How to gain and develop digital talent and skills
Once the company has a detailed understanding of the “who” and the “where,” it needs to tackle the “how”—how to recruit and select the right digital talent in an era when high demand for such talent and low-cost access to information put the power in the hands of the job candidates.
Step into their shoes. On the basis of our analysis of more than 100 recruiting methods and interviews with more than 50 top recruiters, we have identified several best practices in the search for scarce digital resources. Most important of these, we believe, is understanding how digital employees think. Although the 20 digital profiles we found in our research represent very different backgrounds and skill sets—from experienced coders with a classic IT background to Generation Y and Z self-taught entrepreneurs, freelancers, and conventional top-university neophytes—they seem to share a digital mindset.
The employees with this mindset are entrepreneurial and inclined to data-driven decision making. They focus on user-centric product and service development and are passionate about creating and building. They are experienced in multidisciplinary teams and show a strong tendency toward collaborative and agile ways of working.
When it comes to the work environment, digital employees are more concerned about their product portfolio—the projects and products they build—than about prestigious titles or linear career paths. They want to be surrounded by inspiring peers and thought leaders in their field of expertise. In addition, they are more open than traditional employees to unconventional forms of compensation, such as stock options and shares in intellectual property. Many also want to make a meaningful, positive impact on the world, and most would like to define their own work-life balance. In short, digital employees make up a specific recruiting pool that requires new ways of attracting and selecting talent.
Install tech-savvy recruiters. More than 90% of digital employees today use online tools and communities in their job search. And they find new jobs in an average of less than two weeks. To compete for these individuals, traditional recruiting practices are not enough. (See Decoding Global Talent: 200,000 Survey Responses on Global Mobility and Employment Preferences, BCG report, October 2014.) Companies today need recruiting staff with social media and online networking skills, HR software capabilities, and digital knowledge. Only programmers can recruit programmers; recruiters must speak the language of their candidates. The recruiting team at one consumer goods company, for example, uses advanced machine learning platforms to write job postings. These platforms can instantly predict the performance of a recruiting post—by comparing it to more than 70 million other posts—and provide options for improving it. Such posting makeovers lead not only to faster hiring but also to broader reach and better fit.
Look to new talent channels. Most organizations have already developed some form of strategy for online recruiting; however, their plans often fall short. One reason is that the digital talent they seek might be using only group-specific recruiting platforms, such as AngelList for entrepreneurs, GitHub and Stack Overflow for engineers, Dribbble and Behance for designers, or Kaggle for data scientists. Recent technophile graduates may be using platforms such as The Muse or apps such as Debut in their job hunts. To reach these people, companies need to use the appropriate platforms.
Other channels also serve well. Google, for instance, uses internal referrals as a principal recruiting channel. It has also turned to developing countries in its search for software engineering talent, collaborating with Andela, a global engineering organization that recruits job candidates from the top 1% of software development talent in Africa, shapes them into technical leaders, and then connects them with Google USA and other global technology companies.
Target their interests. Recruiters can also reach a broader pool of digital employees by addressing their interests directly. They can connect with digital talent in person, for example, by participating in targeted informal events such as CreativeMornings, a breakfast lecture series for the digital community that takes place in cities around the world. These events allow creative people of all types to mingle, network, and share insights before the workday begins.
Other methods include sponsorship of virtual competitions through online communities such as HackerRank or of live events such as hackathons, or codathons, which bring together large groups of programmers—typically students—to build websites, mobile apps, and other projects in a relatively short amount of time.
Buy and build. A more costly approach to recruitment is “acquiring”: buying a company not for its business or product line but for its talent. In 2016, for example, GM purchased Sidecar, an app-based ridesharing service provider, acquiring not only the company’s software but also 20 employees—including Sidecar’s co-founder and chief technology officer—with digital skills and know-how. Alternatively, companies can create digital hubs or subsidiaries that have a startup-like environment and are therefore more attractive to young digital talent, keeping them somewhat separate from the larger, more traditional corporate culture. (See “Accelerating the Digital Transformation.”)
Accelerating the digital transformation
Digitalize and personalize. Once the right target groups have been reached, it’s the selection and recruiting process that will distinguish the successful company from its competitors. Most traditional companies still need to speed up and automate this process—to become fully digital. Throughout the recruiting process, companies should try to maintain a personal touch, finding a way to balance digital methods and personal appreciation. Some companies are using prerecorded video interviews to ask customized questions and gather responses from job candidates early in the screening period, while others are reaching out more proactively to keep candidates engaged until the final decision is made.
Retain the new talent. With so many new digital employees in their ranks, companies need to create an environment in which these individuals will want to stay for the long term. They can do so by, for example, providing ongoing learning opportunities and interesting career paths. Google and Procter & Gamble found a way some years ago to move talent around—not only internally but also between the two organizations. This partnership came about as P&G sought to do a better job of marketing itself online and Google was looking to big consumer goods companies for more advertising money.
Companies can also keep talented employees in the fold with programs and policies that show personal appreciation, create a positive work-life balance, and cultivate a collaborative, flexible workplace.