Nigeria’s talent pool of ICT professionals is steadily growing. Online sources report that as of 2022, there are about 690,000 African software programmers alone, not to mention other ICT experts. And Nigeria ranks third on that list (after Egypt and South Africa). We can confidently say to hire the best technology experts in Nigeria is rewarding for employer worldwide. Additionally, remote online work opportunities particularly favour them. Many of them use the cosmopolitan city of Lagos as their operational base (but not all of them).
We will briefly explain some useful strategies any serious employer can use to find and hire the best technology experts in Nigeria. Beyond this, there is a need to retain these talents, and not attempt to limit or frustrate them. Such employers must demonstrate positive values and work practices that will encourage these technology experts to stay and build a robust team over time.
Optimally Use Social Media and Established Job Boards
If you truly aim to hire the best technology experts in Nigeria, you can easily do so via renown job boards and social media. You can place adverts (which could be free or paid, make your findings) with top job boards in Nigeria. The same applies to social media.
Job boards with a success record for discovering the best technology experts in Nigeria include MyJobMag, LinkedIn, Jobberman, Indeed, Glassdoor, Careers24, JobGurus, NGCareers and much more. These job platforms typically build a talent pool of technology experts and other professionals ready – it is an ongoing process. Thus they help you target and find the specific skills, qualifications and experience you need from potential technology experts in Nigeria in quick time.
You can also use free and/or paid adverts on your social media handles (Facebook, X, Instagram) to reach out to potential candidates. Thus strategy would be especially useful if you have built up a sizeable number of followers (over a 500, for instance). Through constant posting of relevant content, and continuously encouraging and engaging curious visitors to your social media pages, that is a sure goal. Joining Facebook and WhatsApp groups relevant to your industry, as well as relevant X (Twitter) spaces are other useful avenues for seeking candidates.
These job boards and social media tools are now so well developed. They have integrated tools such as chat/chatbots, direct messaging, video calls, forms, and links to your company website to directly interact with candidates. This helps you to speedily identify and prepare shortlisted candidates through a pre-screening process that lessens the required time and effort.
Create a Strong Company Brand and Cultural Values
Whether you intend to hire on-site or remote technology experts, one important factor is strongly desired by all candidates. As an employer, you must strive to have a good reputation; your brand as an employer must impress any candidate. Your business enterprise should be the kind that turns up with positive reviews from past workers both online and offline. Your past and present history with employees, your achievements, and your work ethics and values need to be impressive enough. No technology expert (and certainly no employee) wants to work with an employer he/she would live to regret.
You should use your social media pages and profiles, as well as your company website to advantage. Use industry and networking events to attract potential candidates as well. Use these channels to strongly project your company’s values, work ethics and culture, as well as achievements. Let your company brand begin to speak right from the the entrance into your physical office. Showcase your employees’ experiences and success stories along with the wealth of industry knowledge you possess at every opportunity.
And make it clear to candidates that you desire them to align with your company values and brand image. This should start right from the interview stage, through the screening and onboarding stages. Allow each candidate to demonstrate their wealth of knowledge, skills and experience. In the meantime, examine each candidate to see just how much their values agree (or are ready to align) with that of your company. This stage is important. It may very well be that singular factor that will decide whether the candidate will stay or leave in a short while.
Put A Strong Candidate Experience in Place
It is important for the entire recruitment process to be straightforward, clear and easy to navigate for any candidate. From the pre-screening process through onboarding, candidates should be able to interact easily with your recruitment team, ask questions, even check and update requirements. Your recruitment team should also give quick feedback, as well as quick responses to enquiries by any candidate. This is an important work culture that speaks volumes about your values as a company.
Create Opportunities for Continuous Professional Development
No matter how skilled your workers are, remember the modern workplace is dynamic and evolving. New technologies and work trends continue to emerge; and your employees must be trained to handle them as they come. Thus, you should put a system in place to allow (and provide) continuous skill acquisition and professional development..
You can engender continuous growth and professional development by introducing on-the-job trainings, educational grants and/or support, mentorship programs, office libraries, study resources and the like. Your company’s productivity will improve; and your employees will feel more connected with your company and its values
Offer Competitive Remuneration and Reward Packages to Your Employees
You want your well sought-out technology experts not to lose focus. You equally want them to help you build a formidable reputation and record of performance for your company. The truth is, you must be ready to adequately reward them for doing so. Offer remuneration and reward packages that are of industry-standard, competitive and enough to meet their needs. That way, your tech talents will not drift off looking for the next rewarding job opening.
The economic conditions in present-day Nigeria (or globally for that matter) calls for giving your employees a suitable compensation for their hard labour and skills. Additional reward packages may end up more attractive than the basic salary itself. Health insurance, maternity leave, retirement savings plan, overtime allowance, paid time off, even the option of remote/hybrid work with flexible hours. These incentives can convince many employees to retain their work. So work out a reasonable reward and salary package for your technology experts, and you will be grateful for the outcome.
Encourage Continuous Communication and Collaboration
One of the best ways of building a strong brand and company culture is to encourage open and continuous communication and collaboration. Once you have succeeded in hiring your desired technology experts, they need to have a sense of belonging. Encourage them to build strong teams that value teamwork and constant communication. Appoint team leaders and managers who understand the meaning of empathy and cooperation, and who are supportive. If need be, get them trained to have these skills.
Meanwhile, monitoring the progress of team members and projects continually while encouraging constant, seamless communication (both online and offline) is important. Establish the tradition of using virtual communication tools such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Meet (and other useful project management software). You can also encourage employees to contribute their ideas, experiences, achievements and professional insights to the company’s blogs. Use newsfeeds to keep your employees updated on company events, industry news and other valuable information as well.
These strategies can help to foster a stronger bond and inclusion amongst your employees, thus further strengthening your company culture and values.
Final Words
The best technology experts in Nigeria are available for employers around the globe. These are employers who are ready to reward their dedication, sustain an uplifting work culture, and encourage positive values. With these in place, their skilled employees would be encouraged to stay and build formidable teams to support the company and its goals.
