If you’re a UK company looking to attract some of the top SaaS talent around, the good news is that you’re in the right place – the UK is home to some of the very best untapped SaaS talent; highly skilled individuals who are looking for just the right career opportunity.
However, competition is fierce, and you certainly won’t be the only business on the block looking to recruit, which is why it is essential to constantly revisit and revise your hiring plan, putting into place new ways to attract candidates who can take your business to the next level and create sustainable and long-term growth. You’ve probably started at the beginning; advertising your SaaS role vacancies on all the relevant online job boards and across social media. Perhaps you have attended SaaS industry events and conferences, where you can organically meet potential candidates, and you’ve looked into partnering with universities and institutions that educate and students specialising in SaaS fields. Your company is offering an attractive salary, flexible working hours and other incentives designed to make you stand out from the crowd and to attract the very best in SaaS talent. Well done, you.
But what else can you do?
Abika takes a look.
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Start By Building A Good Relationship With Potential Candidates
You don’t have to take them out for dinner or anything, but it’s a good idea to take some time to find out why potential candidates want to interview with you – that way you can know from the outset whether or not they will be a good fit for your company and your existing team. When the SaaS job market in the UK is so competitive, why did they choose to meet with you specifically, and what is their vision for their professional future? Do they want to build a career with you long term? Have they been hankering for an interview with you forever? Or do they see a short stint with your company as a stop-gap before going on to bigger and better things?
Of course you’re not going to attract top SaaS talent by driving the conversation and giving potential candidates a good grilling – it’s an old-school interview technique that doesn’t yield great results. Ask questions, sure, but be sure to spend 50% of the interview listening to what your potential candidates can offer, and what they want from you. This is going to build a relationship of trust across the board, and make it more likely that the talented individual you want is going to come on board when offered a position.
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Focus On Your Team, Not Your Product
If you’re looking to recruit top SaaS sales talent, WHAT you’re selling is less attractive than HOW you’re selling it. Premier salespeople don’t necessarily need premier products, they just need to know that they will be working with a team that gets results – particularly important in commission-based SaaS sales roles. Look beyond your company’s products and focus on your team. Candidates will be attracted to companies with a strongly-bonded marketing and sales team, and yours are absolutely killing it in terms of driving demand, advertising, attention-grabbing and inspiring ideas, don’t keep it a secret during the recruiting process. It also helps if you have a large marketing budget when it comes to attracting top SaaS talent, but it’s an effective and impressive team – the sort that potential candidates would love to be a part of – that is going to be the hook that lands the big fish.
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Promote Personal Growth
When you’re recruiting top SaaS talent, be sure to not make the entire recruitment process about what they can do for you – potential candidates will be interested in how taking a role with your company will benefit them, and not just in terms of salary. Always link what you’re looking for in an employee back to the individual candidate’s needs by talking about how the role you’re offering can develop and grow their skills, and what opportunities could be opened up for them. Don’t make the wages the sole motivation, showcase the long-term benefits that come with being a part of your business, as the vast majority of top SaaS talent are looking to be a part of something bigger when it comes to their career, and we’re not talking about just being a cog in a large machine.
Employees want to know that they matter and that the work they do is making an impact, which gives a sense of fulfilment that can be central to the process of recruitment when it comes to attracting top talent. Show candidates how their voices will be heard; what decision-making capacity they will have and how much their ideas will matter to the company.
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Reputation Matters
We mean yours. Or, more specifically, your company’s.
If you want to attract the best Saas talent in the UK market, you have to create a reputation as a place where people want to work. Attracting the strongest candidates relies on being well-known for your working practices and environment, so investing time and effort on your reputation is crucial. You want every part of the recruitment process to showcase just how great your company is, from your well-crafted and informative website, to your top-notch job description – it all needs to reflect your business in a positive light, which you can then back-up with an outstanding recruitment process.
If you’re still unsure where to start on the road to attracting the UK’s top SaaS talent, why not let Abika do the hard work for you? Contact our dedicated and professional team today with your requirements and let us source you the very best for you. Alternatively, you can advertise jobs with us directly via our state-of-the-art online job board.
