Recruiting top software engineers has become a difficult, arduous process for companies everywhere.
As a specialist in LATAM tech talent, I’ve seen it firsthand: most businesses struggle to find qualified tech talent, and when they do, they lose the best candidates to offers from competitors. Not to mention, their teams waste time and resources in failed recruitment cycles.
Sound familiar?
You’re not alone. Companies worldwide are facing this tough tech talent market. It’s no wonder 61% of HR managers believe hiring developers will be their biggest recruitment challenge in the coming years.
However, the hunt for top-tier IT professionals in LATAM doesn’t have to be so cut-throat. If you’re keen on hiring LATAM’s elite developers, you can start by implementing better practices in your recruitment processes.
Here are my expert tips on how companies everywhere can fine-tune their recruitment practices and increase their chances of hiring the most impressive LATAM software developers on the market today.
Let’s be real, recruiting engineers is tough
To start, there are simply not enough qualified software engineers to go around. According to estimates, there will be a 4 million developers shortage worldwide by 2025. We’re already seeing the repercussions of a low supply of developers – and it’s bound to get worse.
In addition to this shortage, companies are asking for a lot. Most want high-value engineers who can hit the ground running with minimal training and check off all of the skills required. While it makes sense that businesses want to invest in the very best, this extreme pickiness can backfire, resulting in constantly understaffed tech teams.
When constantly understaffed in the engineering department, companies tend to have a hard time meeting institutional goals and their customers’ huge demand for digital products.
5 ways to improve your recruitment loops when hiring engineers
Though the challenge of hiring developers is greater than ever, I’ve noticed that many companies haven’t updated their hiring practices in response. Maintaining the status quo in your recruitment is a big mistake.
Bottom line: It might be time to update your recruitment process if you want to successfully capture engineer talent in today’s market. Here are five proven and tested ways companies can improve their recruitment loops when hiring engineers:
1. Embracing remote and hybrid work
Interest in remote work and flexible hours has never been higher. According to Owl Lab’s 2021 State of Remote Work Report, 87% of employees are looking for flexibility in where they work and 91% in when they work.
This trend is even stronger for IT professionals who are in high demand. Ultimately, engineers prefer this work mode, and for many top candidates, it’s no longer a perk but a must-have.
By embracing remote work, you not only will attract top developers but open up the possibilities of where you hire from, dramatically increasing the number of candidates available to you.
On the flip side, ignoring remote work will set your tech teams up for failure. In response to the work-at-home trend, it’s essential to invest in digital-first tools and build tech teams that excel at working remotely.
2. Understanding LATAM compensation trends
What’s more, it’s essential to understand compensation trends for LATAM engineers. The tech market is 100% global today, and you’ll waste your time and recruitment resources by being under-market in your offers.
To capture top LATAM talent, you should research benchmark salary data for how much the engineers you’re trying to hire are receiving in competitor offers. If you don’t know how to research and calculate this in certain areas of LATAM, you may need to partner with a local talent specialist.
And remember: compensation isn’t just about the salary number. Competitive job packages will include valuable benefits (such as health care, flexible hours, and more) that are on par with industry-wide offers.
3. Offering real challenges and learning paths
Developers are enthusiastic about working for companies where they see growth potential. I’ve personally seen hundreds of candidates in my career turn down offers for other opportunities that provide a bit less money but give them access to challenging projects, learning pathways, or new responsibilities.
If you can spark genuine interest in your company’s work and professional development opportunities, you may have an advantage in attracting top candidates. After all, engineers are paid to solve problems on a daily basis, and they value the constant learning they get through real technical challenges.
During the outreach and interview process, it’s important to appeal to engineers’ learning mindset and clearly outline the great projects and growth trajectories that they can expect at your company.
4. Building an engineer pipeline
If you’re reaching out to engineers when you’re already understaffed, it’s too late. At this point, you’ll likely sit on these open positions for a while, and you’ll be playing catchup.
You must build an ongoing pipeline of engineering talent even when you don’t have open positions. You must always generate interest in your company and warming up candidates for your next job openings.
One way to do this is to create an internal newsletter so that candidates are hearing from you regularly and getting intrigued over time. Overall, your outreach efforts should constantly reach developer communities and create inroads with them.
Ultimately, engineering isn’t one of those profiles that you can just hire on a whim. Unless you use an agency or tap into someone else’s network, you won’t be successful without a robust pipeline that cultivates ongoing relationships with potential candidates.
5. Expanding your talent pool
Finally, you should look at ways to increase your talent pool, not limit it. This is especially true if you’re an early-stage company or simply don’t have the budget to compete with some larger companies.
The more qualifications you ask for in your job description, the smaller you make the pool of available candidates. In turn, you also increase the risk of the role being open for 3-6 months without any applicants.
Take a hard look at what you’re asking for. Does your engineer truly need fluent English? Does he/she require all of those skills that your CTO is asking for? Can some of those be trained internally?
Don’t be afraid to consider engineers without English, or certain technical skills. With the right training and mentorship in-house, you can upskill these candidates according to your needs.
Start attracting the best LATAM software engineers
No matter where your company is based, you can start recruiting the best LATAM software engineers with the above tips. Though developer recruitment will likely remain a challenging endeavor, you can boost your chances of hiring great candidates by modernizing your recruitment process in response to today’s tech talent trends.