the IT recruitment landscape has had to evolve very quickly. But what does the next 12 months look like? What trends are we likely to see?

Our consultants share their insight into the top 5 IT recruitment trends for 2021 and beyond.

Deliver a great candidate experience

When it comes to IT recruitment, the candidate is very much in control again. Strong candidates are likely to be in the process for multiple job roles and this is where you need to stand out to help you secure the very best talent.

Partnering with a trusted agency is the best first step. In times of a skills shortage, you need to an agency who will be an extension of your employer value proposition. Someone who reflects your values and creates a positive first impression of your company. It’s important that you trust your chosen IT recruitment company. You need them to spark interest and intrigue with their candidates. In an age where an acceptance isn’t just about a good salary, the candidate experience can and will make all the difference.

But it’s not just during the IT recruitment process that the candidate experience matters. Recruiting not only to skills, but to values too is highly beneficial to your company. You want your employees to be happy at work. You want employees who will stay with you for the long-term. And these are candidates that reflect your values. Studies show that greater employee satisfaction correlates directly to greater productivity and greater loyalty.

office work in IT

The remote revolution in IT recruitment

It’s no longer about the office location. The slide in the office, the table tennis table. This all now seems a little 2019. When we look back at the end of 2021 the traditional working environment may no longer be in existence for most. Some companies were already embracing flexible working before the first lockdown. But other had to quickly adapt!

Now, flexible working has become an expectation across many industries. Candidates are looking for a better work life balance, or to be able to optimise their time. This can be a huge benefit to you in the current climate.  No longer does location dictate your candidate pool. You can reach further than before and focus on the best available talent, not just locally, but nationally too.

Soft skills

Whilst technical skills will always come first in IT recruitment, it is becoming increasingly important to also recruit with soft skills in mind too. Lots of IT jobs, whilst highly technical, heavily rely on soft skills such as communication and emotional intelligence. With the increase in remote working driving a new distance between employees, your new hires need to be able to still work collaboratively. In a recent study by LinkedIn looking at the most in-demand hard and soft skills creativity and persuasion came out on top.

How we can help

If you would like advice on your IT recruitment for 2021 and beyond, we can help. Our expert team have been recruiting for over 20 years and we love to share our experience. So whether its advice on salaries, benefits or utilising technology to recruit, get in touch.

Questions Never to Ask When Interviewing in IT Recruitment

Mar 2, 2021 | IT

Questions Never to Ask When Interviewing in IT Recruitment

If you are given the task of interviewing you should ensure you make yourself aware of up-to-date employment law and that all the questions you plan to ask are compliant, legal, and non-discriminatory. There are often ‘grey’ areas and some questions within a role interview that may seem harmless but are in fact discriminatory and therefore illegal.  The questions below may seem stark, however when interviewing a candidate, often they may open and talk freely about themselves and their personal life. Be aware of what is discriminatory and avoid asking some of the questions below:

Sexual Discrimination

This area of discrimination is usually more targeted towards women, but male applicants can also be discriminated against.
 
Interviewers should not make any reference to a person’s marital status, children they may have now or in the future or their sexual preference. All could be grounds for discrimination as your organisation might be deemed to view a person being married as either favourably in that they may see an applicant as being more stable or, perhaps, unfavourably in that they may see a conflict of interest between a single person having more time to devote to the role over a married person who might have to juggle family commitments.
 

  • Do you have children?
  • Are you planning on extending your family?
  • Are you Married or Single? 
  • How old are your children? 
  • Do you live on your own?
  • Will childcare work for you having to work these hours?
  • Will these shifts clash with your family commitments?

Disability Discrimination

As an employer during an interview, it is generally unadvisable to ask a candidate about their health or disability until they have been offered employment with your organisation. Some candidates will offer details of their health and disability voluntarily.  The Equality Act 2010 places some limits on questions an employer can rightfully ask. Questions that should be avoided:
 

  • How did you acquire your disability?
  • Do you think it would be difficult to do this role with your disability?

Some reasonable questions could be:

  • Are there any adjustments we would need to make to accommodate your disability?
  • How might you be able to carry out XXX function of the role?

A candidate at interview would only need to briefly describe the nature of their disability if any adjustments they would be required to make – it may help to clarify how a previous employer made those adjustments (if applicable). Fundamentally, what is most important is the ability of the candidate to do the role once any reasonable adjustments have been made.

Racial discrimination

The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against candidates because of race. Race includes:

  • Colour
  • Nationality
  • Ethnic or national origins


Under this Act, it does not have any significance as to whether the discrimination was made on purpose or not. What counts is whether (as a result of an employer’s actions) you treat one candidate less favourably than another candidate because of their race.

  • What is your native tongue?
  • Where were you born?
  • How long have you lived here?
  • Are you a UK citizen?

Although this last question may seem like the simplest and direct method to find out if a candidate is legally able to work in the UK, it remains unlawful to ask this question. As an employer you can have a right to ask whether the candidate is legally entitled to work in the UK.

Age Discrimination

People are working differently in 2021, and dor different reasons and this should always be considered, Age discrimination is based on stereotyped prejudices such as “younger workers being less committed” and “older workers are more loyal” would be construed as ageist. Similarly, older people may become more tired and younger people work better with technology, are both ageist statements.

At both ends of the age range employees are applying for roles for different reasons and employers should not consider the age of a prospective candidate as a reason not to recruit them. Interviewers need to consider their own bias and avoid any casual comments.

  • How do you feel about working with a team much younger than you?
  • Aren’t you too young to manage this team?
  • Would this salary be enough for you at your stage in life?
  • How have you kept your skills fresh over the years?
  • What year did you leave University?

 

For further advice on Discrimination when planning interviews.

 https://www.gov.uk/employer-preventing-discrimination/recruitment.

https://www.acas.org.uk/hiring-someone.

https://www.CIPD.co.uk

Soft Skills in IT Recruitment and How to Assess Them

Feb 15, 2021 | IT, Uncategorised

Soft Skills and How to Assess Them 

Assessing a candidate’s professional or ‘hard’ skill proficiency, such as technical skills, Active Directory or SQL, etc, is pretty straight forward, especially if the interviewer is experienced in the same thing. However, digging deeper into how a person ticks as a human being can be tricky for most managers if unprepared…

The concepts behind the modern terms ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills are far from new. In fact, for as long as people have been employing other people, soft skills, such as social ability, aptitude, behaviour and ethics, have always been key considerations alongside practical, hard skills. In relatively recent years, as recruiting practices and processes have become more sophisticated, skills have been categorised in various ways to help employers devise more effective methods of assessment.  

However, according to an extensive survey conducted by LinkedIn, over 60% of recruiting managers agreed that exploring soft skills in an interview is difficult. In our experience as IT recruiters, the majority of clients state early on what soft skills they need, however, few seem to have robust strategies in place to assess beyond the core, hard skill requirements, acting largely on gut feeling and assumption. 

Furthermore, in the post COVID-19 world, soft skill assessment during remote interviewing is proving especially difficult for many clients. Several managers have recently reported to us at Langley James IT Recruitment, an extra level of disconnect while interviewing online, perhaps stemming from reduced body language opportunities.  

In this blog, we will explore the nature of hard and soft skills along with useful ideas, tips and advice on how to gain better soft skill insight from your next interview, significantly raising your chances of recruiting success.

What is the difference between a soft skill and a hard skill? 

Put simply, a hard skill is a practical, measurable ability that can be learned by a person irrespective of their character traits and cognitive talent. The overwhelming majority of IT Recruitment job descriptions are dominated by hard skill requirements. Candidates in the IT sector are often judged almost exclusively on their hard skills such as programming languages, operating software experience, infrastructure implementation, etc.

Soft skills, on the other hand, are orientated around human characteristics. For example, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, communication, crisis management, etc. As such, these skills are far harder to investigate during a short interview and can be easily misjudged or misinterpreted. 

The Goal

Before creating lists of criteria and questions, start at the very beginning by asking this question: 

“What soft skills do I need candidates to demonstrate for this vacancy, and to work with me, my team, and my company?”

It is important to consider the whole picture including your company’s culture, values, standards and style in addition to your own departmental and personal staff expectations. When these elements are bolted to the list of soft skills required for the vacancy itself, you should be left with a comprehensive list.

Categories 

Now we have a good idea of what soft skills need to be investigated, separate your list and look for opportunities to merge. For example, culture fit questions may encompass the company, the department and your own needs that perhaps can be amalgamated. 

Next, identify any categories that may require deeper investigation, for example ‘leadership’ might include motivation, teamwork, delegation, etc, as subheadings.  

It is important not to lose sight of context, especially when looking into soft skills with broad terms such as communication. After all, someone’s communication skills may vary greatly depending on the scenario from delegating to a subordinate to presenting to a board of directors.

Keep in mind that unless you intend to interview someone for hours, you will have limited time. This means prioritising essential soft skills, with a view to perhaps further explore the remainder in the next stages. 

Here is an example of how to apply this method:

An IT Manager working for a reputable legal firm is looking to recruit a 2nd Line IT Engineer to support the company’s 300 users, ranging from admin staff right up to board level. In no time at all, the manager identifies a range of hard skill requirements including windows, Microsoft Office 365, Azure, etc. 

However, historically IT staff have struggled to inspire confidence with several senior people, one being the CEO. The IT Manager really wants the new IT engineer to be a great communicator with strong rapport-building skills, capable of managing user expectations and solving problems without baffling people with technical jargon. Furthermore, she wants the IT Engineer to be experienced enough to mentor junior members of the team and share their wisdom in how to get the best from stakeholder management. 

The IT Manager creates a list of soft skills she would like to explore during an interview:

 

  • Communication 
  • Relationship building 
  • Empathy 
  • Patience 
  • Leadership 
  • Adaptability 
  • Culture fit 
  • Organisation including how to prioritise 

 

 

Questions

Someone once said “the answers we get are only as good as the questions we ask” which in the case of soft skill exploration could not be more correct. To properly explore a candidate’s soft skill, exclusively ask open-ended questions to encourage full and complete answers and be interested in conversationally exploring their answers.  (click here to learn more about open questions and demands) * 

The two main soft skill question types are behavioural and situational. a behavioural interview question explores the person’s experience such as, “tell me about a time when you successfully overcame a difficult relationship…” Whereas, a situational interview question is a strictly hypothetical question. For example, “imagine you’re under a desk fixing a cabling issue when a director calls because they can’t remember their password, what would you do?”

The great thing about soft skills is that they apply to all aspects of life. How a person might support a loved one at a time of crisis, how a person might react to personal bad news while at work, how a person might feel if a colleague were promoted above them etc.  All of this will give you useful insight into how a person engages with the world and other people. So, be creative with your questions and don’t feel restricted to situations and behaviours found only in the workplace.  

Communication 

  • How do you explain complex IT solutions to non-technical people? Give an example where you failed to achieve that and what was the outcome
  • What did you learn?
  • Tell me about an occasion where your manager or colleague fundamentally disagreed with your opinion or chosen course of action.
  • How did that make you feel? 
  • What was the outcome
  • Describe a complex project you were involved in dealing with multiple stakeholders. How did you keep everyone happy and engaged?

 

 

communication cartoon

Relationship building 

  • Give me examples of personalities you’ve encountered supporting IT at the senior level. 
  • Describe the problems you encountered with them.
  • What solutions did you come up with?
  • What was the outcome?
  • Tell me about a time when you’ve needed to make a good impression and how did you do it?
  • How did that make you feel? 
  • When supporting 300 users, pleasing everyone is hard. How do ensure people are happy with your service delivery?

 

 

Relationship building cartoon

Empathy 

  • What would you do if a senior ranking member of staff shouted at you down the phone because their computer was failing to perform? 
  • Tell me about your relationships with colleagues in your last job
  • Give me an example of a time when you had to inspire others to achieve a common goal 
Empathy

Tips

  • Ask for examples every time. Understanding context is critical in assessing experience suitability. Follow up with gentle demands for more information such a “tell me more about… ” or “elaborate on…”
  • Explore the candidate’s soft skills before discussing the company brand and your own values etc. You don’t want to give them the answers before you ask! 
  • Try and keep this section of the interview conversational in an effort to draw out the candidates true personality. 
  • Try sharing some of your own anecdotal tales to give the candidate confidence in giving less guarded answers.
  • If you don’t get the answer you expect, be mindful but the candidate may not have understood the question correctly. Consider asking the same question in a different way. 
  • Try partnering hard and soft questioning by asking follow up questions. That way the interview will less disjointed, more conversational, and directly related how a person felt or behaved at the time. For example, while exploring Excel skill, ask for an example of a project involving Excel and perhaps explore decisions made along the way, people they worked with, decisions made above, how they communicated problems, etc
  • Don’t restrict yourself to the job requirements. Gain valuable insight in to their way of thinking by asking questions surrounding their hobbies, interests and personal life.  

Summary 

Soft skill questioning is no different to asking anything else in the interview process. A well thought out set of requirements coupled with deliberately prepared questions will set you on the right track for gaining that elusive insight. 

Questions can be reused as a future interviews but we would recommend that Recruiters draft up a fresh set of questions for every role. Experiment with your questions and style to figure out what works for you. As described in our previous blog on ‘candidate pre-employment testing’, there are software solutions designed to yield soft skill insight however in our experience, person to person, relatable questioning and conversation yields better, more convincing results. All it takes is the confidence to try. 

If the majority of your recruitment interviewing is done online, you might feeling a lack of body language assessment is holding you back from identifying softskills however, as demonstrated in this blog, you need not rely on body language and gut feel to explore these key vacancy requirements. 

 

Your Recruitment Consultant’s Interview

Jan 25, 2021 | IT

Your Recruitment Consultant’s Interview

Have you considered your Recruitment Consultant to be part of your candidate interview process?

This is the first stage of the interview process.

When you outsource your recruitment to Langley James IT Recruitment, you are outsourcing the early stages of your usual recruitment process which generally includes your 1st Stage Interview. 

Our Recruitment Consultants will act on your behalf, to meet, interview and qualify candidates that may be employed by your competitors in line with the job description you provide, we will make recruitment decisions based on the knowledge we have of for your requirements.  Our Recruitment Consultant will represent you and your company.

With that in mind, let us clarify how you can optimise this stage of recruitment to ensure your company is properly represented and your shortlist thoroughly vetted before you meet a single candidate.  

Share your company knowledge!

 If you attempted to recruit directly you might buy some recruitment advertising, sift through the applicants, and select a shortlist using your qualification information. Then, you would invite them to attend an interview where you would explore their suitability against your job description with key questions and explain to them what the job is. If you like them, you will probably enthusiastically describe the business and all the reasons why they should join you, you have that knowledge.

Using Langley James IT Recruitment, you will save time as we will be responsible for most of the process allowing you to focus on other business challenges. The information you provide us with at this early stage is crucial to conduct your 1st stage interview, to a standard that meets your own.  

checklist

Qualification 

Pass on all your early-stage qualification questions to your Recruitment Consultant. Provide examples of the best possible answers so they can match candidate responses accordingly. Context is important here as you might want specific experience and skill application. For example, when you say Advanced Excel skills, what does that really mean? 

Describe examples of how the desired skill might be exercised so our Recruitment Consultants can explore a candidate’s experience with more confidence.  Be very clear on what is essential and what is desirable so we can prioritise.

 

We are part of your team!

By giving us as much information as possible it will help Our Recruitment Consultants to feel included and will ensure they represent you and your company in the best possible way. The more information we have the more efficiently we can find you the right people.

 Interview Feedback

Do ensure that you gain feedback from our Recruitment Consultants, before setting up your own interview, part of our process is to produce a report when we shortlist, ask for our interview report detailing the reasons why they feel a candidate is suitable. Review the evidence gained from the qualification questions you gave them and build their findings into your own interview plan.

Our Recruitment Partnership

At Langley James IT Recruitment we aim to keep in touch with you throughout the recruitment process, we send out a standard weekly report to update you on our progress, however do feel free to contact us at any time. We understand that things can change, and you may need to refine or change your recruitment priorities and regularly ask for feedback.

Sometimes roles are harder to fill if the salary is not sufficient, the location is non-traditional, or the specification does not sell the benefits of the role. Whatever the problem, do not wait to find out weeks later. Do whatever you can to influence the recruiter interview process and identify changes early. 

7 + 12 =

How to Achieve Recruitment Stakeholder Unison

Jan 8, 2021 | IT

How to Achieve Recruitment Stakeholder Unison

Successful recruitment relies on consistent and concise communication, speed, and decisive action from all stakeholders. The more people involved in a recruitment project, the more complicated it becomes to avoid conflicts of interest that may delay or halt the recruitment process. 

The challenge at this time is to act with speed. Having overly cautious organisations with multi-signature-signoff in a highly competitive and fast-moving talent market may result in missed opportunities. 

While it is impossible to control everything, stakeholder management can be controlled to avoid losing the best candidate to a competitor when a ‘stakeholder stalemate’ occurs. 

Here is are some tips from Langley James 

Who is a Stakeholder?

To clarify a stakeholder in terms of recruitment will probably be a mixture of Department Managers, Directors, and HR, on occasion it may involve a supplier or client.

The primary stakeholders will likely be the Line Manager, the Recruiter, and the Candidate. Secondary stakeholders may include senior management or directors, senior team members, HR, key client or customer contacts, or anyone who needs to be considered or consulted with before offering a job. 

Stakeholder

Motivations, Perspective, and Impact

Disagreement, indecision, and delay, can result in the best candidate for your IT Recruitment role accepting another position. “If only the HR manager and Directors could agree!”. If it were your decision, you would have offered the candidate the job weeks ago. All those hours, all that effort, means repeating the process again.

This scenario may sound familiar to you and is a situation we are often exposed to at Langley James IT Recruitment. Stakeholders often believe and tell us “Candidates who really want to work here will wait”, which doesn’t always end in the best result for an organisation.

To minimise the impact of delay, we recommend that when you have written your amazing job description, ask yourself, who will be impacted by this recruit? Who will benefit? Who will risk failure? Who will make the final decision? Why? 

Questioning the recruitment process and the stakeholder’s motivations behind their recruitment decision making will greatly improve your understanding and your ability to manage expectations. 

Talk with each stakeholder early in the process, especially the decision-makers and those in the interviewing team, to discover what they believe makes a good candidate. Explore the reasons why and try to guide them away from emotive, personal beliefs, and, instead, towards the actual needs of the business. Importantly, seek clarity on what they believe separates truly essential and desirable skills, experiences, and traits. In our experience at Langley James IT Recruitment, this is at the core of most disagreements and recruitment failures.  

Next, we recommend getting them all together in a meeting. Present your findings to the group and share a discussion with the aim of forming a unified, aligned, and realistic candidate profile. The idea here is simple. Pre-empt conflict by seeking agreement early on. You will not regret it. 

Too Many Chefs

Multiple stakeholders are commonplace, however, when some or all of them believe their opinion is final, your recruitment plans are destined for problems. 

Senior people naturally assume a decision-making role, so to avoid conflicting opinions, we would recommend the best approach is to tackle decision making power and process early on with the backing of a senior-level colleague. Establish ‘roles’ for each stakeholder and make it clear what is expected of them before any interviews take place. 

Ideally, the Line Manager should have the final decision, supported by the advice and views of those around and above them. However, in many instances, the final decision tends to lie with the most senior member of the recruitment process. If that is the case, try to drill down to fully uncover the decision maker’s recruiting style, system, and, critically, what they believe will make a good candidate. 

Remember, your goal here is to achieve a system of decisions, not endless debate. 

Same Page Communication 

Unity and agreement are aimed squarely at a solid communication strategy. By getting it right, everyone involved will describe the job opportunity to prospective candidates in the same way, it will reduce the chances of underselling, over-promising, and misunderstanding. Internally, you will feel confident being aware of each stakeholders’ opinions. 

Nothing disappoints candidates more than a well-pitched job with an underwhelming reality. Instead, with a strong, well thought out brief, Langley James IT Recruitment can go out to market pitching your job opportunity with accuracy. This means those shortlisted will be well-matched, committed, and more likely to last the distance as they satisfy the considered stakeholders.  

Stakeholder Management requires preparation, time, patience, and a lot of listening. Ask the right questions and you will soon be well on the way to achieving a solid recruitment process culture.

Matrix

Langley James IT recruitment recommends that the business produces a recruitment Matrix that lists the required skills and experience from each stakeholder, many of these will overlap and it can be reduced to a shortlist, each skill and attribute should then be given priority status and also weighted as to which skill or attribute is the most important. This Matrix can be then used when interviewing to avoid any bias.

15 + 15 =

How to Write a High-Performance IT Recruitment Job Description

Jan 1, 2021 | IT, IT Market Reviews, Uncategorised

1st Class Interviewing: Part 1 of 12

How to Write a High-Performance IT Recruitment Job Description

The Job Description is the cornerstone of every effective recruitment process. It serves as a blueprint for every role in your business and collectively, they form a complete operational architecture of your entire organisation. It is that important and an IT Recruitment Job Description requires more detail than others with technical objectives as well as broader commercial role objectives.

It is common for historic job descriptions to be passed on and reused resulting in something that is out of date from the start of the process.

The value to your business of having properly defined job descriptions is huge; by offering comprehensive, organised, and easily understood parameters in the form of a job description to guide the candidate and their line managers clarity for the candidate’s responsibilities and accountabilities. To improve on this, a ‘High Performance’ job description will in addition help to inspire a potential candidate to want the role and to understand how they can enjoy it by mapping out career progression and opportunities

In this blog by Langley James IT Recruitment we will present the essentials required to create a “high-performance job description” designed to increase recruitment results and help with the interview process and employee achievement.

What is a Job Description and What Value Does it Offer?

Put simply, the Job Description, or JD, is the foundation upon which your entire recruitment and subsequent management process is built. It is an extremely important document and well worth significant investment from you in both time and resources to get right. 

Recruitment

A properly written JD clearly describes the role’s purpose, context, core and secondary role responsibilities, and the skills, experiences and attributes required. IT Recruitment requires more specific technical skill and experience requirement. 

A good JD will help Langley James to write an advert and it will attract far more relevant candidates. 

 

Interviewing

A quality JD gives a clear structure for your candidate interviews and will keep the process honest, it will assist in structuring the questions to help you and Langley James to recruit the best people for your role and  help you to focus on what is important giving you a ready made script to how present the job and opportunity. 

 

Management

When a new recruit starts the JD will form the backbone of your management plan. Appraisals, KPIs, objectives, goals, training, and progression all stem from an accurate JD to match your expectations with their performance. Getting it right will ensure it serves as a reminder to help you deliver on the promises made during the interview. 

 

Purpose & Goals

The JD should be designed to attract candidates, the initial purpose of the JD is to pitch the opportunity to prospective candidates in a way that clearly communicates your needs while inspiring them to commit to an application, interview or job offer with a compelling and interesting presentation.

The goal is to create as much candidate interest as possible to ensure your vacancy is high on their wish list of applications.

Knowing that, do you think a job title, a list of responsibilities, and skill requirements is enough to compete with other companies fighting to secure the same talent?  

 

The Opportunity

The best way to achieve candidate interest is to sell them the benefits of joining your business focusing on what they will get out of the deal. This is what ‘The Opportunity’ really is. The trick is to focus on the likely motivators of your ideal candidate and speak to them directly, matching their needs to your offering, reinforcing it all with your brand values, culture and company story to convince them of your sincerity and authenticity.

Most candidates are looking for the following from their role

 

  • Life and Career Fulfilment
  • Power, Advancement, and Responsibility 
  • Respect (friends, family, colleagues, management, other professionals)
  • Good Health (reasonable stress, positive experience, regular/quality breaks)
  • Personal Development (new skills and experiences)
  • Family (to look after or to start one)
  • Wealth (salary, bonus, benefits)
  • Social Interactions (learning opportunities, friends, career advancement, etc)

 

This is the “what’s in it for me” piece, ensure you review your company and departmental culture and work out how you can deliver on each of these points. 

 

Tone & Style

Getting the tone right is fundamental when you speak to the candidate you want, in the first person, and appeal to their nature. You will be interested in what happen, rather than passive applications, it is more likely to attract applicants who want the job for the right reasons. Global taxi giant Uber absolutely nail this approach:

Uber Needs Partners like you. 

Drive with Uber and earn great money as an independent contractor. Get paid weekly just for helping our community of riders get rides around town. Be your own boss and get pad in fares for driving on your own schedule. 

 

Nowhere does the initial JD statement mention anything about Uber as a business or attempts to offer a list of requirements. Instead, it speaks directly to the people they want and clearly tells them what the basic life benefits are in taking the job. 

 

 

Key Role Responsibilities & Objectives

This section is simple but very important to get right. Accuracy and concise language it essential, focusing on the core objectives and tasks only. Be sure not to go off on tangents detailing the skills and requirements.

Start with the key objective(s). For example, The IT Support Engineer will deliver first class IT services to all users in the business ensuring BAU continuity, reliability, and fast action.  

Then list the most important, day to day tasks that will add up to meet the objectives. Outline the most important responsibilities of the job first. 

 

Qualification 

With the opportunity piece completed and a well-described vacancy, your interested candidate should be keen to read on and find out if they have the ‘right stuff’ to get the job that they are attracted to. To ensure maximum interest, clarity is key. 

Understand the difference between what you want and what you need and stick to the latter. The easiest way to get this right is to write a list and split it into two, detailing what is truly essential (needs) and what is desirable (wants). Then, split the list again into the following categories:

 

  • Skills
  • Experience
  • Qualifications
  • Attributes

 

This action is key to ensure candidates can accurately self-assess their suitability while also giving you valuable insight into specific candidate strengths and development areas. 

 

Other Parts of the Job Description Process to Get Right

Job Titles

 

Use the most common, universally recognised job title possible and keep it short. Anything less and you run the risk of confusion at the first hurdle. Avoid unique, playful job titles at all costs. Not only are they often judged negatively, but they completely fail to perform online. Data is searched with common keywords, not your own invention. 

 

Location

We advise that you are very clear on where the role is based, what flexibility exists for remote working, and, if appropriate, where else the candidate may need to travel and if those expenses will be covered by the company.

Eg. IT Managers will be based in our Head Office in Manchester but can work from home up to 3 days per week, expenses are not paid by the company for attending meetings at Head Office as this is not a home-based role.

 

 

Remuneration 

We advise that companies are completely open about the salary. Believing vague detail will somehow broaden the number of applicants is a common and costly mistake. In reality, candidates are likely to assume the salary to be low. Further, list every single benefit on offer. If you are unsure on details, find out. These details really do and will make a huge difference and form a key part of “The Opportunity” piece. (Follow our IT salary guides for more information)

 

Organisation

Describe where the role features in the company organisational structure, who the role reports to, and other key interactions or stakeholders. This helps the candidate imagine being in the role and suggests the job’s importance. 

 

A Few Final Tips…

  • Ensure all stakeholders have some input into your JD, especially if they are part of the interview process and management setup. Failing to do so may result in conflicts of interest and disagreements that will hinder your recruiting process. 
  • For obvious reasons – Do not use internal terminology or acronyms. 
  • Be realistic in your people expectations think what you need and be specific on IT skills and experience but some things will need to be compromised Langley James will always aim to find you the best person available at the time you are recruiting.  Being inflexible will reduce your options and delay your recruitment success. 
  •  Where possible get a colleague to assess the JD before using it to ensure it is compliant with the law. Check for discrimination, gender biases, prejudice, employee rights and employment law and remember this is continually changing. Use a reputable source such as The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development CIPD for up to date advice.
  • Reduce the language complexity to make it fast and easy to read. 
  • Be clear, open and honest 
  •  A powerful, multi-functional job description will help you at every stage of your talent attraction, recruitment and management processes. Langley James IT Recruitment can help you form your Job description, give Langley James a call today to help you find someone worth recruiting for your next IT vacancy.

Once completed, it will pave the way towards the next step: The Agency Vacancy Briefing

2 + 1 =

“Act Now for 2021 IT Recruitment”

Dec 11, 2020 | IT, IT Market Reviews, Uncategorised

An economic boom is on the horizon. Don’t delay your recruiting plans – act now or risk being left behind. 

A little direct? Perhaps, but it is all too common at this time of year for businesses to start planning for the New Year, instead, take action now and start your recruitment campaigns now putting you ahead in January when many more businesses will then begin their recruitment campaigns.

2021 is set to be one of, if not, the most competitive years, when many projects that had been delayed will be caught up with. Morgan Stanley projects strong global GDP growth of 6.4% for 2021 while the excitable mainstream media predicts the start of a “roaring twenties” era for us all. With so many sectors expected to rebound at the same time, never, in modern times at least, has the commercial playing field been so level for so many. Titans will fall and minnows will rise as our riled and turbulent economy starts to settle into a fresh new order. 

The question is, are you ready for the most aggressive commercial race of our age?

A Level Playing Field Means Fierce Competition for Talent and Resources

If most markets are set for simultaneous phases of rapid growth – being first having never mattered more. In critical areas of the IT recruitment market, COVID-19 has had little effect on talent shortages and so, come 2021, after the initial feeding frenzy is over, do not expect IT recruitment to be easy or less time-consuming. The best advice is to act now and get in touch with us before the frenzy begins.

career growth

Rising National Unemployment Rates Won’t Mean More IT Candidates

Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security believing that rising unemployment means it’s a talent buyers’ market. Sure, if you are recruiting a team of production operatives or account managers, then yes, you’ll be able to simply post an advert and watch the CVs flood in. However, if you are chasing a first-class .Net Developer, BI Analyst, or Cloud Infrastructure Engineer you’re in for a shock. In 2021, demand for niche talent will rise sharply making it even harder to attract and secure the best people. Even if you are not quite ready to recruit, act now, and start the process. Contact Langley James in advance to start building talent pools and setup some early conversations to get ahead of the game.   

 

Review Your Recruitment Process ASAP

2020 has caused hiring freezes, multi-signature procurement decisions, and cautious, fear-driven process extensions. In short, current business action is slow. Most recruitment assignments that do make it past the ‘sign-off’ stage are faced with increased process stakeholders, extended candidate interview hurdles, and general hesitation. Given what we have discussed above, how competitive do you think your recruitment process is? 

Let’s be clear – you are competing with Hiring Managers with flexible budgets and the power to offer a candidate a job during or immediately after an interview. In talent, short areas such as IT, skill assessments, psychometric testing, and 3+ interview stages are luxuries that will slow you down and significantly reduce your chances of securing your candidate. We’re not saying make knee-jerk, ill-informed decisions. Far from it. Instead, be very clear on what you need, what you’re able to compromise on, invest time into creating a robust, high value but lean interview plan, and prepare to make offers quickly should you need to. 

Plan for Competition with a Strong Offer Strategy 

Before the sign off stage, talk to us at Langley James about the market and local talent competition. In skill short, high demand niche areas, failing to plan for recruitment competition is foolish. Assuming that going back to your management team, post-signoff, for more money is undesirable, pre-empt the inevitable with an offer strategy that includes an ability to negotiate and raise offers. In 2021, competition is going to be fierce.

To ensure your salary budget is in line with the market have a look at our salary guide which we publish monthly, these are the average salaries of what candidates are seeking and roles are advertised, you may need to consider paying more that the average, but we understand that is easier said than done as it may knock out the whole IT department salary budget.

Expect Attack

While you read this, your employment competitors are already plotting to attack the talent market, which will include them trying to entice your staff. They too have powerful recruitment partners with extensive candidate networks and persuasive pitches. Putting off your battle plans until the new year gives them the advantage. By the time you’re ready to hire, they will have already engaged the market and may have already met many candidates some of which may be your own staff. Our advice is to start planning today and start taking decisive action.   

Bottom Line – It’s December 2020 right now with plenty of working days until the 24th so, get ahead of the rat race and meet some candidates while they are available. With digital interviewing, it has never been so easy to put an hour aside to talk, so call Langley James and make a start. You will not regret it.

Give real thought to your existing processes and talk to us about them. They are meant to make your business run smoothly and efficiently so if your recruiting process is slowing you down causing a commercial disadvantage, consider changing it. The process is not law and is yours to change! 

Speed is of the essence. Take action today. 

5 + 1 =

All You Need To Know About IT Contractor Interviews

Dec 4, 2020 | IT, IT Market Reviews, Uncategorised

The Difference Between an IT Contractor Interview Vs Permanent Employee Interview

IT Contractor interviews are different than interviews held for a permanent employee. Generally, line managers will not be carrying out psychometric tests, or second and third interviews. As a line manager, you may only have an hour to assess whether to hire the contractor.

In the interview, the IT contractor is likely to sell their skills, professional contractors are normally well prepared, knowing they have about an hour to win the contract.

As a line manager, you will be analysing if the IT contractor has the right skills, experience, attitude and personality to fit with the existing team and whether they have sufficient skills and experience to warrant their fee.

If a line manager invests time in getting the most out of the contractor interview, and remember that they are not recruiting an employee, they are probably more liking to make more effective contractor recruiting decisions.

Before the interview – preparation

The IT contractor has been invited to interview because their CV ticked all the boxes, but CV’s can be misleading by asking the right questions a line manager can identify if the IT Contractor is right for the project, recruiting the wrong IT Contractor can be an expensive mistake.

career growth

 IT contractor interview Questions

Line Managers should consider asking the following questions during an interview with an IT Contractor

  1. Talk to me about when you have used these skills in another project, what went right and what could have gone better
  2. Give me an example of when you have used your own initiative to make a different to a previous project?
  3. How do you feel about working alone or with a team?
  4. What is your expectation on being managed?
  5. Talk to me about different business cultures you have worked in during previous contracts and what have you done to ensure that you fitted in to the team.
  6. Tell me how you ensure you achieve your deadlines
  7. How have you made a difference to a project you have previously worked on.
  8. How do you ensure you understand the projects requirements fully?
  9. Tell me about a time when  a project you have worked on has gone wrong and how you have overcome it.
  10. What do you know about this organisation?
  11. What do you know about this project?
  12. Do you have any evidence of your impact on a previous projects profitability and how it impacted on the business.

IT Contractor and their Communication Skills

During the interview, a line manager will also establish if the IT Contractor has strong communication skills. The main factors they will look for include;

  • Do they have good eye contact?
  • Do they answer the question that was asked or do they go off on a tangent?
  • Do they listen or do they justify what they want to say?
  • What is their body language saying?
  • Do they ask questions that are relevant?
  • Do they use silence?
  • Is the contractor skilled for the position? Can they achieve what we need them to?
  • Can they work on their own and use their initiative?
  • Are they likeable and will fit into our organisation’s culture?
  • Are they clearly focused on project delivery?
  • Do they have good communicate skills?
  • Can they offer some added value, more than the other candidates, which could help give the organisation an edge?
  • Do they try hard to understand the project requirements, by asking lots of questions?
  • Do they seem keen and a hard worker and prepared to get really stuck in?
  • Do they appear to be genuinely interested in the project?
  • Are they a positive person who will motivate others or a negative merchant of doom?
  • Are they a good listener?
  • Do they know anything about our business/organisation and the market sector?
  • Is the contractor commercially aware?

A good IT contractor will have the same checklist to work through from their perspective and will be trying to reassure the interviewer that they are the best person for the job.

What sends alarm bells ringing?

As a line manager, you will be likely to recognise during the interview that the contractor might not be the right person for this particular contract, or that they might not fit in with your organisational culture. Common warning signs include:

  • The IT contractor focuses too much on how the role would be good for them rather than the client
  • The IT contractor does not really address the organisations problems or explain how their skills and experience will solve them
  • The IT contractor may exaggerate or boast.
  • The  IT contractor is a bad listener, talks too much, and doesn’t directly answer questions
  • The IT contractor interrupts the interviewer 
  • The IT contractor has obviously not prepared for the interview and lacks understanding
  • The IT contractor demonstrates a lack of commercial awareness 
  • The IT contractor lacks interest in the organisation and project and demonstrates poor knowledge.

Making your IT Contract Recruitment decision

IT contractors that have long term successful contracting careers will also have good selling skills in addition to their core expertise. 

At the end of the interview, an experienced and prepared IT contractor will normally ask for the business and attempt to close the deal, assuming of course that they want to work on the project.

As a line manager if you are not ready to make a decision at the interview you can schedule a time to get back to the, however, remember that a good contractor, even in depressed market conditions, will almost certainly have other options. So, do take time to deliberate over the decision, but do not prevaricate.

Once the contract offer has been made, the negotiation stage begins once again preparation is very important.

Langley James IT Recruitment has been established since 1999 and specialises in recruiting IT Contractors throughout the UK across all business sectors contact Langley James on  0207 788 6600  

15 + 4 =

How to Retain Your IT Staff Before It’s Too Late

Dec 1, 2020 | IT, IT Market Reviews, Uncategorised

Act Now to Retain Your IT Staff Before its Too Late

As we race towards the end of a somewhat eventful 2020, we’ll soon be bracing ourselves for the annual surge in people all over the country reflecting and deciding to change jobs. Twice a year, in January and September (ish), people return to work following a break with new-found and ambitious plans to further themselves and their careers. With less than a month to go before Christmas, here are some immediately actionable IT staff retention ideas highlighting what to address before it’s too late. 

Job Role Growth and Progression

It is human nature that we want to better ourselves. The strive for growth is a natural progression all employees go through during their careers.  It would be unrealistic to expect an employee not to toy with the idea of moving on to a better position, whether it be within your company, or elsewhere, no matter how loyal they are. Internal flexibility is a favorable attribute that, if you have the means to implement, is likely to enhance employee retention.

This is the idea of being open to moving employees around and letting them find their talents and discover what they are best at. You may find that an employee you originally placed in one role, finds their niche and performs to a higher standard elsewhere just by giving them some flexibility to try their hand at new projects. Obviously, it is not always possible to offer that level of flexibility to employees, depending on the size and scale of the business. In this case, challenge your staff, and provide them with a higher level of responsibility. This will alleviate the tedium and create a feeling of purpose and worth.

career growth

Work-Life balance

Although it may be frowned upon by some employers, it should come as no surprise when people say they would prefer to work only standard or flexible hours so that they can spend more time focused on other commitments.

It can be easy for employers to overlook the bigger picture – a poor work-life balance will not only impact employee but their spouse, family and many other aspects of their life. According to the Mental Health Foundation, over a quarter of employees in the UK feel depressed due to their work-load, and a further 58% feel irritable because they struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Workload plays a significant part in employee satisfaction and ultimately can influence an employee’s decision on whether they stay or leave. Projects are often time-oriented, do not assume that if an employee continues on with tasks beyond scheduled working hours that it is because they love their job and want to be there, which of course can be the case, but not in all instances. A feeling of pressure will profoundly impact upon an individual and force them into working beyond their contentment. If an employee is showing signs of stress and continue working beyond what is expected of them, then perhaps it is time to discuss with the individual ways to manage their time more effectively. 

lack of recognition

Lack of Recognition 

Measuring how appreciated an employee feels is one of the most difficult things to gauge, but one of the most important. According to a recruitment survey conducted a few years back, a simple “thank you” to your employees is worth £1,608 a year. Lack of recognition or appreciation can cause an employee to feel undervalued and unsure of how they are performing, which can ultimately lead to anxiety and stress. People perform to a much higher standard when they feel valued and a boost in confidence can have a staggering impact on the standard of work produced by your employees. If you are finding that employees are disengaged, yearly appraisals simply will not suffice. Higher engagement levels will greatly benefit both you and your employees. Making small alterations such as implementing an open door policy, and setting goals and targets for your staff to reach, will get conversation flowing, and feedback and recognition can be easily carried out. 

“The Job wasn’t what I expected”

This is the age-old tale of someone who has taken a job with certain expectations, and has been left feeling disappointed, or worse, misled when the role they undertook was not as it was expected to be.

As a recruitment agency, when we ask why people are looking to move, a large number respond with “the job didn’t meet my expectations”. Often the problem is that the job description that was presented to the employee doesn’t match the role. The ambiguity of a role prior to an employee starting with your company can be far more critical than you would anticipate. People place a large amount of trust in the employer to provide them with the most accurate depiction of what they will be undertaking as part of their new role. Often it can simply be that the employee has misunderstood the job role, however, sometimes the employer has deliberately misled them into a job.

To prevent your employees from making a move, take measures to ensure that they have a clear picture of what is expected of them. If you have a resentful employee, address it now before the situation becomes irreversibly toxic.    

Training and Development 

If someone is feeling dissatisfied with their ability to complete their duties due to lack of knowledge, satisfaction levels will suffer and you are likely to lose them from your team. Providing training and development at work poses great benefits to both you and the employee. It is crucial in keeping your employees engaged while, at the same time, benefiting you with duties and tasks being completed to a greater standard. Enhancing knowledge through the appropriate training will increase confidence, and ultimately help you to retain staff. It will give the employee the opportunity to address weaknesses and to improve on those weaknesses before they make the decision to leave on their own accord.

The bottom line – ignore these things at your peril. It can be easy to miss the red flags, especially if you have a large team, however, staff job satisfaction is an emotional issue and requires an emotional, empathic response. Best advice would be to assume that everyone might be dissatisfied and to explore everyone’s situation equally. Tackle it now and you stand a good chance of cooling your staff’s motivations to leave.