Attack, don’t chase: soccer offers a lesson on how to acquire and retain the best talent.

National Soccer Hall of Famer Kyle Rote, Jr., once said, If youre attacking, you dont get as tired as when youre chasing. That advice for success on the soccer field also applies to winning at talent acquisition and retention in Seattles red hot tech market.

Whether you run an app development start-up employing 10 people or are an executive in the IT department of one of the regions Fortune 500 companies, you know all too well about the battle underway for tech talent. Washington is the nations highest importer of information & communication technology (ICT) talent per capita, according to the Washington Technology Industry Association. And, youre competing against more than 8,600 ICT employment establishments in the state to attract people for your growing organization.

So, in Rotes words, what can you do to be attacking instead of chasing when it comes to getting the people side of your business right?

It comes down to planning for both immediate and long-term needs, including being strategic about how you will keep your people engaged. While planning is hard work, it empowers you to be smart about attracting talent instead of undertaking a tiring and potentially futile chase for a too-small pool of skilled people.

For planning how many and which types of people you need, you have two choices: do the work in-house or engage outside expert assistance.

When Alaska Airlines recently needed to grow its IT department over 20% and refresh its physical systems and e-commerce and mobile strategy, it looked to consulting experts to help figure out its tech staffing needs. This eventually entailed recruiting nearly 80 full-time employees, ranging from various leadership roles to system architects and developers. Colliers International took a similar approach for developing an overall IT strategy and evaluating its staffing needs, including numbers and types of full-time employees, contractors and consultants.

Why does any organization big or small hire staffing consultants instead of doing the work in house? Key reasons include not having the time it takes to evaluate staffing appropriately given numerous competing work demands, and wanting to get a deeper understanding of the tech employment market. Some organizations also look for outside perspectives to help them avoid potential blind spots in their organizational development.

If you decide to hire a talent consulting firm of which there are several locally and dozens nationwide it is crucial to evaluate them on their reputation and results. Capabilities to look for include:

• A good pulse on the local talent market, informed by national market expertise, as youre not only competing with Washington companies, but also with Silicon Valley, New York…

• Experience as in-house human resources experts, so that they understand the limitations and challenges employers face

• The ability to work with you early, which helps you to plan better for spikes in staffing demand, rather than being reactive (remember attacking versus chasing)

• A willingness and interest to take time to understand the leaders vision and the organizations culture, which is critical in recruiting to help figure out if potential candidates will be a good fit

The second aspect of planning is to be deliberate about how youll retain your mission-critical people. Its too easy to let this slide until youre in a crunch, at which point youll be chasing solutions instead of being on the offensive with building your organization.

Much of the tech talent is younger think Millennials and has a 12 18 month shelf life in a job before they are ready to move on to the next challenge. To keep them engaged and growing within your business, you need to provide them with paths to other types of jobs they would do well at in the organization. Like many other employees, they also value working for a cause. This doesnt necessarily have to mean saving the world, but helping them to see how their work contributes to a greater need beyond themselves. I call this showing the sizzle of your organization when youre recruiting people and plugging them in during their first weeks on the job.

Given todays frenetic business environment, its more important than ever to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to winning the talent game. In this environment, attacking means taking time to anticipate your staffing needs and how youll retain people, rather than chasing after talent only after youve become short-staffed or someone has put in their two weeks notice.

Kory Avaiusini is the CEO and co-founder of WideNet Consulting Group, a Bellevue-based firm specializing in technical and professional services and staffing. [email protected]