10 IT Roles to Target When Poaching Talent

The boldest approach to recruiting is what John Sullivan, an internationally recognized HR thought leader, author, speaker and consultant calls a “hire-to-hurt,” or H2H, a strategy which involves identifying and “… hiring in order to gain knowledge, best practices or new skills.

The hire-to-hurt technique is used by aggressive firms to target and directly weaken a competitor,” says Sullivan, by poaching their top performers. While a poaching top talent strategy is not for the faint-of-heart, in the increasingly competitive IT industry, it’s one worth considering. Here are the top 10 IT roles to target.

Salary information furnished by Indeed.com

Chances are the brains behind your competitor’s best-selling product, app or service has plenty more ideas where those came from. Why not entice them to bring their ideas under your roof, instead of your rival’s?

Average Salary: Chief Software Architect $132,000 Lead Architect $123,000

Software developers, programmers, engineers are in huge demand everywhere from Silicon Valley to Silicon Alley – for good reason. The widespread adoption of technology in every industry points to a real and sustained boom for developer talent, according to Dice.com.

Average Salary: Software Developer $93,000

Many IT projects fail because of a dearth of solid project management skills. Project management professionals can be the key to successful product execution and delivery, especially for mission-critical software development projects.

Average Salary: Project Manager $98,000

Without a solid sales team, your products and solutions won’t ever reach their full potential for customers. Find your competitors’ top-performing sales pros and watch those deals roll in.

Average Salary: Sales Manager $52,000

Product development managers are a key liaison between business executives, IT and your customers. They can help your business deliver on both business needs and customer demands.

Average Salary: Product Development Managers $92,000

While core marketing concepts haven’t changed much in decades, translating these approaches to a digital era requires a unique set of skills and experience that will be invaluable when pitching your IT project, solution or app to customers.

Average Salary: Digital Marketing $88,000

Engaged, loyal, enthusiastic and genuinely helpful customer service and support personnel are a key to retaining your customers. If you have an arsenal of these folks on the front lines of customer interaction, you’ll generate a solid, loyal brand following among your end-users. And that’s good for business.

Average Salary: Helpdesk Manager $81,000 Technical Support Manager 102,000 Customer Service $25,000

Of course, you’ll never execute a bold, H2H strategy without aggressive, take-no-prisoners HR and recruiting staff that isn’t afraid of a little conflict. Make sure you’ve got the best and brightest if you want to recruit the best and the brightest.

Average Salary: Human Resources Manager $76,000

Social media is ubiquitous nowadays, and the last thing you want is an inexperienced employee at the helm serving as the social voice of your brand. Make sure you’re targeting a professional with excellent customer relations skills, marketing experience and who can navigate different platforms with ease.

Average Salary: Social Media Specialist $42,000

One of the trickiest parts of a H2H strategy is determining what compensation and benefits packages are sufficient to lure top performers away from your competition. Having a compensation specialist (along with tools like compensation benchmarking software) in addition to your existing HR team can help make sure your overtures are in line with what they’re currently making and are enough to entice them to jump ship.

Average Salary: Compensation Specialists $56,000 Compensation Analysts $ 71,000