The marketing technology landscape is  evolving at a rapid pace. The last few years have seen a huge shift in consumer behaviour – with more people taking an online-first approach – it’s forced brands to review their customer touchpoints and focus on their online presence. Creating refined brand experiences is at the heart of most business strategies and as a result, the uptake of martech platforms such as the Adobe Experience Cloud is staggering. Though only one part of the product suite, StackShare has the number of companies that equip their tech stacks with AEM at 800, that’s including the likes of Nike, Samsung, GoPro and Twitter.

With a rise in the popularity of the  Adobe Experience Cloud comes a rise in demand for developers, engineers, architects and consultants with experience with one or more of the product stack. 

As a specialist Adobe recruiter, we’re in the privileged position of being able to talk to clients and candidates working on Adobe Experience Cloud projects every day. This level of communication gives us a really good insight not only into the market, but the people we’re placing and the things they look for from an employer or reversely, an employee. 

How do I attract Adobe Experience Cloud talent into my business?

First thing’s first, we need to recognise that AEM, Adobe Campaign and other products of the Experience Cloud are niche technologies.  They may have been around for some years but unless you’ve worked for  Adobe, a Solutions Partner or a client that’s purchased it, there’s no way to get hands-on experience. The beauty of proprietary software, right? 

With only so many projects across the world, you’re fishing in a somewhat restricted pool when it comes to finding people with the right experience. Add to that the fact that there are a lot of other companies competing for their attention and it’s easy to see why the candidate has so much power in the market. From our experience most candidates that we speak to have multiple opportunities open to them at any given time.

So, what can you do to become first choice?

Do your homework. 

Recognising that this is a niche technology and skillset is the first part of the process. These candidates aren’t sat on job boards or on LinkedIn searching for opportunities, nor are they likely to respond to every offer they get. 

Having a really good understanding of what you’re looking for and what package will get them interested is critical for success. It’s not just the opportunity to hire that person that’s at stake, if you get your intro wrong or your salary is way off the mark it can actually affect how your brand is perceived in the market. Understanding which benefits people favour over salary increases, what type of work will motivate them and how to position your brand is a good starting point to really make your opportunity stand-out against your competitors.

If you’re looking for advice on how to pitch your role, find a specialist who can guide you before you start talking money with candidates. Understanding what the market is paying and what people expect upfront means you can avoid any awkward conversations further down the line or wasted time trying to get people’s attention with a low offer. 

Streamline your process. 

With so many opportunities available to Adobe Experience Cloud professionals, your hiring process needs to be a slick operation. If you’re planning on a 4-5 stage interview you might as well throw in the towel right now. You’re going to lose the best talent to other companies who’ll do the same process in 2.

With the rise of remote working it’s arguably more difficult to get all the stakeholders together to interview a potential new hire. This is where video interviewing comes in. Having run numerous remote first-stage interviews on behalf of our clients, we know first-hand the benefit of video interviewing. 

Recording a well-structured first interview enables you to get everything you need from the candidate to assess cultural fit, baseline skills and experience and send it to as many stakeholders as required for review. When running an exclusive assignment, we find using video interviewing enables us to eliminate the first stage for our clients. Halving the time it takes them to make a successful hire and increasing the interview success rate at 2nd round interview to as high as 70%. 

Working alongside the hiring manager we’ll get 4-5 screening questions together - things that they’d normally ask on the initial call – which we’ll use in the initial interview alongside our usual checks. Once we’re done, we’re able to send the candidate shortlist along with their CVs and video recordings to the relevant parties to review. With a final technical interview with the team being all that’s left for the candidate, you’re able to trim down your time to hire and increase the chances of you getting the best person.

Be flexible. 

We’ve already mentioned the importance of aligning your opportunity and package with what the market wants. Over the last few months, the world has seen a shift in the way everyone works. Remote working is almost a given right now and providing people with additional benefits such as flexible or remote working can vastly increase your chances of hiring.

Depending on your business setup, there’s no reason why you can’t look further afield for talent. In the US for example, the vast majority of AEM developers that we speak to are on a H1b visa. Offering H1b sponsorship can open up a huge pool of talent for you. If you’re happy to extend your search outside of your country it can be extremely cost-effective. As long as the new hires have the right skill, aptitude and are aligned culturally to operate on a fully-remote basis it can drastically reduce your time to hire and save you tens of thousands on salaries.

As the market grows increasingly more competitive, it’s imperative for businesses to make themselves as attractive as possible to candidates. If you’re looking to hire Adobe professionals and would like advice on anything that we’ve discussed, get in touch.