How we’re navigating the tech talent crunch to keep attracting the best

A growing trend that only seems to be picking up steam is the transformation of organizations into software companies.

Nowadays, a well implemented digital strategy is crucial to the success of any top company, regardless of their industry, and the resulting demand for skilled techies is creating shortages across our industry. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the tech talent crunch…

Most non-techie companies have been meeting their software needs through one-off engagements for the past 15 years or so, but the rapidly growing demand for first-rate developers (the type of people we hire at SOUTHWORKS) means we’re now competing against companies from all industries, not just tech giants and other software development companies.

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So how does SOUTHWORKS continue to attract top talent in this competitive environment?

We employ what we call a flywheel strategy, creating a virtuous circle where we deliver great results by building high-quality teams, which in turn lands us more appealing projects and interesting customers, ultimately allowing us to attract the most sought-after talent. Each of these points reinforces and adds value to the others, spinning the flywheel faster and creating a centrifugal force that keeps us at the pinnacle in terms of staff skill, team performance, and attractiveness for potential recruits.

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We want our SOUTHIES to be autonomous, seeking out challenges and directing their own career progression. Building onto the “flywheel” described above, we create an environment that enables this by working with top brands and hiring the best people, ensuring that we remain attractive as an employer for the right talent. And it’s about more than new hires; in the current cutthroat market, it’s also crucial that we’re able to keep our existing talent on board. Something that helps us is that we don’t care where our staff are located – we’ve been working remotely since before it was even a thing, so as long as someone’s a good fit – with the right skills, competences, and personal attributes to keep our flywheel spinning – they’re welcome in our team. Thanks to this, our team now spans across +12 countries and an outstanding retention rate.

Eager devs looking to upgrade their skills and enhance their careers want to learn by working alongside others who are talented and experienced. If we have people like that in our teams at SOUTHWORKS, not only will we attract those ambitious individuals, we’ll also get more interesting and challenging projects with high-profile customers. This makes us even more appealing as an employer so we can continue bolstering our workforce with quality and growing the company in a repeating cycle. So as you can see, our flywheel model isn’t just about attracting talent – it plays a big part in how we keep on growing and succeeding as a company.

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We’re hiring! If you like what you see here on our culture blog and you’re interested in joining our team, check out our open positions.

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