“High-flyer” techie persona
If you need an ambitious, technically-minded person for a job role, you need to attract a 'high flyer'. Find out more about how to hire this type of candidate.
How to identify “high-flyers”
Those who fit the high-flyers persona will tend to come across as very driven and determined to achieve their career goals. They will likely have a career path set out, with a clear idea of where they want to be in several years’ time. To identify a high-flyer, ask about their ambitions, assessing whether assuming a leadership role appears important to them. If they are already at this stage, try to evaluate what is their next career move – the high-flyers are likely to show interest in developing their management abilities.
Interested in:
- Senior positions
- Reaching a certain level of seniority over honing their technical skills
Industries of interest:
- Open to all industries
Preferred specialities:
- General IT
- Cloud
View our report on the different temperaments of a techie here.
Hiring and retention for this group:
If a company is looking for a new tech hire who will manage a team and be comfortable taking charge of situations, then they could benefit from hiring a high-flyer. To attract this persona, company culture is key. Identify it and be clear about it to prospective employees; it will be important to find someone who fits the environment well, so advertising the company culture will help to attract the most suitable individuals. As with most groups, salary, employee benefits and work-life balance are also important, and are crucial for retention, too.
High-flyers are the most likely group to stay in a role for over 5 years. They tend to be in it for the long haul because their primary aim is career progression, and they clearly recognise that it can take time to reach the top. As long as their basic needs continue to be met (work-life balance, salary), it shouldn’t be too difficult to retain them – just ensure that there is room for them to progress in the company.
Whilst most did have a preference, high-flyers were one of the groups most likely to say that there was no specific industry they would like to work in — perhaps because their priority is reaching senior levels, regardless of the industry.
In terms of specialising, techies in this group reported being most interested in General IT roles, and least interested in Devops and Blockchain.
High levels of authority were found in those currently working in the Sales, Media and Marketing industries, and a high proportion of this persona are currently working in Software Developer roles. When looking for employees who will become leaders, it may therefore be beneficial to seek people from these areas.
Techie personas series
To delve deeper into the high-flyers and the other personas, view our report here.