How SME Tech Recruiters Are Attracting Top Talent After The Pandemic

There is no escaping the devastation wreaked by Covid-19 across the U.K. jobs market, but one sector that has thrived during the pandemic and is now a hotbed of job creation is technology.

According to the 2020 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO survey, due to be published this month, the majority, 82% of the U.K.’s tech leaders are expecting their technology headcount to either increase or stay the same, with cybersecurity, architecture, organizational change, and cloud among the skills most highly sought.

The tech sector was better insulated from the impact of the pandemic than others because of the pivotal role it played in the rapid and wholesale switch of workforces to remote working, and also in maintaining access to an array of digital services for consumers ensconced in their homes during lockdown.

The upbeat recruitment picture is therefore not surprising, but it seems that companies at the smaller end of the tech sector are at the forefront of attracting and retaining the skills needed to continue delivering their high quality services.

Matt Power, head of the software development practice at global technology recruiter, Harvey Nash, says: “Tech SMEs know that the demand for developing online platforms, building ecommerce capabilities, or digitizing some kind of process or service will continue. For them, the question has been not so much ‘should we recruit?’ as ‘when should we recruit?’”

Energy suppliers have been transitioning their technology infrastructure over the last few years to SaaS platforms, a transformation that has been accelerated by the new normal of the disparate workforce.

Nottingham-based Ensek, which builds online customer-facing platforms for energy suppliers, employs around 160 staff and has been recruiting people across the new projects and products space, including the business analysis space.

CEO Jon Slade says: “We are always looking for software engineers and software testers, and with our focus on enhancing our capability and customer offering, we have also been hiring business analysts, project managers, and product specialist roles. Given our current growth trajectory, we will be hiring in most areas over the next 12 months.”

The most in-demand roles are aimed at the ‘hard to find’ people; software developers, software engineers, cybersecurity consultants, and the ‘doers’, those of mid-range seniority who are actually producing the software or product.

There is also an active interest in retraining for these prized skill areas, for example through apprenticeship schemes and short programs that offer a combination of intensive training and a work placement.

“Some people might retrain within IT, for example, from a testing role to a software development role, but it’s perfectly possible to retrain to an IT role from outside the sector if you have the right skills and attributes,” says Power.

One of the reasons why smaller tech firms are able to steal a march on their larger competitors in terms of talent acquisition is that they have a more flexible approach to pay and perks. Large companies often have to adhere to salary bands quite rigidly. Some smaller tech firms are also offering share options as an additional benefit that can be a key motivator and driver of performance.

“Overall, I think many SMEs offer better pay and rewards than they are usually perceived to,” says Power. “Other attractions are cultural, for example, they have less red tape and more scope for innovation and trying new things. The quality of the work itself is usually high; people are working on original products and services from scratch.”

There is also greater geographical flexibility: SMEs have long embraced flexible and remote working given that they usually have small offices.

“Location has become less important, and we are much more flexible on the work arrangements we offer,” says Slade. “We personalize them to each individual’s situation, for example, some people need time in the middle of the day for childcare commitments, or not everyone lives in the city. We trust our people, they have adapted well, and as a result of this improved work-life balance, productivity has increased.”

Thrive Learning, a provider of e-learning management platforms, has a team of around 40 people. Launched in 2018, the company has been recruiting technical people in a developer capacity and will be hiring more developers for its app team from this month. A planned U.S. launch in January 2021, Covid-19 permitting, will create further demand for skilled tech workers.

CEO Sean Reddington says: “We had over 50 applicants for a CSM role, and even a few of our client contacts applied for this role, which was hard as the relationship is already there. The standard of applicants was also really high, and we found an absolute gem from one of our competitors.”

The company recently introduced a range of new HR policies, which include unlimited unmonitored annual leave that will enable people of all religious backgrounds to take time off for holidays that are important to them, as well as supporting a better work-life balance. New ‘work from anywhere’ contracts will also mean that location is no longer a barrier to new recruitment.

“We need to stop calling it ‘work from home’ and start calling it ‘work from anywhere’,” says Reddington. “I’m not ashamed to say that I preferred people being in the office, not from a lack of trust, but because it was what I was used to. The office will be open when it’s safe to do so and people will then have a choice where they work.”

According to Matt Power, the outlook for the U.K. tech jobs market is looking solid. He says: “Throughout the pandemic, the demand for digitization, collaborative platforms, cloud, and AI has probably never been higher, so good tech SMEs and startups are facing a healthy future. If their product or service is right, the demand for it will be there.”