Finding and hiring tech talents is one of the biggest challenges companies face these days. IT recruiters and HR professionals across the world are struggling to find the best match for their openings. There are more open positions than available engineers to fill them.
The US Bureau of Labor Projections estimated that by 2020, there would be over one million talent technologies-based jobs in the US without qualified candidates to fill them. Even though the tech talent shortage started long before the pandemic, Covid-19 had a major impact. The global pandemic sped up the entire digitalization process, and while every company was embracing remote work and figuring out ways for digital transformation, the tech talent gap only increased.
So, what are the most common reasons that make it hard to find qualified tech talent?
Let's explore the six most common reasons more closely below!
1. Tech Talent Shortage
Everything that was supposed to unfold in the next ten years happened in a single, highly turbulent year: digital transformation and tech adaptation for thousands of companies in all industries across the globe reached an enormous peak. Gartner’s study claimed that 58% of companies reported a massive tech skill transformation since the start of Covid-19. The pandemic has fastened the digital transformation processes by at least five years.
DevOps, AI, software engineers, and big data are only a few tech positions that will be on the top market for skills in demand. According to the McKinsey Global Survey of 2021, about 87% of companies are now facing a tech talent shortage or will face the tech hiring shortage in the upcoming years. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics claimed there would be 1.4 million job openings in the tech industry, with only 400K tech graduates to fill these positions in the US. This fact points to a tech shortage of 1 million software engineers.
2. The Hiring Process Is Too Long
To hire tech talents, you should know that the process for filling out tech positions can take a lot of time since companies require precision, not speed. The entire hiring process may consist of several interviews and a test, while the approval may need to come from different executives before the final offer is made. This can take weeks, and while you decide, your perfect tech talent may accept another offer.
But how long does the hiring process for tech positions really take?
A comprehensive LinkedIn study shows that tech positions are filled in an average of 49 days. The slowest 10% of engineering hires were 82 days, while the fastest 10% were 16 days from application submission.
The hiring process shouldn’t take longer than 2-3 weeks. An efficient, structured hiring process can save you time and money if you know where to find top tech talent. What is missing in most of the companies’ hiring strategies is that only a few of them have a complete talent journey mapped out. As a hiring team member, you need to know your talent at what stage. Do they need more time to evaluate your company? Are they in the consideration stage? Having a detailed map of the talent journey and a good talent persona, you will be able to quickly determine where your talent is in the talent journey and make the process more efficient.
3. Geo Limits
Companies are expanding their search for tech talent across borders. This opens many possibilities not just for organizations but also for tech professionals. Now, they can work from anywhere and land a job with companies across the globe without relocating.
Remote work broke down the location barriers, but it brought tech hiring challenges on its own. Even though it may be hard to work in different time zones or manage a distributed team, all of this is manageable with the numerous digital collaboration and management tools such as Jira, Asana, Zoom, Slack, etc.
4. Rapid Tech Innovation
The tech market is one of the most evolving and rapidly changing. And, it will never stop for sure. New technologies are on the horizon, which means new jobs will open up for tech professionals. Moreover, it is hard to predict what’s next and what skill you should focus on.
Recruiters should always stay updated with the latest tech innovation and demand for tech talent on the market to maintain their talent pipeline while hiring full-time tech talent effectively. To hire trained tech talent, they need good training programs to help them understand the basics of technologies and what kind of talent they really need. Companies need to learn how to adapt fast and follow the tech trends if they want to secure top tech talent in this ever-changing industry.
5. The Top Tech Professionals Are Passive Job Seekers
The low unemployment rate in the tech industry leads to the conclusion that the top talent have well-paid jobs, and they are not actively looking for new opportunities. Even if they want to leave their job, they need more convincing that your company is the best for their needs.
Passive talent needs a relationship approach and many interactions with the recruiter to catch their attention. Your company needs to understand their pain points and set up clear career expectations during the tech talent recruiting.
6. No Purpose in Work
It’s not all about money. Tech salaries are high but a recent 2021 survey has shown that due to the pandemic 2 out of 3 employees are rethinking their purpose in life as well in work.
Tech talent has many opportunities, but they don’t want just another job. They want to be part of a company that shapes the future. They want to find a purpose in work and a company that will do good for society and impacts the world. That is probably the biggest challenge with hiring tech talent: creating such working opportunities.
Closing Thoughts
Facing the talent shortage in tech may cause many downfalls to your organization, so prepare yourself on time. The first step to take is to reevaluate your tech hiring and sourcing process and make it simple and effective. Create a good benefits program and raise the budget for tech positions to hire skilled tech talent. Don't shy away from implementing the creative hiring tactics we mentioned earlier to attract technical talents. Finally, expand your search to find the hottest tech talent. Your perfect tech fit may be across the globe!
