A solution for attracting and hiring quality talent in 2023 will be what separates successful businesses from those going under, but what are the alternatives to traditional recruitment?
Covid-19 exacerbated an already growing skills gap in the rapidly changing job market. The sustained fallout of the pandemic continues to challenge businesses as they face ‘the great resignation’, inflated salaries, and a host of new demands from today’s workforce. When it comes to bridging critical skills gaps in technology, these factors have created a perfect storm that threatens even the most formidable and innovative UK businesses. A solution for attracting and hiring quality talent in 2023 will be what separates successful businesses from those going under, but what are the alternatives to traditional recruitment?
Introducing innovation to your hiring strategy
Of the factors determining company success, talent ranks highly. This is why all growing organisations have a hiring strategy – a means to secure the immediate people and skills they need, and pipeline future leaders to sustain growth and results. In the realm of digital, attracting and retaining quality talent is more complex, expensive, and competitive than ever before.
Recruiters might be able to offer an immediate reprieve to an organisation’s digital skills gap, but they too are faced with a limited talent pool, only able to find people already trained and experienced in their field. As a result, recruiters are high cost (with substantial recruitment fees) and high risk (no retention strategy or support beyond landing).
Apprenticeship providers might offer access to junior talent, finding people with potential and offer an element of training and support, but apprentices do not immediately add value and require significant management and support to meet their potential. Even then, there is no guarantee they are in it for the long haul. Can your business afford to wait?
Hire, Train, Deploy – a disruptive solution to the skills gap
There is a better way to hire and retain the talent your organisation needs to be productive, innovative, and competitive.
A long-term workforce solution, hire, train, deploy (HTD) companies recruit talent they believe have the right attitude, aptitude, and potential to be successful in in-demand roles. These individuals are then trained (at no personal cost) in line with a company’s specific skills requirements, or in a general specialism that’s prevalent in the market. At the completion of training, these consultants are then deployed to work on client projects in roles that are otherwise difficult to fill. Deployed on a contract basis, these consultants are uniquely able to convert to permanent employees after an agreed period, allowing clients to maintain critical IP and build their workforce for the future.
A power play for technology leaders
Within technology specifically, the HTD approach provides an exceptional opportunity for organisations to build a future workforce that promises diversity, creativity, and longevity.
Traditional talent acquisition places great weight on a person’s education, work experience and background, but partnering with a HTD provider gives access to people and communities with high potential who simply don’t meet these outdated criteria. HTD companies are using proven proprietary techniques to assess aptitude, aptitude and potential, supporting candidates in getting job-ready through dedicated personal and professional tutoring, and matching them to the projects where they will immediately make an impact.
Advances in AI, machine learning, robotics, and other technologies have increased the pace of change tenfold and companies that do not invest in emerging talent, fresh thinkers and diverse perspectives will simply not compete. HTD represents a strategic and scalable method for acquiring diverse technical talent, retain emerging talent and IP, and building digital capabilities in a cost-effective way that benefits society.
Your employer brand reflects your hiring process, hiring tools, and hiring team. With a HTD partnership in your back pocket, these reflections will be of hiring inclusivity, technical innovation, and powerful people quality. Given this, is it time to rethink?
Natasha Fasanotti has always had an interest in technology, pursuing a degree in Computer Science to turn her passion into a career. But when it came to leaving university and picking a path - the options were overwhelming, unclear, and Natasha wanted to find an opportunity that could help her specialise in something that utilised her skills through and through. Joining Sparta Global in February this year, Natasha upskilled in test automation and is now an integral part of a mult-Spartan project team operating in the public sector.
When Ekaterina (Kat) McNeill began her Psychology studies at University, she wouldn’t have predicted a future working in Data and a successful career kickstart working in the public sector – but that’s exactly what Kat has achieved. In fact, her line manager told us how Kat got to grips with complex code with little to no documentation, worked out how to access data that was previously thought inaccessible, and modelled it through a workflow. Her skills have already made an impact on site and we can’t wait to see what Kat does next…
After initially forging a career in Mechanical Engineering, Bradley Woods found himself searching for an opportunity to change careers and pursue an interest in technology. With a firm determination to find training opportunities in DevOps, Bradley joined the Sparta Academy in early 2023 and quickly secured his first role working in the public sector. Nominated for Spartan of the Month for his “dedication and hard work” that have been “instrumental in the smooth execution of high-profile project”, we spoke to Bradley about his time in tech.