Harnham

How to compete for top talent



 

Our latest salary and trends guide shows that many Data & Analytics skills are in high demand and continue to be scarce. So, how do you ensure you get the best candidates to join your organisation over the competition?
Unemployment is still relatively high in the UK, yet many great jobs are going unfilled. Most companies we are working with aren't complaining about the lack of applicants; they're often concerned about the quality, as often the best of the best are currently only on the job market for such a short time.

Real talent will be looking for a profitable company where they can build their careers and get paid market value. Other factors that influence individuals to accept a position in a company include; structuring a role to suit ‘me’, individual training, customised career paths, workforce flexibility in terms of hours, tailored benefits packages and performance related remuneration. So with those factors in mind, here are some suggestions to ensure you have the best possible chance to secure the best individuals for your Data & Analytics vacancies:


Make Their Career Aims Your Priority

Offer the Best of Both Worlds

Listen to Their Needs

Appeal to Their Lifestyle

Focus on Your Mission and Culture

Become a “destination employer”

Widen your Horizons

Make Their Career Aims Your Priority

Without big budgets or maybe a product or service that is not considered cutting edge or glamorous, it's tough to compete with big brands and exciting product ranges. But you can cut through a lot of that by placing a degree of emphasis on the work aims and ambitions of individuals.  Finding out what candidates want from their careers and trying to make that happen for them could be a really powerful tool for hiring and retaining top talent. And it doesn't cost you a penny.

Offer the Best of Both Worlds

Companies often don't take the time to understand why certain people choose to participate in a new or recently launched business over choosing to work for more established companies. These individuals want freedom and autonomy to create something and be in right at the start. So if you’re in the ‘established’ category, to compete for creative talent, you will need to take your core success and provide an environment that supports and rewards the freedom and innovation these individuals crave.

Listen to Their Needs

Treat talent acquisition just as you do client or customer acquisition. Know the type of individual you want to target, go find them, learn what they need, and meet those needs. Too often organisations recruit in safe mode with a “here we are and here's why you should join us” attitude. Dialogue is vitally important, so talk to key potential candidates as soon as you’ve identified them, listen to their needs and shape your offering accordingly.

Appeal to Their Lifestyle

In recent years, a very high percentage of employees reports their workloads have grown, as budgets are cut and staff headcount is frozen or reduced.  So many individuals are increasingly becoming discontented and disengaged. Long working hours are a given in the UK now, so how do you combat that? Create attractive compensation packages and offer lifestyle benefits like flexi-time, for example as even the most driven employees need to enjoy life outside of work.

 

Focus on Your Mission and Culture

Despite the supposed talent shortage, fast growing companies can absolutely recruit the best workers. Focus on your mission and culture as increasingly, individuals are more concerned with these than with anything else. You may not be able to match the salaries that large corporates can pay, but you can absolutely have an inspiring, world-changing mission and an open, transparent, fun culture that attracts the best and brightest. 

Become a “destination employer”

If a limited budget is a factor in your recruitment campaign, consider developing a brand with a reputation for helping employees build a long-term career. A decade ago, employers could fill jobs by promising a high salary, today, companies can't necessarily up the ante with their pay levels—but that's actually good news because today's employee wants more than just money. So build on this desire and create a reputation that your company offers a good opportunity to develop a career, not just a steppingstone onto more senior level roles. That does mean offering on-going training and career development, innovative compensation and benefits plans, coaching and mentoring, and other ways beyond salary to show employees that they're valued.

As organizations have become leaner, they've cut out a lot of steps in the career ladder, and it's harder to learn from someone with more experience when they aren't there to learn from. So you have to create a framework where people are going to get the opportunities they need.

Widen your Horizons

Finally, don't overlook people who have taken time away from the workforce, whether to raise a family, earn a degree or dabble in entrepreneurship, for example. These candidates are likely to be open to new opportunities—and if they're at a later stage in their career, they may also see it as a last chance to consolidate a reputation as coach and mentor.

In summary, high calibre talent is almost always employed or not available for long when they do look for new opportunities. So to recruit them, you may well need to change your recruitment strategy and introduce a more creative element to your candidate attraction to suit this emerging employment situation.



<< By Kat Heague >>

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Harnham blog & news

With over 10 years experience working solely in the Data & Analytics sector our consultants are able to offer detailed insights into the industry.

Visit our Blogs & News portal or check out our recent posts below.

Harnham's Brush with Fame

Harnham have partnered with The Charter School North Dulwich as corporate sponsors of their ‘Secret Charter’ event. The event sees the south London state school selling over 500 postcard-sized original pieces of art to raise funds for their Art, Drama and Music departments. Conceived by local parent Laura Stephens, the original concept was to auction art from both pupils and contributing parents.  Whilst designs from 30 of the school's best art students remain, the scope of contributors has rapidly expanded and now includes the work of local artists alongside celebrated greats including Tracey Emin, Sir Anthony Gormley, Julian Opie, and Gary Hume.  In addition to famous artists, several well-known names have contributed their own designs including James Corden, David Mitchell, Miranda Hart, Jo Brand, Jeremy Corbyn, and Hugh Grant.  The event itself, sponsored by Harnham and others, will be hosted by James Nesbitt, and will take place at Dulwich Picture Gallery on the 15th October 2018.  You can find out how to purchase a postcard and more information about the event here. 

Simon Clarke

17. September 2018

Breaking Code: How Programmers and AI are Shaping the Internet of Tomorrow

Data. It’s what we do. But, before the data is read and analysed, before the engineers lay the foundation of infrastructure, it is the programmers who create the code – the building blocks upon which our tomorrow is built. And once a year, we celebrate the wizards behind the curtain.  In a nod to 8-bit systems, on the 256th day of the year, we celebrate Programmers’ Day. Innovators from around the world gather to share knowledge with leading experts from a variety of disciplines, such as privacy and trust, artificial intelligence, and discovery and identification. Together they will discuss the internet of tomorrow.  The Next Generation of Internet At the Next Generation Internet (NGI), users are empowered to make choices in the control and use of their data. Each field from artificial intelligent agents to distributed ledger technologies support highly secure, transparent, and resilient internet infrastructures. A variety of businesses are able to decide how best to evaluate their data through the use of social models, high accessibility, and language transparency. Seamless interaction of an individual’s environment regardless of age or physical condition will drive the next generation of the internet. But, like all things which progress, practically at the speed of light, there is an element of ‘buyer beware’, or in this case, from ‘coder to user beware’. Caveat Emptor or rather, Caveat Coder The understanding, creation, and use of algorithms has revolutionised technology in ways we couldn’t possibly have imagined a few decades ago. Digital and Quantitative Analysts aim to, with enough data, be able to predict some action or outcome. However, as algorithms learn, there can be severe consequences of unpredictable code.  We create technology to improve our quality of life and to make our tasks more efficient. Through our efforts, we’ve made great strides in medicine, transportation, the sciences, and communication. But, what happens when the algorithms on which the technology is run surpasses the human at the helm? What happens when it builds upon itself faster than we can teach it? Or predict the infinite variable outcomes? Predictive analytics can become useless, or worse dangerous.  Balance is Key Electro-mechanical systems we could test and verify before implementation are a thing of the past, and the role of Machine Learning takes front and centre. Unfortunately, without the ability to test algorithms exhaustively, we must walk a tightrope of test and hope. Faith in systems is a fine balance of Machine Learning and the idea that it is possible to update or rewrite a host of programs, essentially ‘teaching’ the machine how to correct itself. But, who is ultimately responsible? These, and other questions, may balance out in the long run, but until then, basic laws regarding intention or negligence will need to be rethought. Searching for a solution  In every evolution there are growing pains. But, there are also solutions. In the world of tech, it’s important to put the health of society first and profit second, a fine balancing act in itself. Though solutions remain elusive, there are precautions technology companies can employ. One such precaution is to make tech companies responsible for the actions of their products, whether it is lines of rogue code or keeping a close eye on avoiding the tangled mass of ‘spaghetti’ code which can endanger us or our environment. Want to weigh in on the debate and learn how you can help shape the internet of tomorrow? If you’re interested in Big Data and Analytics, we may have a role for you. Check out our current vacancies. To learn more, contact our UK team at +44 20 8408 6070 or email us at info@harnham.com.

Eoin Pierce

13. September 2018

Download our 2018 UK & EU Salary Guides

We are thrilled to announce the release of the 2018 editions of our market-leading Salary Guides for the UK, US and Europe. Having spoken to thousands of Data & Analytics professionals across the globe, we gained invaluable insights into key industry salaries and trends across a wide variety of specialisms and sectors.  Our surveys are created for analysts, by analysts, and offer a detailed, on-the-ground look at what’s concerning talent in the industry. As with the last few years, 2018 has shown us that the data industry continues to grow and shows no sign of slowing, with demand for analysts still easily outstripping supply. The guides include salary and trend analysis across five key specialisms: Data & Technology, Data Science, Digital Analytics, Marketing & Insight, and Risk Analytics. You can download the UK & EU guides here. 

David Farmer

10. September 2018

Our Top Five Tips For Telling Stories With Data

As the Data & Analytics marketplace continues to grow, what is it that makes a candidate stand out? More and more, employers are on the lookout for people with both hard and soft skills; those who cannot only interpret data, but possess the ability to translate and relay that data to key stakeholders.  To convey data in a cohesive, informative, and memorable way, we need to think beyond making something aesthetically pleasing. People connect with stories, be they fictional, personal, historical or otherwise. By utilising universal storytelling techniques, we can share data in a way that people intuitively connect with.  Here are our Top Five Tips for telling stories with data: Start With The Structure  Structures are the essential foundations that sit under any good story. Without a solid structure, the story we are telling can become confusing, distracting and unfocused. When presenting data, it is essential that we work to a clear structure to ensure that we can be understood.  All stories feature three things; a beginning, a middle, and an end. A story told through data is no different: The Beginning: What is the question that has been asked? What are we trying to learn from this information? The Middle: The Data itself. What the numbers say. The End: What insights can we gain from the data, what is the data really telling us? By sticking to this structure, we can ensure that each bit of information gathered is explained with the relevant context required to convey the most information possible.  When looking at several pieces of data, it makes sense to think of these as chapters. They may tell their own smaller story, but in the wider context of an overall narrative, they need to be in the correct order to make sense and not leave anyone confused.  Speak To Your Audience When presenting data, it is crucial to remember who your audience is. Whey they’re a novice, expert, or the chairman of your company, each individual has their own vested interested in what you are showing them. As a Data and Analytics professional, your job is to serve as curator, creating a story that feels tailored to each unique person.  In order to help understand how your audience might be best served by your story, it’s helpful to ask yourself the following questions: What information are the most interesting in? What information do they need to know the most? What is their daily routine?  Is this their big meeting of the day, or one of several back-to-back? What actions will they take off the back of your insights? By asking these questions, you should be able to curate your data in a way that is meaningful for your audience.  Find Your Characters The majority of data is based upon an initial human interaction. From a video viewed, to a product purchased, it’s easy to forget that at the end of the line is a real human being. By bringing this to the forefront of your insights you create a compelling new way to connect with your audience. Consider what this data actually meant when it was first gathered; who was that person and what does this information say about them? If you are able to create ‘personas’ or ‘characters’ from this data, you can present something tangible that people can connect and, potentially, even empathise with.  Even if you use existing data to reference a personal experience, you’re adding a sense of palpability that gives your insights depth.  Painting The Right Picture  As Data Visualisers will tell you, the most elaborate visual is not always the most appropriate way to convey your insights. The key is to always consider what tells the story best. A heat map may be perfect for telling a story of geographical differences but is likely to make no sense when conveying a customer journey.  The beauty of utilising different visual techniques is that they allow you to create an emotional impact with data, fully emphasising the meaning of your insights. David McCandless showcases how data can be visualised in various dynamic ways that create the most amount of meaning possible.  Start Big, Get Smaller Data presentations have the difficult challenge of needing to be both accessible and detailed. By ensuring that you have the big picture covered with enough context, you can ensure that everyone gets the headline takeaway.  Following this, you can highlight further insights that reveal more information for those who need to do a deeper dive. Much like in a good story, whilst you may understand the overall narrative the first time round, looking closer and revisiting certain parts should reveal more insights and nuances.  If you have the skills to turn Data & Analytics insights into compelling stories then we may have a role for you. Register with us or search the hundreds of jobs available on our site. 

Sandra Namatovu

06. September 2018

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