Attracting Top Talent in a Changing IT Sector

I guess we’ve all experienced the sometimes frustratingly slow pace of recruitment at one time or other.  But there’s one industry that certainly bucks that trend. The tech industry develops at a lightning fast pace, resulting in ever-changing job demands and roles.  As a sector, technology is growing twice as fast as the UK economy as a whole, according to research by Tech Nation.

In fact, the UK tech industry leads the way across Europe.  We’ve seen a greater investment over the last seven years in this sector within the UK than the combined investments of Germany and France put together.  And the confidence continues, with Theresa May recently announcing support for technology innovation across various investments in the tech sector, totalling £81 million.

 

So how does this all affect jobs on the ground?

Supply and demand are out of kilter as the demand for talent is greater than the resource available.  This throws up interesting challenges for those of us who spend our time recruiting for technical bods. There’s a need to understand what is important to potential candidates in order to attract them.  For example:-

 

The interview process needs rethinking

With two-thirds of non-executive technology candidates saying they will lose interest in a job if they haven’t heard back within a fortnight, it’s crucial to communicate quickly and efficiently.  41% of CIOs say they are not happy with how long it takes to hire someone – on average 4.5 weeks.

If you want to attract the top talent, a smooth and speedy interview process is necessary. This is where a specialist IT recruitment agency can really help, ensuring things can move along quickly without losing momentum.

 

Salary levels are on the up

In a recent survey by US company Robert Half, 44 percent of CIOs say they miss out on top talent because they cannot offer the level of salary that candidates are looking for.  Today’s workforce is well informed – with a wealth of salary calculators online, these guys know their worth.  It’s important to publish salary ranges alongside your job ads because it’s been shown that such adverts typically get up to 75% more clicks on job boards.

 

Working remotely is no longer a ‘nice to have’

Statistics show that 10-15% of UK tech workers are remotely based. As long ago as 2014, Microsoft abolished compulsory attendance at the office for its employees. Their view is that if you trust your employees, you will get so much more from them in terms of work accomplished and new ideas.

But it’s not just an important cultural shift for UK workers.  Between 2009 and 2015 a sixth of new hires in the UK technology market were EU citizens.  Given the growth we’ve already talked about, it’s essential that UK firms can attract global talent.  But as Brexit moves steadily nearer, there are concerns about being able to access candidates from the EU. A remote working policy helps to address this issue.

Thanks to the technology we have at our fingertips, you can employ the very best candidate wherever they happen to live. Remote working does throw up new skills to look for when interviewing, however.  Highly self-motivated individuals with well-developed communications skills are what you need for this type of working arrangement.

 

Types of jobs – and skills – are changing

Not only is the market growing, but the nature of the jobs is changing. Robotics, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, automation, IoT and cyber security are areas of technology that are expanding at a mind-blowing rate.

And as well as specific experience in these areas, a broad range of skills including electronics and embedded software, data analytics, and UI design will be necessary as employees are expected to take responsibility for whole projects.

To be successful in attracting the top candidates in today’s climate, you really need to partner with a recruitment agency that knows their stuff.

 

With one of the largest and most accurate databases in the UK, we are able to fill many of our clients’ needs directly and efficiently. Even the most challenging of candidates can be found, thanks to our prestigious connections across all leading job sites, social media and networking tools.  Why not give us a call for a chat about how we can help?