16 Practical Strategies For Building An In-House Tech Talent Pipeline

Innovation 16 Practical Strategies For Building An In-House Tech Talent Pipeline Expert Panel® Forbes Councils Member Forbes Technology Council COUNCIL POST Expertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based) Aug 3, 2022, 01:15pm EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Modern companies across industries are constantly searching for tech talent, and the current labor market squeeze has made the effort even more of a challenge.

With fewer and fewer qualified and available tech professionals out there, it may well behoove a company to support an employee who is interested in making a lateral move into the tech department. Indeed, it may be wise for companies, guided by their tech leaders, to build and cultivate an in-house tech talent pipeline that can help meet staffing needs both now and in the future. To help, 16 Forbes Technology Council members share practical ways companies can help existing employees begin and advance a new career in technology.

Members of Forbes Technology Council share practical strategies for building an in-house tech talent pipeline. Photos courtesy of the individual members. 1.

Encourage Team Members To Share Career Goals As leaders, it’s important for us to empower staff members on their career journeys. We encourage our team members to communicate their career goals to managers, and from there we can build a plan for professional development. This can include providing hands-on project work, mentorship and the chance to shadow colleagues in different roles.

– Nicole Janssen , AltaML 2. Seek Internal Candidates For Open Roles First There are many ways companies can motivate employees, reward curiosity and a desire for growth and retain a fully onboarded and integrated team member. Publish open roles internally first, and ask for internal candidates.

Fund training for the team as a group, or reimburse learning programs. Celebrate these efforts! Most employees don’t even know this is an option, so talk about it, encourage it and celebrate it. – Amanda Richardson , CoderPad Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives.

Do I qualify? MORE FOR YOU Google Issues Warning For 2 Billion Chrome Users Forget The MacBook Pro, Apple Has Bigger Plans Google Discounts Pixel 6, Nest & Pixel Buds In Limited-Time Sale Event 3. Offer Opportunities To Work With Low-Code Tools As we adapt to a tech talent shortage—including a lack of developers—there is an opportunity to encourage and empower employees to learn new skills and take on new tasks. With the low-code revolution, it is becoming easier for more people to do development work.

Employees who may have minimal coding skills can use no-code tools and drag-and-drop interfaces to build experiences that benefit the business. – Adrian McDermott , Zendesk 4. Develop A Training Curriculum Develop a training curriculum for new entrants, make it available to them in a self-service portal and promote it extensively in the organization so that all employees know the options available for them to learn and make a move into the tech side.

This will remove the entry barrier and allow employees to make the switch at their own pace. – Selva Pandian , DemandBlue 5. Outline Clear Expectations For New Roles Three cornerstones must be in place for lateral movers: clear role and responsibility requirements, shadowing, and directed learning.

Business leaders have to provide a clear outline of what will be required in the role. Then, the mover should shadow their potential colleagues to get hands-on experience with the team. Finally, directed learning should fill in any knowledge gaps.

– Julius Černiauskas , Oxylabs 6. Invest Heavily In Training Have as much training as possible. Have training on the tech stack your company uses.

Have training on your company software and technology products. Have training on the emerging tech you may use. The more training, the better.

The right people will gravitate toward the training. Setting up training programs is cheaper than recruiting fees. – David Moise , Decide Consulting 7.

Focus On Innate Strengths Rather Than Experience Spend time to think through and reflect on what skills are required to be successful in the role. Look beyond existing experience with a particular application. For example, does the role require intellectual curiosity, attention to detail or the ability to motivate a team? Systems evolve and change over time.

Identify the strengths of your existing talent, then partner, teach and grow. – Samantha Williams , Sonoco 8. Consider Academies Companies should consider academies as part of their development model.

Academies allow companies to hire junior candidates and provide career opportunities for current employees to explore their interests in other areas of the business. When employees benefit from moving into new roles and excelling, this results in higher retention and motivation, as well as creating a desirable place to work. – Ray Grainger , Kantata 9.

Identify Mentors First, companies must encourage and nurture in-house talent by giving them access to learning resources and mentorship. For candidates who show promise, companies need to invest in on-the-job training with the right tools and courses, identify mentors and incentivize them, set the right expectations, and motivate them with internal success stories. – Deepak Garg , Smart Energy Water 10.

Allow Temporary Transfers To A Different Team Leaders can provide opportunities for employees to temporarily join a different internal team, full-time. Diverse skills are much needed in tech roles. By encouraging employees to explore their interests and expand their skill sets and experience beyond their current functions, leaders can develop, motivate and retain a strong talent pool.

– Nicola Morini Bianzino , EY 11. Establish A Peer-Supported Growth Program With the growth of low-code platforms, there is great demand and curiosity among advanced business users to move into tech and learn new solutions. Tech leaders should have a program to identify talent with core traits such as curiosity, a positive attitude and skills in a particular platform and groom them through a growth program that includes learning and peer support.

This will go a long way toward retaining and growing talent. – Buyan Thyagarajan , Eigen X 12. Designate Specialized Training Weeks Your future tech leaders can be sourced from within.

Re-skilling has emerged as a favorable alternative to the costly recruitment process, taking employees with big potential and transforming their skill sets in weeks through specialized training. Employees want access to learning opportunities, and re-skilling has been proven to increase employee retention and productivity while reducing hiring costs. – Anthony Hughes , Tech Elevator 13.

Invest In Internal And External Training Opportunities Business leaders can help solve the tech talent shortage problem by building and supporting an in-house talent pipeline. This means investing in training that teaches employees new skills so that they’re ready when new positions open up. It also means creating relationships with universities and other institutions that offer tech programs so those schools can refer potential candidates for jobs.

– Leon Gordon , Pomerol Partners 14. Give High Performers Time And Training To Build Skills Hands-on, continuous training and showing encouragement are the best ways to build a strong tech talent pipeline. A high performer will always be a high performer no matter the field, which is why internal mobility should be guaranteed by providing the most skilled workers with tech training programs—even letting them work on side projects.

– Jacob Mathison , Mathison Projects Inc. 15. Establish A Development Path Based On An Employee’s Interests Help each employee develop a clear development path driven by their interests.

For those interested in tech, a company could offer internships and rotations. Give opportunities for change and support to those who are passionate about a new area but still green. – Tabitha Lieberman , Brightwork Health IT 16.

Make It Clear That All Team Members Have Opportunities For Growth Use the shortage of tech talent as an opportunity. Paint a clear picture of how talented team members in entry-level positions (for instance, customer support), can grow into higher-tier technical support, solution engineering and entry-level developer positions. This builds loyalty, encourages growth within the company and is a strong ace up your sleeve for retention.

It’s a great win-win! – Deyan Georgiev , NitroPack Check out my website . Expert Panel® Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.