Returning to the workplace: tech hiring advice for recruiters

On the 10th May 2020, the UK Government began to outline its plans to enable certain sectors in England to return to work. 54% of UK workers now want to return to their workplace and be back in the office by the end of June 2020, as research from our sister brand Totaljobs reveals.

As employers prepare to welcome workers back, decisions need to be made about safety, logistics and tech hiring. How will employers continue to attract top talent in the current landscape? In this post, we outline how tech hiring will change post-COVID-19 and the steps companies can take to get ahead:

Resettling workers into an office environment

Before companies can onboard new hires, they need to address the logistics of resettling current employees back into the office. When speaking to clients, they shared that one of the most time-consuming task for tech teams during lockdown was setting people up to work remotely. We anticipate that settling employees back into the office will prove just as challenging.

IT aside, employers will need to address workers’ concerns over health and safety and ensure that appropriate social distancing measures are in place. They will also need to make sure that teams are ready to make the transition back and consider giving workers the option to continue working remotely.

Some ways that employers can support their staff as they return to the office include:

• Keeping staff informed at every stage of resettlement, including future plans for introducing new hires into the team.
• Being aware of how teams are feeling by providing a staff questionnaire. Returning to work will impact workers in different ways and it’s important that businesses put measures in place to ensure everyone feels reassured about returning to the office.
• Continuing to provide remote working opportunities. With many companies now set up to enable home working, many employees will welcome the chance to continue working remotely. Companies can also create staggered shifts to avoid offices becoming busy, not to mention improving employee wellbeing over the long-term.

A digital-first approach to tech hiring

As employees return to the office, we foresee the tech hiring process shifting to a more digital approach. In recent months, activity on CWJobs’ platform has been high, especially for specialised tech candidates.

Over 40,000 applications are being made on average on our platform every week and we’re seeing weekly increases in the number of employers recruiting too*.

Targeting in-demand talent pools

We’ve seen a number of applications for certain sub-disciplines increase in the last few months, and as lockdown restrictions ease, we expect the number of overall jobs advertised to rise further. Software development, infrastructure, web development and IT support are the top tech sub-disciplines on our platforms in terms of jobs posted and applications received*.

We believe that the increased demand for these roles means that competition to recruit specialised tech candidates will rise over the coming months. For companies to meet their current hiring needs, now is the time to target these specific talent pools. Employers should aim to build up their talent pipelines for the future and maintain contact with those already in their pool.

As the business landscape starts to return to relative normality, the companies that will recover quickest from the impact of COVID-19 are those who have immediate access to tech talent. CWJobs’ free video interviewing software and our instant candidate recommendation tools can help companies fast-track their hiring strategy remotely. With our free software, employers can set up candidate interviews in minutes, work across any device and conduct and record interview questions that candidates can answer at their own time.

Repositioning your employer brand

As employees start to return to the office, now is a good time for companies to ensure their brand is well positioned for the new landscape. Brands who are positive and visible during a downturn are more likely to emerge stronger once the market picks up.

A good starting point in revising a company brand is to consider brand values. What was once considered a core value a few years ago, may not be considered as important post COVID-19. Reviewing brand values can better position a company to attract the type of specialised tech candidates that will be in high-demand.

Brand repositioning should also be extended to the recruitment process. For example, job descriptions and candidate information packs should be updated to reflect a company’s new outlook. Likewise, companies should consider how they use language in their job adverts and how they inform candidates who are successful and unsuccessful in their applications. Missing salary information within the job ads and late feedback are two of the top reasons causing frustration to jobseekers during their search, as our latest research of over 1,000 tech professionals reveals**.

It’s also important for companies to acknowledge that remote working opportunities will be a big draw for tech candidates moving forward and businesses should make a point of highlighting these opportunities on their job adverts. Thinking that 49% of tech professionals would be willing to take a pay cut to be allowed to work from home, there is opportunity for companies to use more efficiently their hiring budget and broaden their search for talent to people with disabilities, carers and people leaving in remote locations.

At CWJobs, our platform enables companies to save time and money in hiring for tech roles across the UK. Job roles are matched with the most relevant tech talent through our innovative product technology and unique candidate audience. Our expert understanding of tech recruitment means that we are well equipped to support companies in hiring the people they need, quickly and efficiently.

*CWJobs internal stats June 2020

**CWJobs candidate survey, April 2020