Technology is constantly and rapidly changing. By the time most tech students graduate, what they’ve learned and the programs they’ve been using could be obsolete.
So what is talent in tech? It’s no longer someone with years of experience developing a particular skill set. It’s someone with the drive to never stop learning and the motivation to stay ahead of the curve. To survive in the tech business, that’s the kind of talent you need to draw. But what will make the top talent choose you over the competition?
How top talent grows your business
Top talent hires are the overachievers of the workplace. The ones who take you from where you are today, to where you want to be tomorrow. When properly engaged by their employers, they’re passionate, motivated, and highly invested in doing the best job possible. They have their eye fixed on the future, wanting to be part of something bigger than themselves and eager to make a meaningful impact on our world.
Having this kind of motivation on your team fuels a number of benefits, including reduced turnover, greater productivity, stronger customer ratings and more secure profitability.
And talent breeds talent. Hiring the best people helps to create a thriving work culture and generates a competitive advantage to attract customers and more top talent.
How top talent builds your brand
Top talent and top branding go hand-in-hand in the tech sector. Why? Because the best people create the best stuff. Employing top talent enables you to brag about your people publicly, helping to bolster your brand with real faces. It also enables you to point to the people that set you apart from your competition, and authentically claim your spot as a leading-edge tech company.
As your talented team continues to create new solutions and products that strengthen your brand, your reputation also grows. You have more stories to tell your customers and prospective candidates through social media, events, and other news channels. People look to you for the latest and greatest. The stronger your brand becomes, the stronger your draw will be for more top people.
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Check out the Guide: How to Build a Performance-Driven Culture
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Tips to attract top talent
Compensation is no longer the sole decision-making factor for attracting and retaining top talent. Companies need to become a place where people want to work. Tech companies have led the way in this regard, promoting playful, creative environments with things like ping pong tables, casual seating areas, and free snacks. But it takes a little more than a lunchroom revamp to cultivate an atmosphere that makes your employees happy to come to work.
Use social media to build community and showcase top performers
Social media is a great way for organizations to engage with and highlight the great work of their teams. Progressive companies use social media to post about the team, company events and activities. Future potential hires are able to see what working at your company will offer.
You can also use community-building platforms to strengthen community within your workforce. For example, Sprout’s health and wellbeing platform uses social networking to promote photo-sharing, discussion, activities, friendly competition and rewards among workplace teams. Employees feel that they are not just part of a company, but part of a community.
Let everyone know that you care about employee wellness
Progressive companies offer wellness incentives for employees. Promote your corporate health and wellness strategy and let prospective hires know your organization takes an authentic interest in their wellbeing. Sprout’s online, customizable platform is the kind of health and wellness program employees would expect in the tech industry. Companies have the option of white labeling the platform with their own brand while the app integrates with Apple Health, Google Fit, Fitbit and other wearable activity trackers to drive lasting engagement and positive health improvements.
Promote employee work-life balance
A healthy work-life balance is better for both employees and employers. Empowering employees to take control of their work and personal life helps to lower stress and increase productivity.
Companies can support work-life balance by creating a work environment that combines engagement, challenge, reward, and community. Make sure your prospective hires know you offer challenging work that leverages their unique talents, opportunities for growth and upward movement, team outings and occasions for socializing.
Sprout supports companies in driving employee work-life balance and socially engaging experiences by offering incentives and rewards for wellness activities like going for a run, going to bed on time, or doing mindfulness exercises — whether employees are at home or at work. It also offers turn-key team, personal, and company-wide challenges.
