The War for Tech Talent: How Your Startup Can Compete with Tech Giants

Last Updated: 

October 18, 2023

It is frequently stated that talent is more essential than technology or that soft talents take precedence over hard abilities. This is especially true when it comes to digitalisation or the function of information technology in a company. 

Whatever the size of your company, the people are what will propel it forward, therefore hiring should always be a top concern.

Securing the proper people is a critical component of assuring your company's continued growth. However, access to such talent is inevitably what keeps technology managers and founders awake at night. The market is tough, there is a lack of some specialised professions and fast-growing organisations frequently don't realise what it takes to acquire excellent personnel.

The fact is that we live in a time when people may choose to work for firms they care about and perform jobs they enjoy. This extends beyond the job description, as business culture, the management team, career advancement, and a clear match with the firm's values are becoming increasingly important.

Key Takeaways on Tech Talent and Competing with Tech Giants:

  • Talent Over Technology: The success of a company, regardless of its size, is driven by its people, making hiring a top priority.
  • Changing Work Preferences: People now prioritise working for companies they resonate with, considering factors like company culture, management, career growth, and alignment with company values.
  • Essential Skills in 2023: Creativity tops the list of soft skills, while AI, cloud services, team building, and UX are among the top hard skills.
  • Traits for Startup Employees: Startups value creativity, flexibility, adaptability, pragmatism, decision-making speed, accountability, and communication skills.
  • Competing with Tech Giants: Startups face challenges in competing with established tech companies, especially when it comes to hiring and scaling.
  • Make Your Company Profile Appealing: Clearly define and communicate your company's values and mission. Ensure job advertisements are detailed and transparent.
  • Data-Driven Hiring: Use software that provides real-time recruitment statistics to improve the hiring process.
  • Personality Tests: Use tools like the Big 5 (OCEAN) test to gain insights into candidates' personality traits, aiding in the selection process.
  • Pre-Employment Testing: Implement tests that assess candidates' potential skills and abilities, helping to streamline the recruitment process.
  • Leverage Workplace Benefits: While startups might not match the salaries of tech giants, they can offer unique benefits like a trendy office space, café, gym, and a culture that aligns with employees' lifestyles.
  • Offer Remote Work: Expanding the hiring search globally increases the pool of qualified candidates. Embracing remote work can give startups an edge, especially in the post-COVID era where many are accustomed to working from home.

In essence, while startups face challenges in competing with tech giants for talent, they can leverage unique strategies and benefits to attract and retain top-tier candidates.

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According to LinkedIn Learning's 2021 Workplace Learning Report, the most essential soft talent is creativity, while top skill sets include AI (artificial intelligence) services, team building, and UX (user experience.) When it comes to working for a startup, inventiveness is even more important, as is the flexibility and adaptability that allows employees to keep up with the fast-paced developments.

Since outcomes are more important than assignments, a startup hiring team seeks employees who are pragmatic, can make judgments, and move swiftly. Ideal candidates must accept responsibility for their acts rather than shift blame. Additionally, they must be outstanding communicators with the ability to sympathise with other team members.

As the owner of a small business, you may find the prospect of assembling the finest staff intimidating. You can be in a scenario where you need to employ a competent team in order to scale quickly, but you're not sure if you'll be able to secure your next round of funding. 

Also, maybe you're working out of your living room because you're not sure if you want or can afford an actual office building with a ping pong table and endless snacks in a state-of-the-art cafeteria. So, how do you go up against the big boys?

6 ways How Your Startup Can Compete with Tech Giants in Hiring

1. Make Your Company Profile Appealing

Company Profile
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Startups seeking IT specialists compete with large corporations such as Microsoft and Google, which have well-known brands and lucrative benefits packages. This implies you must develop a set of clearly defined, visible, and open corporate values. Your company may be about more than simply a faceless corporate monster, with a more distinct and meaningful emphasis.

Job advertisements that do not adequately explain the role are likely to be overlooked, therefore provide all necessary details. This must cover all of the prerequisites in terms of experience, credentials, and personal traits, as well as the major jobs and tasks and perks given.

2. Opt for Data-Driven Hiring

Data-Driven Hiring
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Data-driven hiring entails making recruiting decisions based on data generated from your recruitment activity. With the rise of big data and technological advancements, you may now readily access software that provides real-time recruiting statistics. 

These insights can help you identify holes in your hiring process and make it more effective while also boosting hiring quality.

3. Take Personality Tests

Personality Tests
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For decades, large organisations have employed personality tests to evaluate potential prospects throughout the employment process. Most hiring managers believe that personality tests are a strong indicator of a candidate's future work performance or organisational fit.

You can test candidates with the Big 5 (OCEAN) to learn more about their personality. The Big 5 exam should not be used to make recruiting choices, but rather as a tool to obtain a better insight into test-takers' personality traits. Personality insight can assist deepen learning and development interactions. 

Finding the best personnel for roles in a startup may be tough. However, settling for less might lead to worse problems down the road. Maintaining a high level in the recruiting process is critical. 

Moreover, there are ways to improve and broaden your search. You can attain the stars for your business if you keep your choices open.

More tactically, you should invest in technologies to help talent management, including some unexpectedly inexpensive tools and approaches that startups may utilise to obtain a competitive advantage over larger competitors.

4. Leverage the Benefits of Pre-Employment Testing

Benefits of Pre-Employment Testing
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Pre-employment testing eliminates incompetent and under-qualified individuals from the recruiting process, reducing hiring time. Once suitable prospects have been identified during the pre-employment testing process, recruiters may pay particular attention to just qualified individuals.

These tests assess a candidate's latent potential to learn a new profession or skill. These tests can uncover abnormalities or flaws in a person's perceptual or intellectual capabilities. These concentrate on certain forms of skill, such as learning, logic, and technical or even artistic ability.

5. Offer Employee Benefits

Employee Benefits
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Startups find it difficult to compete with the extensive employee benefits packages that major IT corporations provide to their workers. While startups may not be capable of offering the same pay, they can give an alternate attraction in many ways. This might be accomplished with a fashionable and pleasant facility that includes a café, bar, fitness area, and a place to store bicycles.

Startups might make an effort to stay up with their target workers' lifestyle requirements and strive to mirror this in their workplace environment. This might also be with a social life and business culture geared at inspiring employees in ways other than monetary compensation.

6. Offer Remote Work

When you broaden your employment search to include the entire internet rather than just your local region, the quantity of qualified candidates skyrockets. COVID-19 has already mandated remote work for people all over the world, thus many people are already acclimated to working remotely and everything that implies.

Tech behemoths like Twitter have already allowed all of their staff to work from home if they so want, and startups may do the same. Possible constraints include time differences and tax rules, although you may narrow your search to specific locations.  

Wrapping Up

When you broaden your employment search to include the entire internet rather than just your local region, the quantity of qualified candidates skyrockets. COVID-19 has already mandated remote work for people all over the world, thus many individuals are already acclimated to working remotely and everything that implies.

Tech behemoths like Twitter have already allowed all of their staff to work from home if they so want, and startups may do the same. Possible constraints include time differences and tax rules, although you may narrow your search to specific locations.

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