New 42-day free trial
Smarty

How tech companies can succeed in the 2024 hiring market

Jonathan Oliver
Jonathan Oliver
 | 
April 22, 2024
Tags
Tech company hiring employees

Throughout my many years of leading tech companies, I’ve immersed myself in the varying shifts in technology’s job market. However, the 2024 tech hiring market presents significant challenges for both companies and candidates, stemming from the rapid evolution of the industry, a shortage of skilled talent, workforce preferences for remote work options, increased competition, and a growing emphasis on cultural fit and soft skills. To navigate these challenges successfully, finding strategic approaches for employers is crucial.

2024 Hiring market challenges snowball effect

When looking at the upcoming obstacles and recent experiences, I’ve noticed a sort of snowball pattern developing:

Rapid industry changes: The tech industry's rapid evolution means that companies must continuously adapt hiring strategies to keep pace with new roles and skills emerging as a result of innovation.

Skilled talent shortage: Rapid industry changes create a skilled talent shortage. Employers demand evolving skill sets like AI development, machine learning, and advanced data analytics. To stay "skilled," workers must engage in continuous education. The widening gap between required and available skills intensifies the challenge.

Growing work-from-home preferences have further exacerbated the skilled talent shortage for companies lacking hybrid and work-from-home options. According to WFH Research, “As of 2023, 11.5% of full-time employees work from home, while 28.8% work a hybrid model.” 

A report from FlexJobs states that 97% of workers desired hybrid or fully remote options. The preference for flexible working environments is astoundingly high. Many companies lack the technological infrastructure to accommodate this, and many candidates struggle to find such work in their local markets. 

Increased competition: Consequently, the tech industry, already known for its high turnover rates and competitive job market, will find it increasingly difficult to find and retain top talent.

Cultural fit and soft skills: Beyond technical prowess, aligning technically skilled candidates who also possess robust soft skills with a company's culture is crucial yet challenging, amplifying the hiring process's intricacies.

With such an insurmountable hiring market snowball barreling towards you, making a quick and strategic plan is crucial for survival. I've tested many strategies to overcome these unique obstacles, but there are a few my team will be focusing on for 2024. Feel free to pull from my playbook.

Strategies for hiring success in 2024

Strengthen local employer brand: Be sure to engage with the local community. One of the ways you can do this is to collaborate with educational institutions. We've offered scholarships at Brigham Young University and other local universities to help get us on the minds of future graduates.

Another option would be to showcase your company culture to establish a strong local employer brand. We've had success advertising at BYU sporting events, making our name known to local talent. 

Beef up your tech: Offering highly sought-after remote work options will require a tech infrastructure and associated budget to support the process. Additionally, improved communication processes will need to be put into place. Fortunately, we invested heavily in our IT infrastructure, security, & collaboration tools before the pandemic hit. 

With solid password management, device management, & compliance policies in place, we sent our teams home in early 2020 with virtually no time lost in transition. Everyone grabbed their laptops and went home. Since then, flex days have been an easy transition and an excellent perk.

Offer competitive benefits: Providing appealing benefits such as flexible hours, wellness programs, hybrid work options, and continued education opportunities empowers your candidates to feel that you care about them in more ways than just a nice salary. Your company is investing in your employee’s success. Not only will this make your company stand out to candidates, but should you hire them, they will also invest themselves in the success of your company as a result.

Create a growth work culture: Develop a company culture that values collaboration, innovation, and employee growth. Intentionally create a desirable workplace for skilled talent. 

One gratifying thing for me is that Smarty™ prides itself on being a fun place to work. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: creating a fun and productive environment has always been important for employee satisfaction and retention. Understanding coworkers as individuals with unique stories and dreams unlocks creativity and innovation, leading to better collaboration.

Some successful and creative ways to do this are scheduling costume parties or themed dress-up days, regular offsite team-building activities like arcades and golfing, and hosting monthly team lunches. We also plan company retreats and enjoy visiting theme parks to bring out the “kid” in all of us. Being serious about having fun drives our work culture.

Focus on employee retention: I cannot stress this enough: you should implement strategies to reduce turnover, implement employee feedback, and continuously improve the work environment. Smarty's dedication to ongoing employee training and skill development keeps our retention rates high.

Smarty boasts an impressive 93% employee retention rate. The incredible rate is due to how we invest in the local talent we hire. Our employees work on interpersonal and interdepartmental communication as we provide opportunities for team-building exercises and off-site events.

Conclusion

What we are doing works for us, but every organization is unique. Although the upcoming year may seem daunting, by incorporating any of these strategies, you will improve your results. 

The right strategic approach can make it easy to be successful while looking for top talent. By strengthening your brand locally, investing in remote-workable technology, creating a strong and fun work culture, and focusing on retaining the talent once you’ve hired them, you’re sure to get the job done. 

Subscribe to our blog!
Learn more about RSS feeds here.
rss feed icon
Subscribe Now
Read our recent posts
Smarty turns FEMA hazard scores into instant, address-level risk intelligence
Arrow Icon
OREM, UT, July 31, 2025—Smarty, a leading address intelligence provider, announced the launch of its US Property Risk Data product. The new API-based solution transforms FEMA’s National Risk Index (NRI) into structured, address-level hazard intelligence, enabling insurers, lenders, and real estate platforms to model risk and evaluate exposure at high speed and massive scale. With the frequency and severity of natural disasters on the rise, insured losses in the US now average over $151 billion annually.
Inside Smarty - Brenyn Beesley
Arrow Icon
Meet Brenyn Beesley, our Business Development Manager. At Smarty, Brenyn has made waves on our Sales team with her exceptional interpersonal skills, ability to take on any organizational and operational challenge, top-notch singing, and all-around awesomeness. Let’s jump right in and get to know Brenyn!Can you explain your role at Smarty to a 10-year-old?“I help my team communicate with people from all kinds of jobs—delivery drivers, real estate agents, insurance workers. We show them how to use Smarty’s tools to find the addresses they need or learn more about a location.
Build address data into your health insurance platform to stay HIPAA and ACA compliant
Arrow Icon
Your product might be HIPAA and ACA-compliant in theory, but a mistyped ZIP Code or invalid apartment number can still trigger privacy violations, eligibility errors, and failed mailings. Misdirected mail is explicitly named in HIPAA breach cases. For example, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has publicly cited misrouted or misaddressed mail as a cause of HIPAA breaches in their breach portal. Aetna paid $1. 15 million in 2018 for a mailing breach where envelopes revealed sensitive information to the wrong recipients.

Ready to get started?