Code Institute’s Jane Gormley said networking events and hackathons are becoming mainstream when hiring tech talent.
Attracting and retaining tech talent has become more challenging than ever before with high demand and an ongoing digital skills shortage.
According to Code Institute’s Jane Gormley, the biggest problem sits with software developers. “We just don’t have enough of them,” she said.
Code Institute is an online coding bootcamp that seeks to narrow the digital skills gap. As well as its educational offering, the organisation also hosts Elevate, a careers and networking event for its students and alumni as well as hiring partners.
The event will run next Wednesday, 12 October. It will include panel discussions, causal breakout rooms and all-day networking.
Gormley said this is just one example of how recruitment within the tech industry has changed. “The biggest trends we would see in terms of tech recruitment are more around ongoing, more social, informal ways of recruiting,” she said.
“So being able to run hackathons, being able to run events and, I guess, something like what we’re doing at Elevate.”
Gormley said events like these can be less intimidating for jobseekers than stepping into a formal interview.
“It just makes it really, really comfortable so that people can still meet and it’s within these conversations, very often, that the hires get made, that opportunities develop. So this is where I think we’re really going to see an increase in this sort of engagement, at a more social level rather than a formal level.”
Advice for employers
Gormley said for anyone hiring in the tech space, it’s important to take a fresh look at the current capabilities within their organisation and become familiar with where the big gaps are, both now and within future plans.
“What we’re seeing a lot of are [employers] looking at capabilities internally and being able to retrain either entire teams or individuals who have the ability to do some of these tech roles, but maybe just aren’t doing them right now,” she said.
“You do have a lot of influence there, being able to develop that internally, so upskilling, cross-skilling, etc. Obviously this will also play really well into retention, which is going to be a bit of a challenge for some businesses. So it’s really good to think about how you can retain that staff.”
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