The top US companies for attracting and hiring tech talent

The top small, medium and large US companies winning tech talent in 2021 are Octane, Sittercity and Insider, Inc., respectively, according to Hired’s 2021 List of Top Employers Winning Tech Talent.

The report lists the top 10 small, medium and large companies winning tech talent in the US and UK. Companies were evaluated on value-driven metrics based on data from thousands of interactions occurring daily between recruiters and candidates on Hired’s marketplace.

Hired said top companies were successful in attracting and retaining talent because of how well they approached three core pillars:

1. Equity: Hired analyzed data on how many underrepresented candidates companies interviewed and hired. The top- performing companies are significantly above average metrics and prioritize diversity and equity throughout their hiring process. 

• The top companies made 23% of interview requests to underrepresented candidates on average, compared to the overall average (among all companies evaluated) of 14%.
• The listed companies also made 35% of job offers to underrepresented candidates on average, compared to the overall average of 12%.

 2. Efficiency: This pillar focused on how efficient companies are in interviewing and navigating candidates throughout the hiring processes. It revealed that the top companies hire faster, receive more responses from candidates due to tailored outreach and have higher interview and final offer acceptance rates compared to overall averages. 

• The average time to hire among the top companies is 36 days, compared to the overall average of 40 days.
• The listed companies are highly successful in their candidate outreach, seeing an astounding 84% response rate on average from talent. 
• Job offer acceptance rates from candidates are also higher than the overall average for the top companies, with 79% of candidates accepting on average.

3. Transparency: Hired looked at this data in terms of indicating equitable salaries or salary bands during the hiring process. The top-ranking companies demonstrated the least variation in the salary amounts shared with candidates for a given position.

• Among the top companies, salaries indicated during interviews only deviated from expected average salaries for a given role by 11%, compared to the overall average of 16%. This means the highest-performing companies are more transparent, sharing the same or similar salary with candidates they interview for the same position.  

SEE: Recruiting and hiring top talent: A guide for business leaders (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Unusual and bold hiring tactics

Some companies’ hiring tactics in particular stood out, said Amy Pisano, chief revenue officer of Hired. For example, Laika was a company “that implemented some rather unusual and bolder ways to instill transparency in their hiring process.”

Laika is including salary bands in its public job description so anyone can see how much different roles and seniority levels make at the company, Pisano said. “This has helped them attract their ideal tech candidates who are already aligned with those salary ranges.”

American Express also stood out as one of the most innovative and committed companies when it comes to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), according to Pisano. “They work with an independent third-party to conduct comprehensive pay equity reviews and we were excited to see that they achieved 100% pay equity across genders globally and across races and ethnicities in the US.”

DEI has become an increasingly important factor in a candidate’s decision-making, she added. Demonstrating proactive initiatives, actions and results in regard to DEI have helped American Express attract and hire great talent.

Besides American Express, Insider Inc. and Capital One also ranked high in diversity and equity throughout their hiring process, according to the report.

5 helpful hiring kits for landing top tech talent (TechRepublic Premium)

 Other key findings:

• Top companies prioritizing equity made 23% of interview requests and 35% of job offers to underrepresented candidates on average, compared to the overall marketplace average of 14% and 12% respectively. 
• Walt Disney, Sysco Labs and OVO were among the top companies to efficiently interview and navigate candidates throughout the hiring process. 
• Top companies on the list reduced their time to hire from an average of 40 to 36 days and showed above-average candidate response rates and final offer acceptance rates of 84% and 79%, respectively.
• Meta, Wayfair and Laika ranked highest in terms of indicating equitable salaries or salary bands. 
  

 “After a turbulent year of high employee turnover and fierce competition for top talent, we want to recognize companies that have exceptionally navigated this demanding and quickly evolving hiring market,” said Josh Brenner, CEO of Hired, in a statement. “We hope to inspire other employers and HR professionals to focus on these key areas as well to successfully engage and bring in the best candidates while driving accountability in hiring processes.”

Brenner added that the report also details which employers “are nailing the recruitment process from start to finish for tech talent.”

The top five US small employers (companies with 1-299 employees) winning tech talent:

1. Octane, New York, New York
2. Devetry, Denver, Colorado
3. DataGrail, San Francisco, California
4. Laika, Inc. New York, New York
5. View the Space, Inc., New York, New York

The top five US medium employers (companies with 300-399 employees) winning tech talent:

1. Sittercity, Chicago, Illinois
2. Barkbox, Inc., New York, New York
3. Ripple, San Francisco, California
4. Amplify, Brooklyn, New York
5. Vistaprint, Boston & Waltham, Massachusetts

The top five US large employers (companies with 10,000+ employees) winning tech talent:

1. Insider, Inc., New York, New York
2. Maximus, New York, New York
3. Nielsen, New York, New York
4. Walmart Labs, Sunnyvale, California
5. The Walt Disney Company, Burbank, California

The top companies in the UK:

• Top small business: Thriva
• Top medium-size business: Smart Pension
• Top enterprise: Tesco

Hired said it collected and analyzed specific criteria and metrics based on its proprietary marketplace data between Oct. 1, 2020, and Oct. 31, 2021.

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