As technology rapidly evolves, it’s no secret that tech behemoths are battling for skilled talent. I had a recent conversation with an AI startup CEO wherein he described a fight to retain employees amidst regular offers from Google.
The transition from legacy technology to emerging category designs and the tech of the future creates a widening skills gap. The bottleneck of training new applicants in complex fields creates a competitive landscape for talent in up-and-coming fields like cryptocurrency, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.
So, how do you hire in emerging fields where there’s little to no seasoned talent in the space? If companies want to find the best person for the job, they're going to have to get creative. Let’s take a closer look.
1. Societies & Clubs
Total market cap for crypto is hitting record highs, increasing more than 850% from the start of the year. As more people become familiar with the technology, new currencies and uses for blockchain are introduced. This creates a reciprocal demand for skilled employees who can contribute to ICO projects. As of this writing, the number of jobs has increased by a staggering 100 percent since March of 2017.
Companies have to get creative when combing the world for talent. Ted Lanpher and Eric Lamison-White of Pareto Network, a resource that incentivizes unbiased cryptocurrency analysis through their tokenized platform, have seen value in connecting with relevant societies and clubs at prestigious universities. It's in these groups that ICO’s can find enthusiastic students eager to make a splash in innovative projects.
As Lanpher notes, "These students are connected in the crypto space and have a thirst for knowledge and collaboration. They want to meet other like-minded students and embark on projects that they find meaningful."
When there’s virtually nobody that’s been in a field for more than a decade, as is the case with cryptocurrency, finding candidates who are laser-focused on the sector and investing in their growth is key.
2. Hackathons
Another industry that's beginning to find its sea legs is that of augmented reality and virtual reality. Headsets like the Oculus Rift, Playstation VR, and the HTC Vive have all shown staying power over the past few years, and the uses of the platform are rapidly expanding.
But, in a field that entails creating reality wholecloth, finding top talent remains difficult. One strategy that has proven successful is attending industry meet-ups where there's a high concentration of talent eager to network and put together the next big thing.
Mike McNair of Moxie, a company that educates and builds VR and AR applications for businesses, recently attended the Reality Virtually Hackathon at MIT. Not only did he rub shoulders with rockstar developers, but he went on to win the competition with teammates he met at the hackathon. As he tells it, "Hackathons are a great way to find AR/VR talent. You're put into challenging situations with all kinds of different talent, and by working in the competitive atmosphere, you learn how people work as a team." Thanks to participating in (and winning) the hackathon, McNair found two new employees for his company.
3. Extended Networks
Jobs in the AI space are in high demand, with all the major tech players trumpeting loud and clear that it’s a major part of their plans going forward.
Will Dinkel, founder of Nova, a company that uses AI embedded software to empower sales teams, says that lack of expertise isn't the only issue making hiring difficult.
"The hardest thing to find is folks able to connect advanced technology and AI with business use cases." He goes on to say, "Deeply complex, user-facing products like ours create a big need for skilled, creative product managers."
Dinkel's solution to hiring resides in what lies in plain sight. Nova is aggressive about posting job placements in every employee’s personal twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, forums, and more. He finds that anywhere there is a gated audience within the networks of the current employees is the goldmine.
“People often think, ‘Now I’m going to recruit. Where do good people who want jobs hang out?’ It’s easy to forget that really brilliant person you had a beer with at a conference a couple years ago. The extended, warm network is your most powerful asset.”
Because competition is so fierce, and talent so sparse, companies will need to adapt in creative ways if they're going to staff up for their future. And they'll have to do it quickly if they hope to keep pace with the rapidly mutating worlds of crypto, AR/VR, and AI.