Recruiting - IT specialists desperately wanted: 5 tips for better personnel search

Companies, craft businesses, doctors - they are all looking for qualified personnel. What with many HR-Campaigns are only too happy to be forgotten: It depends on reaching the right target group.

ITler annoyed by staffers

Recently at a start-up event: a young one Developer, by the way in a permanent position at a company, complained to me about his suffering: “Oh these stupid ones HR, take time to annoy you on Xing with your inquiries, you can't get rid of them! "

What I keep finding: many Companys are desperately looking for IT professionals and launch the craziest marketing campaigns. What you often forget paradoxically: taking the perspective of your target group.

Many IT positions remain vacant

A labor market study by the IT industry association BITKOM shows that around 55.000 IT jobs remain vacant in Germany alone each year. According to the Vienna Chamber of Commerce's professional association for management consulting and information technology, 61.000 people work in Austria People as employees in the IT sector. Several thousand IT positions are vacant in Germany. Depending on the source, estimates vary between 3.000 and 5.000.

So it's no wonder that quite a few headhunters try to approach potential candidates via social networks - and persuade them to change jobs. Active sourcing, that's what it's called Method, is popular, but not without controversy in specialist circles, precisely because of its relevance to data protection law. There are other reasons why HR managers are now a red rag for many developers: The way they are addressed. Because it should be consistent!

Coherent targeting? Nothing!

Being coherent does not mean large-format posters with code formulas that lead to an application page - a campaign that the Düsseldorf company Trivago recently carried out and which at most caused a sneering grin in the target group. Rather, it's about the way the whole Communication with potential applicants.

There are studies on this: For a study, the Center of Human Resources surveyed Information Systems (CHRIS) of University Bamberg, together with the career platform Monster, the top 1.000 companies and the 300 largest companies from the ITIndustry in Germany. The results were compared with the results of usage behavior and the assessments of more than 2.800 candidates.

Annoyed IT experts

The survey with regard to the approach of applicants shows: IT professionals in particular are annoyed by human resources or headhunters, because they receive too many uninteresting inquiries with inappropriate, standardized speeches or even fear that their current employer gets along with them. As a result, two out of ten applicants shun the channel in the future, 16 percent delete corresponding messages unread and especially men talk bad about spammers. No good self-marketing for companies looking for employees.

The developer platform Stack Overflow surveys around 100.000 developers from 183 countries and regions every year, among other things Vocational Training, future plans, preferred technologies and expectations of their job and employer. The salary is a high priority for most respondents, but also flexible working hours, Work-Life-Balance and further development opportunities play an important role for developers in the Choice their employer.

Dear Personaler: Please less desperate!

Here, too, the way you address yourself is crucial, as Stefan Schwarzgruber, who is responsible for business development in the DACH market at Stack Overflow, explains: “Basically, developers and Recruiter different types of people, according to a survey, twelve percent of developers even find recruiters annoying.” If you want to recruit developers, you have to take a close look at previous projects and in their Write to refer to it. "The Candidate should realize that you value his work and person. flappy Marketing-Addressing alla 'Coding-Guru Wanted' is of little use. Better: deal specifically with the job description, remuneration and the experience of the desired candidate,” recommends Schwarzgruber.

However, it is possible that in many companies the suffering of finding IT specialists is not yet high enough: I am only thinking of the heated discussion about the IT entrepreneur Illja Maditsch, virologist with a doctorate, computer scientist and Founders of the research network Research-Gate. He had appeared in shorts and a superman cap for a meeting and photo shoot of the Digital Council with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Were Herr Maditsch to be like that job interview appeared – some personnel managers would probably have sorted him out immediately, despite the alleged shortage of skilled workers.

Discussion topic training and further education

And training opportunities are also a constant topic of discussion among employers. Because they often want as little as possible to invest in the further development of their ITEmployees invest, out Anxiety, the competition then poaches them away. At the same time, however, personal initiative is given too little credit: More than 90 percent of the developers surveyed stated in the Stack Overflow survey that they taught themselves new programming languages, frameworks or tools outside of their formal training.

This is also useful, because like that fast like yourself Technology developed today, it is not included in any curriculum. But German employers in particular are finding it difficult to recognize alternative educational paths such as onlineCourses and programming experience as equivalent to a degree. However, this would significantly increase your pool of candidates. As long as companies with such blind spots in Recruiting operate, the shortage of skilled workers does not seem to be big enough.

5 tips for correctly addressing IT specialists online

Just in Internet correct speech is particularly important. 5 tips on how to do this better. Because there are many possibilities. You just have to know them!

• There are many ways to search for personnel online: find out in advance which network is right for your target group. Specialist forums and business networks are more suitable for more qualified applicants.
• Orientate yourself to the prevailing communication culture: Business networks are, for example, more formal than private networks. Remember that most participants are interested in an open exchange of information.
• Always use your own name: It may seem more inconspicuous if you want to get to know applicants anonymously in discussion groups. But especially if you are looking for personnel, you should always use your own name - otherwise it can be embarrassing!
• Maintain your contacts: Networking does not mean that you can find what you are looking for. A network has to develop in the long term. Often enough, suitable applicants are only made aware of recommendations from the network
• Allow time. Don't think you can get started and find the right candidate right away. Activities in social networks are complex. If you don't have enough time yourself: hire experts.