The Top Traps of IT Hiring – Don’t Fall In!

The IT hiring world is full of hurdles to leap and hoops to jump through – and no one who’s doing the hiring is very happy about it. A survey by staffing and consulting firm Veritude found that only one in ten of the businesses they contacted were satisfied with their company’s ability to hire. Here are the top IT hiring traps that plague them, according to the survey:

Trap #1: Finding enough qualified candidates. More than half (53%) of the survey respondents revealed that their biggest hiring challenge was finding sufficiently skilled candidates. A related concern was finding applicants with the right personality/cultural fit. The Danger: If aspiring employees lack key skills, you’ll end up with unfilled positions or be forced to settle. And new hires who are not a good fit personally or culturally will either turn over quickly, or remain as unhappy employees – neither of which is good for business.

Trap #2: Offering competitive salary. 16% of those surveyed said that offering a competitive salary was their principal hiring issue. The Danger: Offer too little, and your competitors land the best candidates – who are already scarce. Offer too much, and you drain your budget before filling all open positions.

Trap #3: Finding local talent. This varied by region, but for 10% of the survey respondents, finding available, quality talent nearby was their chief hiring challenge. The Danger: Relocation expenses escalate hiring costs. And if your new Sunbelt hire finds 25-degree winters to be intolerably miserable, or your formerly small-town employee decides the big city is a big disappointment, you’ll soon be hiring all over again.

Trap #4: Retaining top employees. Finding the best talent is only half the battle: keeping it was the most pressing issue for 8% of those who responded. And there’s nothing more frustrating for a hiring manager than investing months to bring a star employee on board, only to have them wooed away shortly afterward by a better offer. The Danger: Frequent turnover is disruptive and costly, but among today’s professionals, there is often little loyalty and job-hopping is simply considered a fast-track for career advancement.

So how can IT hiring managers handle these potential pitfalls? To increase your chances of finding qualified talent – local or not – you’ll need to elevate your networking game. Researching competitors may help you set more attractive (but not overly generous) salary specs. And holding on to star performers requires an effort that is part creativity, part counselor and part creative financier. If that sounds like a lot of work, it is. That’s why many HR departments turn to professional IT staffing firms, who do all of the heavy lifting for you with pre-screened talent pools, up-to-the-minute salary information and placement guarantees.

Whether you choose the DIY approach, or decide to call in the professionals at Triumph Services, knowing the challenges can help you evade the traps on the path to successful hiring.