Timing Is Everything 3 Practical Timing Tips for Mastering the “When” of Recruiting Tech Talent DICE Timing is Everything
1
Success Depends on the Ability to Recruit Top Tech Talent “Exactly when you recruit and how long the recruitment process lasts has a significant impact on the number of successful hires you make.” — Dr. John Sullivan, HR thought leader specializing in strategic talent management
For tech recruiters, the pressure is on to deliver results. Only 48 percent of CEOs interviewed for an annual PwC survey said they are satisfied with their current recruiting solution. And nearly 80 percent said they’re concerned that a lack of key skills threatens their company’s growth potential.
These top executives do have cause for concern. Companies that are adept at recruiting the talent they need to succeed enjoy 3.5x the revenue growth and 2.0x the profit margin of their less capable peers, according to research from BCG Perspectives. But what can a tech recruiter do to gain an edge in this tough hiring market? Many of today’s tech pros are passive job seekers — and hard to reach. And candidates with specialized skills who are actively seeking new opportunities know they’re in demand, and expect employers to work hard to woo them.
THE ANSWER: You need to become a master at timing. To help you do that, the data science team at Dice has analyzed thousands of tech professionals’ profiles to provide data-driven insights on how recruiters can work more efficiently and improve candidate engagement.
DICE Timing is Everything
2
Success Depends on the Ability to Recruit Top Tech Talent Based on our analysis, we’ve identified three practical timing tips for recruiting success:
TIMING TIP #1:
TIMING TIP #2:
TIMING TIP #3:
Plan your week to optimize success
Understand how to target your prospective audience
Know when candidates are open to new jobs
DICE Timing is Everything
3
Timing Tip #1: Plan Your Week to Optimize Success MONDAY AND TUESDAY
Open your calendar. It’s time to rethink how you structure your workweek. Our research shows that 40 percent of all job searches happen on Monday and Tuesday. So, if your usual practice is to post jobs to employment sites on Fridays — as many recruiters do — come Monday morning your listing likely will be buried far below your competitors’ listings.
Plus, we’ve learned from our research that only 13.5 percent of weekly job searches occur over the weekend. Obviously, that’s not much of an audience, especially for all the effort you’re putting in.
With these findings in mind, here are the three things you should do on Mondays and Tuesdays, instead:
Post jobs to job sites first thing in the morning Refresh and/or feature existing postings Serve up ads on relevant websites
DICE Timing is Everything
4
Timing Tip #1 MONDAY AND TUESDAY
Why is it important to do all the above at the front end of your week? Two reasons: ONE – Many potential job seekers coming to work on Monday morning have just endured a bout of the “Sunday Scaries.” They spent the weekend — especially, Sunday night — thinking about how they really, really did not want to go back to work at their current employer. So, they’re starting the workweek with a mindset that they’re ready (and eager) to make a change. TWO – The early bird catches the worm. Really, that old adage is true in recruiting. Our analysis of tech professionals on Dice found that nearly 40 percent of all job searches happen between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. If you’re not getting your job information advertised and updated until after lunchtime, you’ve already missed the hungry crowd.
DICE Timing is Everything
5
Timing Tip #1 WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
Once the mad dash on Monday and Tuesday is behind you, it’s time to start doing some different legwork over the next two days. Consider this finding from our research: 50 percent of candidate profile updates happen between Tuesday and Thursday. Profile updates are a key indicator that a candidate is on the job hunt or getting ready to embark on one, and will likely welcome outreach from a recruiter.
That means Wednesdays and Thursdays are ideal days for recruiters to engage in the following three activities:
Search for new candidate profiles Reach out to new candidates Follow up on candidate leads
BONUS TIP Services like Dice can help recruiters identify which candidates have updated their profiles, and when.
DICE Timing is Everything
You’ll want to center most of your sourcing and outreach activities on these days between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., when 40 percent of profile updates occur, according to our research.
6
Timing Tip #1 FRIDAY
Friday is no slack-off day for busy recruiters — especially those who need to hire tech talent. After four days of trying to source and connect with candidates, it’s time for you to: PLAN FOR NEXT WEEK – Yes, you now know how you should structure your week so that you can improve your chances of connecting with tech talent at just the right time. But you still need to have all your information for the coming week ready to go so you can hit the ground running first thing Monday morning.
CHECK IN WITH HIRING MANAGERS – Take time to touch base with the teams you’re currently helping to hire tech talent for, and find out which other groups in the organization might be looking to add staff, too. (Note: You might face some pressure from eager hiring managers to post a job before the weekend. If that happens, share the 13.5 percent stat from page 4 to help explain why Monday is a better option!)
Lastly, take time to finalize job descriptions. You want to make sure that information you post early next week is accurate, as well as relevant to the tech professionals you are trying to reach.
PREPARE FOR SCREENINGS AND INTERVIEWS – Too often, recruiters go into these meetings with candidates and try to “wing it.” Preparation will lead to better outcomes for the company — and the candidate. So, spend time on Friday reviewing potential hires’ information and craft thoughtful questions for upcoming screenings and interviews.
DICE Timing is Everything
7
Timing Tip #2: Understand How to Target Your Prospective Audience Another way to be more successful with your tech recruiting efforts is to know how to target your prospective audience based on where they are in their careers. Hopefully, you’re already pipelining talent for specific roles that are often needed and/or hard to fill, like software developer or vice president of engineering. And perhaps you have other hiring programs, too — such as initiatives targeting women in technology or military veterans.
As a guideline, here’s what our data shows about the years of experience that IT engineers typically have at different stages of their careers:
IT Engineer Career Stages
But what about all the other talented tech pros out there who are looking for new growth and development opportunities? Setting up pipelines to target people who are ready, professionally, to take the next step in their careers can be a valuable exercise for sourcing talent.
DICE Timing is Everything
8
Timing Tip #2: Understand How to Target Your Prospective Audience Most talented technology professionals will look for employers that can provide opportunities for career advancement and invest in the development of their teams. This is especially true among millennial workers: In a recent Gallup poll, 80 percent of millennials said they care about the opportunity for growth in their role, while 60 percent said they want to learn about career development options as part of the recruiting process. So, if you can target candidates when they’re likely ready to move into the next phase of their tech careers, based on their experience, you can tailor your outreach to describe specific opportunities at your organization — and inspire the potential hire to take that next step.
BONUS TIP Tools such as Lengo, a hyper-targeted social advertising service from Dice, can help recruiters target candidates based on skills, experience level, where they’ve worked, and more.
DICE Timing is Everything
9
Timing Tip #3: Know When Candidates Are Open to New Jobs Another opportunity to perfect your timing for candidate outreach — and optimize those efforts — is by targeting tech professionals who are statistically ready to progress to the next stage of their careers.
Average Time IT Engineers Stayed at their Jobs
Our data science team analyzed how many years engineers typically invest in their first, second, and third jobs. We learned that these tech professionals tend to stay in their first job the longest — about 5.3 years. That finding makes sense, as the first job is an important time for professionals to learn foundational skills and find mentors who can help them be successful. And as these professionals mature in their careers, they will be willing — and better prepared — to transition to other roles faster. Knowing when a candidate is statistically ready to switch jobs can help you to focus your outreach, and invest more time in helping a potential hire see why your organization should be their next place of employment.
BONUS TIP Services like Dice provide tools that offer predictive, data-driven insight on when prospective hires are statistically ready to switch jobs based on their employment history, time at their current job, activity on Dice and social sites, industry trends, and more.
DICE Timing is Everything
10
Great Recruiters Know That Timing Is Everything
The inability to secure skilled tech professionals quickly is more than just frustrating for many organizations — it’s a critical business issue. As businesses of all types expand their use of cloud computing, advanced analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, and more, the need for specialized tech talent in the workforce will only increase. So, too, will the pressure on recruiters to deliver results.
The three practical timing tips, which are based on extensive research by our data science team, can go a long way toward helping recruiters perfect their timing for connecting with the top tech talent that companies need. Even better: You can start using them today.
Timing Tip #1 Plan your week to optimize success
Timing Tip #2 Understand how to target your prospective audience
Timing Tip #3 Know when candidates are open to new jobs
DICE Timing is Everything
11
Great Recruiters Know That Timing Is Everything
We also suggest that recruiters consider applying the following strategies, which are based on insights from our friends at ERE Media, an online gathering spot for recruiters:
LOOK BEYOND WEEKLY PLANNING – Do you know what you should do in every recruiting “season”? Successful recruiters know what days and months candidates are looking and how to structure their recruiting efforts throughout the year. For example, they know the “summer slowdown” is an ideal time to prepare for a busy fall recruiting season by planning career fairs and launching branding campaigns. KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR COMPETITORS – If a competitor faces a major change event or is hit with some negative news, like a poor earnings report, a big merger deal, or a round of layoffs, it could be a good time to target their top performers. Also, many firms promote designated “hiring days.” So, right before these recruiting events take place, you should consider reaching out to candidates who would be likely to apply to those companies.
DICE Timing is Everything
Mastering the art of great timing in tech recruiting takes practice. Recruiters will be better able to meet, or even exceed, their clients’ expectations, if they apply the right tools to gain data insights that can help them identify the best leads, tailor their outreach, and know exactly when to contact potential hires.
12
YOU CAN: Dice has powerful tools and insights to help you master the “when” of recruiting and to time your outreach to top tech talent perfectly.
The Career Hub For Tech
SEARCH DICE FOR FRESH, NEW RESUMES ENGAGE “LIKELY TO SWITCH” CANDIDATES ON SOCIAL CHANNELS BUILD YOUR BRAND AND REACH HYPER-TARGETED AUDIENCES WITH LENGO
Want to learn more? Visit www.dice.com/products