Hiring? Here's how you and your team can spread the word about open positions.

The Utah tech job market is hot — and competitive.

This year alone, Utah will add an estimated 4,150 tech jobs, according to CompTIA’s State of the Tech Workforce report. In 2021, 113,646 Utahns worked in the technology sector and Utah employers published 38,954 tech job postings, according to the CompTIA report, which uses data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

No wonder it’s so difficult to cut through the noise and attract candidates for open positions.

Although Human Resources posts openings on the University of Utah employment site, and the UIT Strategic Communication team tweets about available jobs, their efforts may not be enough to get your jobs in front of potential applicants. So, what can you do?

Below are a few ideas on how to spread the word that you’re hiring.

Post the job in the IT community team in Microsoft Teams. The team, which has more than 325 members across the university, includes an IT job openings channel where you can share information about open positions. Not only can you encourage current university employees to apply, you can also ask team members to share the post with their colleagues, family, friends, and networks.

Recruit students from the SUDO and USS programs. Ask student-employee supervisors (e.g., Monty Kaufusi) to share the job post with their interns. If you mentor SUDO or USS student employees, ask them to share openings with their classmates, colleagues, friends, and family.

Reach out to U colleges and professors. Ask U faculty and staff (e.g., School of Computing, College of Social and Behavioral Science, David Eccles School of Business, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering) to share job openings with their students and recent alumni they may be in contact with.

Spread the word via your personal network. Share information about the position with family, friends, and colleagues — and ask your staff and colleagues to do the same. Use social media channels (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook), email, or messaging apps to reach more people with minimal effort. Chances are someone you know is searching for a job or interested in new career pathways.

Promote your job via professional organizations and networking groups. Membership-based groups, particularly those for the IT industry, can be a rich resource since they often have job boards, forums, newsletters, and other outreach methods. Some organizations offer no-cost job advertisements, while others require a fee. Those without dedicated job boards may allow you to share information in their forums, blogs, threads, etc. You can also leverage alumni associations, LinkedIn and Facebook job groups, local networking groups, and more.

Niche job boards. Although a job advertisement on these sites will likely come at a cost, they’re built specifically to connect IT employers and job seekers. Some examples include CrunchBoard, IT job pro, TechCareers, and Tech Fetch. Please note that many external career and government workforce sites (e.g., Indeed, Utah Department of Workforce Services, and ZipRecruiter) automatically aggregate job posts from the U’s employment portal.

Sign up for job fairs, conferences, trade shows, or workshops. Many organizations and schools, including the University of Utah, regularly host job fairs or networking events where you can connect with graduating students, entry-level workers, and skilled workers.

---

Pro tip

Always carry some business cards. You never know who you might meet — perhaps someone looking for a job.

 

Node 4 Search