Overlooked Talent: How to Stay Competitive in the Digital Hiring Economy
The Great Resignation along with tech talent shortages are forcing companies to get creative when it comes to staying competitive in the digital hiring economy. 
There are 11 million open positions in the United States with only 6.5 million people to fill them. Not only this, but within the next decade there are projected to be 1 million more tech jobs. Companies must find creative and adaptive ways to stay competitive with their hiring solutions to meet their talent demands.
Some companies have found they are able to mitigate the lack of talent by reskilling and expanding their standard talent pipelines. Other ways to help supplement and expand talent pools are by looking for candidates with transferable skills, showcasing career advancement opportunities and embracing candidates from alternative education backgrounds.
The more companies that find alternative solutions and implement them, the faster they’ll be able to meet their talent demands. Today we’ll explore three strategies to keep your company competitive in the digital hiring economy.
1. Look for transferable skills.
While job-specific and technical skills are essential to hiring for a position, finding professionals who are well-rounded and with adequate soft skills can be equally as important. Candidates with strong communication skills and who work well in a team can bring a variety of experiences to a role. Such transferable skills can be beneficial to improving productivity and hitting company goals.
Additionally, look for individuals who align with the culture in your organization. Can you see this candidate meshing with your team? Hiring for culture fit can benefit the workforce by increasing employee satisfaction, increasing productivity and improving retention as well as employee loyalty. Furthermore, employees who are happy at work are 12 percent more productive and invested in company success.
Intangibles like transferrable skills and culture fit might not be something you can quantify in an interview, but looking for these qualities in candidates can set your team up for long-term success as the individual grows within the company.
2. Showcase internal advancement opportunities.
It’s a fact that candidates consider multiple companies when searching for a new job opportunity. They’re also considering the long-term picture for their career. Whether or not there is room for growth within your company is a huge factor job-seekers consider. In fact, employees with options for internal mobility stay with their company nearly twice as long as those who don’t have advancement opportunities.
A 2021 Gallup survey concluded that 66 percent of workers ranging from the ages of 18 to 24 ranked learning new skills as the third-most important perk when evaluating new job opportunities. Show candidates that you’re considering your employees’ futures within the company.
Showcasing your company’s advancement opportunities will not only help you attract and hire motivated talent, but it will also help your organization retain valued employees.
Oftentimes, an organization’s advancement programs will include some type of mentorship program. These mentors are the champions for internal mobility and should serve to encourage their peers to apply themselves and challenge themselves in new roles.
3. Embrace alternative education routes.
Just as hiring practices are changing, so is education. Dedicated programs focused on specific skills are growing in popularity. Coding bootcamps specifically, have become more popular within the last decade and show no signs of slowing down.
The coding bootcamp market is expected to increase to a staggering $1.2 billion from 2021 to 2026. Further, coding bootcamps are producing comparably strong tech talent that are ready to tackle complex programming projects, oftentimes even more so than traditional four-year college graduates.
Four-year colleges aren’t able to produce the volume of tech talent to meet the demand. The US workforce statistics showed that there will be 1.4 million unfilled computer science jobs with only 400,000 graduates being produced each year. This gap in talent has further accelerated the demand for coding bootcamps and alternate forms of education.
To stay competitive in the future hiring economy, your company will need to embrace new avenues for talent. To create the best, most diverse technology teams, multiple avenues might be required. Through an invigorated approach to talent acquisition and training, your company’s tech teams can become future-proof.
Looking for ways to expand tech talent acquisition?
The digital hiring economy is changing the way companies are looking at hiring talent and meeting their talent needs. Some organizations are supplementing their talent acquisition with reskilling and upskilling programs. Reach out to a qualified reskilling partner to see if reskilling is the solution for meeting your talent needs.
For support in implementing reskilling and more insight on employee selection, schedule a time to chat with our workforce development solutions team.
