Dubbed Europe’s ‘digital capital’, there are now more than 187,000 tech companies in London that employ 1.2 million people and have a combined turnover of £285 billion.
The exponential growth of London’s tech sector has largely been driven by an influx of new start-ups – it is reported that a new tech business is formed every hour in the city. With so much competition, how do you separate yourself from the rest?
- Hiring never stops.
Companies who hire reactively struggle – successful companies are constantly expanding the outreach of their branding. They do this by asking their employees to share experiences through social media, get articles/interviews in tech publications and write blogs. By building and engaging a community of people who know what your business stands for, when you do need to hire, it will be much easier.
- Add value
A lot of thought goes into why a customer would buy your product or services – so should an equal amount of thought go into why a developer would want to join you.
Whilst salary and benefits are important, that’s not what will separate you from the competition, nor will table tennis or free lunches. Developers are interested in the engineering culture, the environment, the background of the people they’ll be working for and around. Developers want freedom and flexibility to work when and where they like so that they feel trusted.
Above all, they want to learn new skills – so if you do any of these things, you want to be shouting it from the rooftop of your adverts and job specifications.
- Be visible
Have you got a company profile page on LinkedIn or a way to showcase your company’s culture? What happens when people search for your company name, are your vacancies in the most accessible place, where you want them to be seen?
- Sponsor or arrange meetups
Techies love talking tech. If there’s a Meet-Up of the type of people you want to hire, then offer to buy some pizzas and beers in return for saying a few words at the start of the event or provide a speaker to talk about your latest work. You won’t see instant results from this type of event, but by regularly running them, you will quickly build up a good name for your business. If you’ve got space for it, hosting it in your cool office is a great strategy for making people remember you, and further strengthens your brand.
- Move fast
With so many companies climbing over each other in a race to sign up the best tech talent, companies who have interview processes that take longer than two weeks will continually miss out. Equally, the best talent is already working for someone else – so companies that can be flexible with interviewing people on weekends/evenings will always stand out and look more attractive.
