Grabbing the attention of top tech professionals is more difficult than ever — elite candidates are typically only on the market for 10 days and more than 86% of ideal applicants will be recruited by other employers. For rapidly scaling companies with aggressive growth goals and skyrocketing hiring needs, this poses a serious problem for tech recruiters.
On top of that, 14.2% of the entire Seattle-area workforce is currently employed in tech and 93.3K tech jobs were posted in 2018 alone. However, standing out from the crowd might not be as difficult as you think.
In a candidate’s market, highly sought-after professionals can shop around for the perfect opportunity. Because there’s likely little variance among role responsibilities, things like company culture, employee benefits and work environment are deciding factors.
Show candidates your value as a potential employer by promoting the already exciting aspects of your company along with what lies ahead for your team. Take a look at what these Seattle tech companies are doing for ideas on how you can attract experienced, enthusiastic candidates.
Emphasize Your Career Growth Opportunities
The opportunity to grow not only within the role but the company is of the utmost importance to job seekers today. 43% of workers say they left their company because of career path constraints, and an even greater number of millennials (67%) say they would leave their current position if the employer didn’t offer professional development opportunities.
If you make it a priority to train your employees and nurture their careers, share this information with job seekers. Knowing you value and invest in your employees’ professional and personal growth makes prospects more inclined to join your team. Check out how we promoted these two tech companies’ development opportunities to engage more qualified job seekers.
RealSelf’s Confidence Boost
RealSelf, a leader in the medical aesthetics industry, aims to empower consumers with information so they can confidently make important decisions, and the leadership team treats its employees with the same respect. “I love that RealSelf invests in their employees and helps them to be the best and most confident people they can be,” says Lisa Smith, Lead Software Engineer.
The company gives employees free rein when it comes to deciding what will best support their professional development. “Every year, RealSelf gives employees a professional development grant of $1,000,” Smith explains. “Grants can be used toward a course, conference, certification, or toward anything proven to benefit career growth.”
But it doesn’t stop there. Knowing that personal and professional development often go hand-in-hand, RealSelf gives employees even more opportunities. “Starting in 2019, we can now put $500 of our grant toward booking a treatment on RealSelf,” Smith says. Now, employees can build their confidence in any way that is meaningful to them.
Read more about how RealSelf supports its employees’ growth.
Smartsheet’s Focus on Collaboration
Education stipends and soft skills training aren’t the only ways to support your employees’ professional development; Smartsheet’s engaging company culture and mentorship opportunities help individuals grow their skills organically.
“One of the most striking differences is the culture of collaboration that exists at Smartsheet,” says Garvice Eakins, Senior Manager of Engineering. “Within the engineering team, we see this play out in things like mentoring, pair programming, and swarming.”
The Smartsheet team provides employees with a variety of learning and development opportunities, including book clubs as well as lunch and learns. These initiatives encourage continuous self-improvement and positively reinforce the company's culture. “When a team is excited about what they are accomplishing, invested in the success of each other, and teaching and training those around them, it creates a place where innovation is on fire,” adds Eakins.
Read more about how Smartsheet encourages professional development.
Feature Your Unique Perks and Benefits
In a candidate-driven market, employee perks can make or break an organization’s recruitment success. Standard benefits packages won’t cut it either, as 68% of employees believe perks are as important as traditional benefits like health and life insurance.
To attract top tech professionals, show off the unique perks you offer employees. Remember that cold brew taps and stocked kitchens are pretty common, so be thoughtful with the perks you choose to promote. Check out how we made these two tech companies’ top employee benefits shine.
Subsplash’s Support for Mothers
As a software company that equips churches to connect with communities, it’s no surprise that Subsplash is careful to create a welcoming community of its own, providing moms-to-be with outstanding support.
“I’ve honestly never experienced as many perks than I have at Subsplash,” says Tayla Marti, Client Success Manager. “I’m pregnant with my first child, and I couldn’t be more grateful for how generous Subsplash has been to me.”
Marti knows there’s a stigma around being pregnant at work, but says that she’s never encountered unfair treatment at Subsplash. “My motherhood is already being celebrated and honored with flexibility in my schedule, generous time off after the birth and an invitation to let me work out a plan for returning to work that’s customized for me,” adds Marti. Taking the stress of work out of the equation when preparing for a child is just one way Subsplash supports its team members.
Read more about how Subsplash values and invests in its employees.
Qualtrics’ Dream Fund
We all have those improbable bucket list items that have gone unchecked for years, but Qualtrics is making big dreams possible. “One of the best things about working for an ‘experience management’ company is the belief in the power of experiences,” writes Shaunda Zilch, Global Talent Brand Manager at Qualtrics.
In 2018, Qualtrics introduced its “experience bonus” — a $1,500 bonus for all employees with at least one year of tenure to try a new experience. “It should be used to fund a ‘dream’ – something you would not otherwise try on your own,” explains Zilch. “Qualtrics employees have already used it for experiences ranging from taking their families to Disney World to building orphanages in the Philippines.”
Read more about Qualtrics’ employee perks.
Lean on Your Leaders
In the case of most tech startups, senior software engineers, developers and product managers work closely alongside the leadership team. Because of this, it behooves you to make your leaders visible and give tech candidates insight into who they’ll be working with.
Showcasing your leadership team also gives you the perfect platform to share your company’s mission and core values, which ticks an important box for job seekers; 67% of employees would rather work at an organization with a mission they believe in than have a better paying job. Take a look at how we helped Seattle-based Axon promote its mission and highlight a team leader.
Axon’s Community-Driven Mission
Axon is tackling difficult matters head-on, developing software and hardware to improve law enforcement efforts and reduce time-consuming paperwork demands. Bryan Wheeler, Vice President of Axon Records, does not take this responsibility lightly. “Our mission is to protect life,” he says. “All over the world, we encounter communities dealing with very significant challenges when it comes to public safety. We want to help solve these really hard problems.”
Wheeler says the company’s inspiring mission has been a driving factor in how the team has grown. “We overwhelmingly attract people who want to make a difference with respect to the really tough problems our communities face,” says Wheeler. “Technology is present in every facet of our lives, which gives technologists unprecedented choice in terms of what impact their professional efforts will have on the world.”
The Axon team is dedicated to their cause and passionate about their work. “We are committed to pushing the boundaries of technology to help keep communities safe,” Wheeler adds. “It’s highly motivating to be around co-workers who are also inspired by the same mission.”
Read more about Bryan Wheeler and the Axon mission.
Highlight Your Unique Work Space
The physical work environment largely influences an individual’s decision to apply to your open role. Even if the job is perfect, a lackluster office space can turn off great prospects. 72% of job seekers decide if they want to work for someone based on their first impression of the office space. Give candidates a taste of what life at your company could be like by showing off your unique space.
Remember, your work environment should clearly reflect the company culture you created. Be intentional with your design, and explain to job seekers how the layout will enhance their time in the office. Take a look at how we helped these two companies promote their cool office spaces to grab the attention — and earn the respect — of top candidates.
PitchBook’s Collaborative Office
Creating a space that encouraged cross-departmental communication and fostered creativity was essential for the team at PitchBook. The rapidly scaling financial data and software company needed an office to house its 414 local employees. “PitchBook’s office space is an open-plan design, which has created a culture that values collaboration and communication,” says Sarah Rasmussen, Customer Success Manager.
PitchBook carved out unique areas across a sprawling 50,000 square-feet. “There are no individual offices or cubes — instead, employees enjoy an open layout and several collaboration spaces and common areas to gather and share ideas,” says Rasmussen.
The 24th floor — one of the three belonging to PitchBook — boasts a massive kitchen with long picnic tables that are home to both lunch breaks and larger meetings. “There’s also a full-length PitchBook-branded shuffleboard, which has seen many company-wide tournaments,” adds Rasmussen. “All this with a great view of Mount Rainier and Puget Sound.”
Read more about PitchBook’s unique Seattle-based headquarters.
Upbound’s Inclusive Environment
Keeping remote employees engaged and fostering interactions with an on-site team is no easy feat. Upbound, a cloud-native computing company based in Seattle, is focused on making connections happen. “Upbounders can tap in from anywhere, whether remote or here in the office, and our environment reflects and encourages that inclusive, collaborative culture,” says Reilly Whiting, Head of Recruiting.
Every member of the team is “wired in” so all employees are visible on computer screens, which helps foster face-to-face interactions. In-office employees enjoy a balanced mix of communal and private work areas. “We bookended the space with our common areas: employees gravitate to the sofas by the massive half-moon lunette windows that have been a staple of the Moses Building since it was built in 1900, or the well-equipped kitchen and dining area,” says Whiting.
Individual all-glass, sound-proof pods break up these open areas and offer a space for quiet work. “Upbound is constantly thinking of ways to scale remotely, while also appealing to the employee who wants to be in the office,” Whiting explains.
Read more about how Upbound builds a collaborative environment.
The aspects of your organization that you promote say a lot about who you are as an employer. Highlight your company's successes, cool office space, employee development opportunities and team outings to paint job seekers a well-rounded picture of life at your organization. Be thoughtful with how you create your employer brand, but don’t be overly modest — you’re a leader in tech for a reason.
