To begin, there’s no question that IT skills are a hot commodity whether it’s supporting legacy infrastructures or pacing with the ever evolving digital landscape and user/business requests. So I did a little digging with the help of some of Yoh’s IT focused Branch Managers and found out that the pain points boil down to two main items: Dollars and Demand!
Let’s tackle demand first. Is there anything quite like the explosive exponential growth in terms of IT technologies? Now I’m not ready to get into a debate today about whether or how soon we could reach technological singularity, but the fact remains that new systems, platforms, etc. evolve more quickly than companies can keep pace. Not to mention IT professionals learning and keeping their skill sets relevant to these changes in technology. This alone greatly impacts the talent pool of potentially skilled or aligned tech professionals vs. the growing demand for talent in this space.
Don’t believe me? Two words…Google Glasses! I know many of you just dropped $1,500 dollars to get in on that exclusive purchase. Kudos to Google for making Tax Day exciting for some of the population, but I digress…
Then there’s that that pesky talent deficit in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) areas. While a certain influencer, it is by no means the singular definitive factor and should not be an excuse for one’s inability to hire the required talent. What is critical is the actual available talent and current marketplace demand at the time of one’s need and the corresponding ability to set oneself up for success by level setting and managing expectations accordingly. So this leads us into the second factor preventing IT Departments from scaling and thriving - dollars!
Unless you missed your high school economics course on Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations, market prices rise with effectual demand in proportion to the availability of the commodity, or in our case the rise of compensation compared to the available talent pool. Think your internal compensation structure will garner you top IT talent in highly sought after skill sets? You may want to think again. So where does this leave us? Does everyone have to pay premium dollar to duke it out for limited talent in order to scale their IT staffing needs? Not necessarily.
These days everyone is under the gun when it comes to budget constraints, so being proactive, strategic and decisive will be key to getting out from under the rut of your IT hiring woes. How do you get started?
Don’t have access to information on market rates or the availability of the talent pool you seek so you can follow the above steps? Any good IT Staffing partner should be able to supply you with this information so that you can strategically work in tandem to scale your IT needs. While the market is challenging, it is not impossible to attract and hire awesome talent. For more tips, remember to read our eMag so the last thing anyone can say is that you’re killing your recruiting efforts!
This post was written by Cindy Lombardo. With nine years of experience in the staffing industry having worked in the capacities of recruitment, project management, training and marketing, Cindy currently focuses on developing and implementing digital strategies that target and attract talent across all industry sectors for both national and international employment opportunities. She is passionate about following emerging applicant trends as well as educating others about both the growing talent deficit and strategies that can drive better recruitment efficiencies and return on investment. When she’s not working on candidate marketing strategies, Cindy spends her time outside of work running a non-profit opera company, practicing judo and playing with her crazy dog Scruffy.