How can small companies attract talent laid off by Big Tech?

But as many experts have noted, smaller companies are weathering the economic storm pretty well. So put two and two together, and you have a chance for small companies and startups to grab some of that former Big Tech talent. But how do you get those technologists to give your company a second look?

Revature, based in Reston, Virginia, is a tech talent development company that partners with local firms to place technologists. It frequently hires young graduates, trains them and places them in local tech jobs. COO Greg Adler said he’s seen a ton of demand for tech talent in the market, and hiring managers should be looking to those recently laid off.

“There are a lot of layoffs happening with these larger companies, but a lot of the time it’s got nothing to do with the competency of the individual,” Adler told Technical.ly. “There’s a tremendous opportunity for a lot of the smaller companies to give that tech talent a new opportunity in a different type of environment.”

The first step, he said, is to make sure that potential candidates know you’re hiring. He suggests job boards, personal outreach and advertising, but it’s up to each company to decide the best way to reach the candidates they want. From there, companies need to make sure they’re connecting with talent.

“[Companies need to] make that personal connection with the individual and then start to tell their story and try to effectively communicate to this talent pool about the culture and the mission that the small company is looking to build,” Adler said. (We call that employer brand marketing.)

Developers want to know: What am I going to learn next?Greg Adler Revature

When competing with the Big Tech companies, Adler noted that compensation is obviously going to be a big part of the conversation, so it’s important to be as competitive as you can. But it’s not the whole story of hiring. Companies need to be able to tell potential hires what they’ll be doing on the day-to-day and how they’ll be making a direct impact on the company — something they might not have experienced with their previous large employers.

When you show this to candidates, and make it clear what kind of continuous growth they can have, a lightbulb goes off and job satisfaction will go up, Adler said.

“Developers want to know: What am I going to learn next? What’s the rest of the tech ecosystem at a given project, program or company so that I can continue to hone my skills?” he said. “Really hammering that talent transformation is something I think is going to be really attractive to tech talent that’s looking for a new opportunity.”

When job hunting, candidates are looking to understand what their life will be like if they accept the role, so hirers need to paint that picture in a few ways. In a remote world, in-person connection with coworkers and associates can also be important, so Adler suggests making company culture priorities clear.

Another key note is having a holistic hiring strategy, so you can tell the new talent exactly what kind of career trajectory they can have at your company. Having a roadmap like this, Adler said, can help technologists know what they need to build to get there (say, working on a project and then becoming a manager on a different project that incorporates that tech). It will also help with retention, he noted, building a continuous learning culture and letting employees know that they have a strong future with the company.

“Give your employees the opportunity they need to grow within the organization before having the churn and the hidden productivity that can get people [to walk] out the door,” Adler said.

This editorial article is a part of Big Tech + You Month 2023 in Technical.ly’s editorial calendar.