Engineers and operations management staffers are essential positions of a company’s in-house team. They are the architects of order—whether that means creating, developing, and testing software and systems to help a company and its clients do business smoothly and successfully, or being in charge of streamlining business and production processes so that a company continues to innovate, evolve, and lead. Depending on your business needs, you may want to fill one or both of these positions.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the employment rate for computer hardware engineers will grow 5% between 2016–2026; this is about on-pace with the average employment growth rate across all industries in the United States (7%).
While the BLS doesn’t have employment statistics for the software engineering industry, the related area of software development is expected to have a 24% increase in growth during this same time.
Focus on inbound recruiting as opposed to outbound recruiting; the dichotomy is borrowed from marketing. Outbound recruiting would involve you reaching out to prospective candidates. Whether you’re finding them via their LinkedIn profiles, by telephone, or by approaching them in-person at a conference, you take that opportunity to ask them whether they might be interested in an opportunity with your company.
Inbound recruiting means that you create content and materials that attract them, encouraging them to reach out to you. Here are three ideas to get you started.
59% of candidates use social media to research a company they are interested in, and 48% used it during their last job search. Take time on your various social media accounts to let people know what you’re working on and excited about.
Answer people’s questions about your company and your projects. You might consider hosting a weekly (or monthly) Q&A session around a particular topic, or ahead of a project, product, or initiative launch.
Answer questions in places like StackOverflow, Quora, or GrowthHackers. Post on LinkedIn. Ask to write a guest post on a blog that you read. Share information about something that you’ve learned, perhaps as a result of a mistake that you’d made or an assumption that you’d had; or your observations about where the industry is headed.
Posts that show that you are aware of the necessity to take risks and admit missteps, and that you are forward-thinking signal to potential employees that yours is a company that appreciates staff who take initiative and want to learn and grow in their roles.
What projects are you working on right now that you’re really excited about (and maybe would like some help with)? Host an event to introduce yourself to the local tech community and let them know that you’re going to be hiring soon.
Involve as many employees as you can so that attendees can meet your team and get a sense of what it would be like to join it. Make sure that you record the event—any talks or demonstrations that you do, especially!—and share them on social media, so that anyone who didn’t attend the event can find out what they missed, and perhaps will be enticed to reach out.
An operations manager often takes on a wide range of tasks in order to help a company run smoothly and to its highest potential. The person in this position focuses on ensuring productivity and efficiency with an eye on the budget and client satisfaction.
They often are involved in human resources functions including attracting talent, setting training standards, and hiring processes. They may be involved in marketing, negotiating contracts with clients or vendors, and are the ones who keep tabs on depleted office supplies.
You want an operations manager who can see the big picture in order to problem-solve, develop processes, and encourage company growth. An operations manager needs to be able to communicate effectively and diplomatically with all employees, and someone who fosters a collaborative environment to encourage everyone to commit to your business’ success.
So, how can you recruit a great operations manager? Here are 3 tips to get you started:
When we talked about finding great engineers, we mentioned that many potential employees are active on social media. No matter what position you’re hiring for, you want to make sure that you build your brand and make sure that your social media presence is robust and stands out from that of other companies in your industry.
Not only do you want an active and attractive social media presence that makes people decide that your company might be a great place to work, you need to clearly tell the story of your business in a way that will get the attention of your next operating manager. Your operating manager will be overseeing multiple departments and employees, so it is crucial that the story of your business allows them to understand your company’s mission and what all of the individual departments do to contribute to enacting it.
During the interview process, you want to talk with prospective candidates about how they personally can bring their talents and experience to the role of a leader who wears many hats. You’ll want to pay attention to their soft skills—hard skills can be taught—how do they describe their leadership style? How do they address conflicts?
Use those answers as ways to talk about the role of operations manager for your specific company, and how the person in this position will be able to help shape and direct the company’s trajectory.
Paul Cody
President, Counsel Financial Services
The area of software development is expected to have a 24% increase in growth between 2016 and 2026.
An operations manager often takes on a wide range of tasks in order to help a company run smoothly and to its highest potential.
You’ll want to pay attention to their soft skills—hard skills can be taught—how do they describe their leadership style? How do they address conflicts?
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