The impact of the pandemic meant organisations needed to fast track digital transformation to deal with the immediate needs of the remote workforce. Recruitment needs to play a central role during digital transformation and it’s important to get key stakeholders and executives to buy into the digital strategy. It requires the full backing of the C-Suite to drive the change and culture needed when introducing new technologies.
With Digital Transformation, leaders are learning more about what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to furthering their efforts. They are learning what the ideal makeup of these teams should be – from customer experience experts to cloud security professionals, these roles can make or break transformation projects.
Recruitment plays a central role
Recruitment plays a central role during digital transformation because companies in many industries need to hire employees who possess IT-related knowledge, skills and abilities to digitalise their products, services and processes. However, research so far mainly has focussed on the use of digital technology in recruiting processes and its outcomes, whereas strategic aspects have received little attention. Because the demand for digital talent far outweighs the supply, many pre-digital organisations have been struggling with digital transformation.
The introduction of new technologies are leading to a quicker recruitment process, happier candidates and happier employees. In theory, you are allowing a recruiter to become a recruiter again instead of being stuck administering a system. Transformation projects clearly result in new roles being created and the types of skill organisations are wanting to attract have greatly changed.
Top Tips
Recruitment plays a central part in identifying what those roles are, but the challenge is understanding what motivates this type of talent and where can they find it.
Look at different characteristics – digital talent often differs considerably including their attitudes and values. Talent is very diverse for digital transformation in terms of educational background with individuals holding degrees in subjects such as biology, computer science, geoinformatics and computer linguistics, and they acquire their KSAs very differently from most members of traditional target groups, e.g., through online degree programmes or self-instructed learning
Understand the motivation of digital talent – Digital talent also differs with regards to motivation. These individuals are much more motivated by professional content and knowledge than members of traditional target groups and, therefore, value personal development and exciting job content much more than longterm relationships with an employer.
Understand their demands – Digital Talent make very different demands of employers. – Although they demand similar benefits, demands often exceed as they are aware of their labour market power. For instance, very early in the application process, digital-talent individuals already are seeking perks or fringe benefits, such as flexible working hours, remote work, a company car, further education or a sabbatical. This indicates that they view perks more as a basic condition than part of negotiations
Remember that Digital Talent often remains passive – Members of traditional target groups actively approach organisations and try to convince them of their value, digitally talented individuals remain passive and expect employers to approach them.
Ensure your website and employer rating websites are creating a good impression – Digital talent screens potential employers much more intensively – For example, by using employer-rating websites such as Glassdoor or employer rankings. Therefore, it is important for employers to make a good impression on these websites and rankings as well. Make sure the career pages on your website are easy to navigate and you are creating the right impression using statements on Diversity and Inclusion and your social credentials.
Consider a proactive pipeline approach – Allow your candidates to build relationships with you before you even need them by introducing a Talent Pipeline community so you can interact with them to connect, share and nurture.
By integrating some of these top tips into your Digital Transformation Talent Acquisition Strategy, organisation can start to identify new ways of attracting and retaining the right skills!
