Mitigations for the IT Skill Gap in Germany

As a security engineer, part of my duties is not only to identify security vulnerabilities but to also suggest fixes and/or mitigations for them. Recently, I wrote an article about what I think is broken with hiring in Germany and how this leads to a material, documented risk in filling these positions. The article was a long one and I decided to write the mitigations in a separate article. After all, pointing out a problem without suggesting fixes is not as productive as it can be. In addition, Stephen King in his seminal “On writing” book states that every writer has the moment that they read something so bad, they decide they can do better and start their writing career. Having seen some of the suggested ways about how to address the skill gap, well, you can imagine the rest …

The first step to fill your gaps is to gauge your organization’s needs. Companies such as FAANG widely publicize their interview processes, set of requirements, even down to actual questions. A lot of damage has been done by companies blindly copying-and-pasting the aforementioned requirements and processes. The case however is that, most likely, YOUR company does not receive the same volume of applicants, the same caliber of applicants and you do not solve global scale problems. I have seen a lot of promising candidates in a lot of interview loops getting lost to the competition for minor interview failings THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE JOB WHATSOEVER. Some interviewers are really eager to apply the knowledge from the “big leagues” – even if that does not apply to their case. Some are just power-tripping. So, before doing any technical interviewing, gauge your organization and its needs and adjust accordingly. 

With this out of the way, assuming a sane hiring process according to your needs, you can cast your net. While sourcing candidates is indeed tough and your relevant department might be understaffed, you can always hire external help. Do your homework, hire some external help after extremely careful consideration. Not all recruiting firms are equivalent and you definitely do not want any of these cold-calling “recruiters” that get the candidate’s name wrong and call them in the middle of a meeting to offer them a “fantastic, FANTASTIC opportunity” paying 50% less than the market rate in a different galaxy altogether – try to get a recruiter that taps into the communities of whatever skill you are looking to hire. For cyber-security, you might want to check out Greenbridge – similar communities might exist locally.

Going a step further, unless your product has a community already (which is an excellent hiring pool) you need to step out of your comfort zone and actually GO TO THEM – if you want them to come to you, in a lot of cases it is already game over. If you are serious and not just virtue-signalling about maintaining a healthy diversity balance within your workforce, going to them is essential – they might not know your company, they might not even know that they have the option to work in this field. At some point in my career I was tasked by the CTO to replace external engineers with internal ones with skills that can be deemed hard to find. When I got this request, the funnel had one or two candidates. So, what I did to improve this, I went to a number of relevant online communities, posted a short message there and gave out my personal email address. While years later, I am still receiving the occasional inquiry, this led to a huge increase in the number of candidates and I ended up hiring a few from there. If you have the problem of too many candidates in the pipeline, regular meetings and discussions with your Talent Acquisition professional will significantly bring up the signal to noise ratio.

Once you have identified needs, candidates and you kick-off the recruiting process, treat candidates like they are the only one you have AND they have an offer at hand but rate them like you have a thousand waiting outside the door.

Let me elaborate. Every candidate MUST be treated with the utmost respect at all times. Life happens so reschedules can and will happen, be prepared to be flexible. Be courteous at all times and, for the love of Jove, if you end up having a discussion, be prepared. Not being prepared sends a very strong negative signal towards the candidate. Always keep in mind that it is you asking them to solve YOUR problems. I will not comment on how you go about interviewing them – I know nothing about your hiring case and in any case, this is documented to death. If in doubt, hire an external technical consultant to do the interviewing for you. Always try to sell the company and keep things pleasant – even if the candidate is not suitable for your needs, you will want them to walk out of the (virtual?) meeting with a positive impression – people talk.

Keep feedback prompt. You don’t have to tell someone why they have been rejected, if that is the case but you do have to tell them as soon as possible. Never, ever “ghost” people – karma’s a bitch and it will bite you back in unimaginable ways. In case the outcome of the conversation is positive, you really want to move fast.

Moving fast does not mean compromise. The cost of a bad hire is also documented – the effect of a bad hire on morale not as much. Personally, I have seen a small technology company imploded owing to a bad hire. Not losing projects or money but actually imploding, as in ceasing to exist. So, be very careful with your feedback and your pass/fail decision.

Assuming you reached a pass decision and you have a mutual agreement (you do pay appropriately, don’t you), start solving problems for the future co-worker. Onboarding can be a difficult experience, onboarding while moving to a new country way more so. By proactively helping out people with problems that their move to your organization might create for them is not only the proper and the right thing to do, it will help to speedier onboarding.

In my previous article, I touched upon a lot of problems. Some are not covered here and they are not under your control. By streamlining your process however, you might get an edge over your competition for talent. I hope my ideas helped and I welcome any dialogue. Until next time!