Hiring in IT software and hardware has always been a highly competitive area for recruitment. It’s a landscape undergoing near constant change with new technologies and challenges arriving every year. 2019 is already showing signs as being competitive in most industries; it’s called “The War for Talent” and many businesses don’t feel as though they are winning. The situation in Information Technology is particularly competitive in the world of talent acquisition.
- Unemployment in general technology is presently 1.9%
- Unemployment in the computer and mathematical sciences is presently 2%
- These figures are against a national average unemployment rate of 3.9%
Technologies in development and just entering the market now is adding new roles every day. Clearly, there will not be enough people to fill them. We took a deep dive into the 2019 hiring trends for software, technology and IT professionals in a recent webinar (recording here). For your convenience, we have summarized the key takeaways.
Competition Will Mark the Rest of 2019
This year, for the first time since the year 2000, the ratio of jobs to unemployment dropped to below 1:1. For CEOs, HR professionals and anyone concerned with recruiting landscape, attracting and retaining top talent is now a priority. Many recognize there has been a systematic failure to attract and retain talent. The statistics above reinforce just how urgent the issue we currently face throughout all industries. Information technology and science fields are becoming particularly challenging for finding and hiring talent.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects job opening growth from 2016 to 2026 for each of the following industries as follows:
- Software application developers: 31%
- General software developers: 24%
- All computer occupations: 13%
- Systems software developers: 11%
This is against a national average growth of all jobs of just 7%. That means the number of job openings in software app development will grow four times faster than all jobs in the US between 2016 and 2026. Our growth in reliance on mobile technology and Cloud connectivity fuels this higher demand. Industry, particularly medical insurance, will fuel the growth in systems software development. Areas of particular concern right now are cybersecurity roles, software app development, network administrators, and web developers.
A Problematic Recruitment Strategy
It is becoming more difficult each day to find qualified candidates to fill the new openings. There just aren’t enough job seekers for the roles companies are trying to hire for. It’s a well-known figure across HR and recruitment that 70% of the global workforce is presently comprised of passive candidates for new roles. This means they are relatively happy in their current job and not actively looking for another opportunity. Yet this large number of passive candidates would be more than willing to change for the right job. Most people switch roles not because they are unhappy, but because of a new career opportunity.
It is also largely understood that most people switch roles through referrals and not through active searching. Therefore, in not utilizing the network of contacts of a pool of existing employees, employers are not maximizing their outreach to potential new employees. Providing valuable feedback to candidates who were previously unsuccessful is key to maintaining their interest in working for your organization. It’s time for a new solution to the crisis, leveraging new technologies and making the most of networks.
Potential Solutions for the Information Technology Talent Shortage
One of the greatest benefits since the advent of the internet has been crowdsourcing. You may have heard the term from such giants as Wikipedia (knowledge sharing), Kickstarter and GoFundMe (investment sharing), Uber (ridesharing) or Airbnb (accommodation). It has helped solve many problems already and now, crowdsourcing has come to recruitment. It’s already proving a successful model for the 21st century, – a basic principle, working on the understanding that many heads to solve a problem are better than one.
The benefits of talent crowdsourcing for the recruitment industry are just being realized in some quarters. One benefit is that it expands the reach of hiring organizations way beyond the present boundaries and budget limits. It does this by harnessing the power of the crowd of the recruiting community and allowing them to identify the best talent from that wider pool. Hiring is faster, more efficient, and even borderless for the remote working trends.
How Reflik’s Crowdsourcing Can Help Relieve The Situation
Reflik brings crowdsourcing to recruitment. Businesses experiencing problems with hiring IT professionals will find the talent crowdsourcing approach will help them find the next generation of leaders and high-level employees. In fact, Reflik has already helped some of the world’s largest businesses such as Canon, J.B. Hunt, Interactive Brokers, Spok, Marsh & McLennan, Rackspace, Broadridge, and many other leaders in the technology arena. Reflik is a tech-enabled recruiting solution that can integrate with most applicant tracking systems. It’s a hiring marketplace that connects companies with top IT professionals at all levels, from entry-level to top executive.
Ready to learn more? View the webinar recording, or schedule a demo to learn how talent crowdsourcing can help you increase your hiring efficiency and hire better talent.
