Finding Top Tech Talent Means Going Where They Are

Across the country and around the globe we hear frequently about a skills gap pertaining to technology talent. Powerhouse organizations such as Facebook, Google, Amazon often attract the best talent leaving gaps across the board for other organizations. Recently when Google announced a restructuring there were a lot of conversations about the opportunity to snap up Google employees.

Attracting the attention of tech talent is challenging if only because of the volume of noise from the competition seeking to gain their attention. That is why understanding where or how these talented tech professionals look for work and where the competition is can be useful.

Understanding Tech Talent Needs

Recently Job board Indeed.com conducted a comprehensive review of job postings and job searches by technology talent and used this data to create a list the top tech skills in demand and where employers are looking for these skills.

Indeed noted that a 2015 top trend was the growth of employer and job seeker interest in Data science skills.

Competition for Tech Talent is Global but Tech Talent’s Search is Narrow

Employers who want to find technology talent are advised to think global as tech talent can be found anywhere in the world. One of the most interesting findings from the Indeed research was that top talent is looking for roles in fewer and concentrated tech hubs globally, with a significant concentration in the US. However, employers from around the world are competing for talent. If you are competing for talent but not in locations where the talent is looking you will miss out on the talent you need to compete.

Mismatch between where tech talent looks for jobs and where employers look to hire

The list of the top 25 cities around the world looking for technology talent shows the diversity of competition for talent around the world; the top 25 including US (4 of the top 25), India (with 6 of the top 25), Brazil, Hong Kong, China, Italy, Germany, Russia, Poland and the UK.

Strategy For Canadian Employers – Students and Express Entry Economic Immigration Pool

For Canadian employers to compete in attracting talent today and into the future it will be important understand where the talent is emerging from and who is interested in coming to Canada. Currently global talent is highly attracted to looking in a few tech hubs in the US, at the same time there is an emerging pool of Talent around the world ready and willing to relocate. Potential employees from major cities in India are entering the Canadian immigration pool in the thousands.

Visibility with Students: Recruiting on campuses for current students and recent graduates is one way to tap into the talent pool. Having an intern program and graduate recruiting program is one way to tap into this pool of emerging talent.

Welcoming Immigrants: Canada’s new Express Entry Immigration Program has had over 120,000 applications from a variety of economic immigrants. For Federal Skilled Workers (the Express Entry Program where technology workers enter Canada) applicants must provide proof of their experience, education and language skills among other things to be accepted into Canada. Once in the Express Entry pool these candidates must also register with the Canadian Job Bank. Canadian employers looking for skilled technology talent can post jobs in the Job Bank and find matches with highly qualified talent looking for jobs in Canada, often anywhere in Canada.

Because it can take anywhere from 4 weeks (for an approved immigrant with an Invitation or an approved VISA) and 5 months (for a candidate without a VISA) to bring an economic immigrant to Canada it is useful to get your jobs into the job bank early. It is also useful to ensure your job postings are LMIA (Labour market Impact Assessment) friendly (which includes posting on at least 3 job sites relevant to your industry for 28 days in addition to the Job Bank Posting, which is free).

Whether you are looking for a Data Scientist, a Java Programmer or someone not on the list of most in demand skills, if you look to late or in the wrong place you may find yourself missing out on the talent you need to stay competitive.