The Mile High City Is Hiring
IT staffing in Denver couldn’t be better. Maybe it’s the fact that U.S. News & World Report ranked Denver as the third best place to live. Maybe it’s because Denver was ranked the 34th fastest-growing cities in the United States and fifth among the large cities. Whatever the reason, tech companies are loving Denver more than ever.
According to the real estate firm, CRBE, technology companies added 849,000 square feet of new office and commercial space in the Denver area, doubling the amount of space they filled in the previous 12 months. The total “tech-dedicated space” in the region is now 17.3 million square feet and counting. What’s driving the growth?
The Denver Post believes the growth is a combination of local company expansions, those already working elsewhere in the state, and also “in-migration.” It said at least 22 companies either opened new offices in Denver or moved their headquarters to Denver during a 12-month period.
Amazon is among one of the larger companies opening offices in the Denver-Boulder area and in their announcement they said their decision was based, in part, because of the “mass of tech workers bouncing between startups and established companies.” These tech employees are not only enjoying the quality of outdoor life Denver has to offer, but also the wages. CRBE found the average tech worker wage was just under $101,000, making Denver IT salary averages the third highest in the country.
Related: Denver or Boulder? Which Has the Best Tech Scene?
Education Plays a Role
Denver attracts outdoor enthusiasts, for sure, but the city has also become the first choice for highly educated workers who get their education in Colorado and decide to stay. With the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Colorado at Denver, University of Denver, Colorado School of Mines, and Colorado State University sharing nearly 100,000 students among them, companies are guaranteed a motivated workforce to flood the market every year. In fact, Colorado has the second-highest college attainment rate in the nation.
The consistent flow of graduates from these schools and the existing tech workers “bouncing” from IT job to IT job gives businesses plenty of options. That’s a good thing given the Denver region counts 10 Fortune 500 companies among its residents. Tech jobs may offer the best opportunities for skilled IT candidates in the Denver area as software and IT added the highest percentage job growth among major industries, boasting a 32 percent IT employment growth rate over the past five years.
Hiring Is Harder Than It Looks
With all of these opportunities, you may assume finding a job or hiring for a position is a breeze. Not exactly. CRBE says there are approximately 3,500 more tech jobs than graduates. Good for the graduates with IT skills, not so great for hiring companies. Competition for top talent can be brutal.
Without an experienced, dedicated IT recruiter in-house, companies can spend the better part of a year trying to recruit, hire and onboard talent. For innovative, fast-paced companies with a desire to beat the competition to market, finding the right talent for IT projects is critical.
Related: 4 Steps to Get the Skills You Need for Every Project
IT staffing in Denver is hot for a reason: companies need help. They need a way to shorten the hiring process, a way to ensure they’re hiring the right person the first time, and a way to retain those employees so they don’t lose them to the competition months after they’re hired. That’s where IT staffing comes in handy.
Why IT Staffing in Denver Is a Company’s Best Friend
A reputable IT staffing company will have an efficient process for finding the right candidates, vetting them, then sending the most qualified for the specific position on to the interviews. They won’t waste their client company’s time with unqualified candidates. They won’t make their clients sort through endless resumes to discover who is best to interview. The IT staffing company does the heavy work on the front end so that their clients can do the least amount of work on the backend.
Here’s what IT recruiters should (but doesn’t always) focus on:
Relationships with the Candidates
The IT staffing company will have relationships with a wide variety of talented candidates. These candidates may already be working part or full-time, as contractors, or may be on the job hunt. In any situation, the recruiter not only keeps tabs on them, but also engages them on a regular basis to find out what they’re doing, what they’re interested in doing, and how their life is going in general. They know what they’re good at, the technologies in which they excel, and the experience they’re gaining.
They also understand their goals and discover what motivates the candidate. If the candidate is currently employed but has the right talent for another opportunity, they may be persuaded to leave if the right offer is made. That means the IT recruiter must be aware of what each of his or her client companies are willing and able to offer.
Relationships with the Companies
Of course, knowing the candidates on a personal level is only half of the story. IT recruiters should also take the time to build relationships with their client companies as well. They should visit their locations on a regular basis, meet with their people, watch how their teams work. They ask questions. The recruiter should know what benefits and salaries each company offers, what they typically expect of their employees, and which opportunities they provide for professional development. The IT staffer’s job isn’t only to fill a position with a candidate who can check off the technical capabilities boxes but also match the candidate’s personality and work habits with the culture of the company.
This brings up another point: if a company is hiring in Denver, it makes sense to go with IT staffing in Denver. An IT staffing company in Atlanta likely won’t be able to dedicate the necessary time to a client company in Denver. They may not know the local talent the way an IT recruiter based in Denver might.
Match-Making
The role of the IT recruiter is much like a matchmaker. They get to know both parties so they can put the two best people together for a “perfect” match. They aren’t making the ultimate decision of who gets hired, but they are expertly whittling down the list of candidates to something more manageable. Only the candidates who fit the profile, the culture and the expectations will make it to the next stage of meeting with the client.
In this way, time is saved for everyone. Candidates don’t waste time applying for jobs that don’t fit them and companies don’t waste time looking at resumes and conducting interviews with candidates who won’t be a good match. Even more, IT staffing companies will help their clients save precious dollars from hiring the wrong person for the job. Hiring the wrong person is said to cost companies as much as $240,000 and does a number on team morale.
Related: The True Cost of Hiring Talent
Denver companies can’t risk hiring the wrong person or letting a great candidate go to the competition. In order to reduce the risk for either, companies need the expertise of a proven recruiter. Companies can leverage the agency’s relationships with skilled talent so they can focus on what they do best instead.
It’s not easy to find the right mix of skills for an IT team. Leave it to the pros to help you build the dream teams that will drive your company forward.
