Why we’re giving free job listings for entry level roles

Not enough is being done to help and support self-taught bootcamp developers or university graduates to get into the world of tech.

It’s competitive, challenging and can be incredibly frustrating. Getting that important first step on the career ladder can seem like an impossible, and daunting task.

That’s why Haystack is changing the game.

From today, posting true entry level roles will be completely free and remain free forever on Haystack.

If you’re a company looking to hire emerging tech talent, fill in the form below, and post your role for free on the Haystack app.

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Why are we doing this? 

Supporting and nurturing emerging tech talent is how we shape the leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators of tomorrow. There is a level of responsibility that we all hold to be as socially responsible as we can, and give back to the community when we can.

Whether individuals have gone through an apprenticeship, a degree, a bootcamp, or are just self-taught - they're hungry, driven individuals who are eager to learn. By making opportunities for them more readily available, and in one place, we can help support and foster their talent. 

Supporting new talent can be a huge part of your employer branding, it’s something to shout about internally and externally. This can be a tool when it comes to hiring mid-senior tech talent, because as a company, you already have a great reputation for nurturing talent. Excluding salary and location, the most important factor (73.8%) when looking for a new job for techies is upskilling and progress.

I was recently chatting with Chris, our CEO about this:

“We’re finding more and more graduates on Haystack struggling to look for a role. Currently around 20% of our user base are early years, with only 3% of roles being advertised as junior level. They’re being massively underserved, and struggling to find opportunities. Our mission at Haystack is to uncover, curate and highlight the most interesting tech opportunities - and we want to do this for every techie, no matter their level of seniority.”

From startup to scaleup, Peak has experienced some exceptional growth over the past few years. We spoke to Lorenzo Spina, Head of Talent at Decision Intelligence company, Peak who said:

"The root of what we're doing at Peak is problem solving. To do that well, we need a diverse team from a variety of backgrounds. Diversity drives innovation, so supporting new talent entering the field is a high priority for us.  

Peak now has one of the biggest data science teams in the country, it has almost doubled in size each year – we started with one data scientist five years ago and now have almost 80! We hire a lot of great people straight out of university, and have mentored a number of data science MSc students. Last year, we launched our Data Science graduate training scheme, and welcomed our first cohort of eight graduates in September.

Large tech companies like Opencast are also supporting early years talent. Lorna Madden, Head of Recruitment at Opencast said:

“Opencast wants to support talented folk looking to break into jobs in the tech sector, or wanting to pursue a squiggly career path, to come work with us. We’re working hard with our partners to help people return to the tech sector, transition from life in the armed forces, or just to find their first job in tech. If you have the right attitude, and approach, we firmly believe that with us you’ll achieve great things!”

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What are we doing internally?

As a business we have, and continue to hire and nurture emerging talent in all departments, and put great emphasis on growth and development both personally and as a team. 

Tom, our Data Analyst is a prime example of this:

“I joined the company as a Business Development Executive but quickly took ownership of the data side of things, working closely with Marketing and Sales to make sure we were aligned. In order to progress this, Haystack have supported me in giving me professional time and backing to learn MongoDB and user research, in order to help manage our internal database and advance my skills - which I will continue to do to grow in my new role as a Data Analyst.”