Top Seven IT Recruitment Challenges
The economy continues to rely more and more on digital technology, from ecommerce and cloud-based computing to data mining and AI. Virtually every job is impacted in some way by information technology (IT), which has resulted in numerous IT recruitment challenges for the increasing number of organisations that rely on their expertise.
The competition for tech talent isn’t new, but the rate of IT adoption by companies has far surpassed the rate of available IT professionals. For those needing to leverage new software to ease the lives of their workforce, there is much to learn about features and functionality. Meanwhile, teams responsible for recruiting technology face a whole different set of problems.
Any time there is talk of skill and talent shortages, you can be sure that IT will always be one of the key sectors mentioned. Hiring IT, software, and other tech-heavy talent will always be a challenge, so you’ll need to be prepared before you get started with your search.
Lets look at some of the main IT recruitment challenges:
1. Too Many Vacancies
While job vacancies tend to ebb and flow with economic cycles, IT seems to be suffer more than most with some recruiters reporting up to four vacancies for each available developer. It might be time to redraft the job description or look again at the exact skills you need, either through re-apportioning duties or looking for people who may just be an intensive training course away from being fully conversant in a new coding language.
2. Top Candidates are Passive
There are some good IT operators around but they’re typically fully employed and therefore may not be actively looking for a new job. Recruiters need a subtle approach to sourcing as technology employees rarely respond to a full-on headhunting call. You need to understand where they hang out, which platforms they use, what would encourage them to move, and build rapport slowly.
Simply stated, one of the most difficult IT recruitment challenges is the strong possibility that your next hire isn’t even looking.
3. Communication Gaps
Let’s be honest, most recruiters and most techies tend to be different types of people. They talk different languages. Recruiters are often confident, gregarious, and happy to start any conversation whereas tech people may be more reserved and prefer to talk to other tech people. Maybe the answer is for recruiters to get their own IT people involved in the early stages.
4. Looking in the Wrong Places
Unless you know the market really well, you may not realise that outside of the main social and recruiting platforms there are specialist forums, discussion groups, and networking sites that attract tech specialists. They’re more likely to share information and new discoveries—and help to solve each others problems—and the person you’re looking for may be currently active on these platforms.
Talk to your own IT department, or other tech candidates, and find out which are the best platforms to connect with people who have the programming and coding skills that you need. Better still, get a techie to connect for you.
5. Too Much Sourcing Technology
Do recruiters really know where to start looking for specialist candidates? There are so many new free tools that it must be tempting to try one and if you can’t find what you’re looking for then try another. Experienced talent hunters know that you need to have a strategy and carefully map out the skills and sector you are searching for if you are trying to find those with highly sought after, specialist skills.
In other words, overcoming IT recruitment challenges may require more of a “detective” approach, rather than the work of a “big game hunter.” Putting together a winning strategy may seem tedious at first, but should help you find the right fit as you proceed.
6. Top IT Talent Demands High Salaries
While we’re talking about highly coveted, specialist skills, it’s important to remember that they come at a price (the law of supply and demand creates one of the most difficult challenges when recruiting IT professionals). Throwing money at a recruitment problem rarely succeeds, but competitive compensation for those who have the right skills is a must.
Even if you can’t offer a particularly high salary, you’ll need to come to terms with the compensation your top applicants may be offered in similar positions in your geographical location. Monster’s salary calculator can help. Remember, compensation isn’t limited to salary and can also include additional time off, flexible schedules, skills training, and other affordable perks.
7. Desire for Opportunity and Challenge
Many IT professionals are motivated by a greater challenge and opportunity, and a chance to work in an innovative culture that gives talented people the bandwidth to experiment, test, and create. This means you’ll want to have an environment conducive to these types of people, highlighting these particular attributes of the position in your job advert. Small businesses often have the advantage in being able to provide new hires with a broad scope of responsibilities and opportunities.
Overcome These IT Recruitment Challenges and Build Your Dream Team
As you can see, you’re not the only one confronted with the challenges of a highly competitive tech labor market, but you also shouldn’t settle for less than what you need to take your company to the next level. Find more top recruits faster by posting your job advert on Monster for free.