Choosing the Right Tech Hiring Criteria to Build the Best Team

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Hiring for high-end Tech roles is a challenge. It’s become so difficult for companies to net the qualified candidates they’re looking for that they often end up competing for the same top talent.

As a result of the limited available talent, many IT and Tech jobs have become some of the hardest roles to fill in any industry. In fact, the average time-to-hire rate in the U.S. for Tech-based roles is 62 days — and that’s if you’re lucky.

Rather than continuing to expend valuable resources while waiting to find a candidate that matches all of your hiring criteria (who might not even exist), it’s to time to reevaluate and adjust hiring criteria for Tech roles.

How should you adjust hiring criteria for Tech roles?

Establish requirements for Tech roles

Industry-wide, niche Tech roles tend to have hiring criteria that include 5-10+ years of experience, multiple certifications, familiarity with the industry, in-depth understanding of technologies used by the business, specific coding language fluency, and a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or even a Ph.D. from a reputable university. 

But rarely does a qualified Tech candidate check all of these boxes. Instead, it’s crucial to interview candidates that check some of these boxes and excel in other areas.

While you may be reluctant to adjust hiring criteria for the Tech roles you’re looking to fill, consider the risk you take by extending the time to hire.

To adjust hiring criteria effectively for Tech roles, you’ll need to reevaluate your list of non-negotiables, which for most high-end Tech roles tends to be a pretty long list.

For example, if you have an available Software Developer role then proficiency in the coding language they will operate in is a must-have skill, whereas experience in your specific industry might not be critical for the role.

Reevaluate the need for college degrees in Tech

When it comes to emerging, in-demand Tech roles, flexibility around education is key to landing the experienced talent you want.

Newer Tech skills like AR/VR, Machine Learning, and AI, requisite educational programs haven’t been in place long enough for candidates to have pursued these avenues in the typical college or university format.

Candidates that excel with these skills instead might have taken various online courses or received certifications to develop and build their knowledge.

In fact, major Tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Apple regularly employ candidates that lack a typical four-year college education, which emphasizes the importance of knowing when to adjust hiring criteria to attract the qualified Tech talent you need to drive innovation.

To adjust this part of the hiring criteria, it’s crucial to rely on interviews to gauge the skill level of the most qualified applicants and provide Tech-driven tests or sample problems for them to solve to evaluate the likelihood of their success in the role.

Expanding the Tech talent pool

High-end Tech roles are presenting more of a challenge to hiring managers and companies looking to innovate, drive efficiency, and increase revenue through new Tech-based opportunities given the small talent pool they have to choose from in the US.

To find the specialized Tech talent you need to make the right hire the first time around, evaluate the requirements listed for the role, and adjust hiring criteria as needed.

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