24 May Why are Tech Companies Struggling to Hire?
In 2022, companies in the tech sector are experiencing a difficult time with recruiting and hiring new talent. One worry that has been that there is a shortage of workers or qualified candidates. Unemployment among technology workers has been estimated to be around 1.7%, well below the national general unemployment which is around 4%. The workers are there, they are just already employed with other tech companies. Jobs in IT are still on the rise, with almost 200,000 more open jobs in IT and tech roles than there were at the beginning of 2021. While the easy answer to our big question of “why are tech companies struggling to hire?” is simply a lack of workers, there’s always more to things than meets the eye. We’re going to explain why some technology organizations are not just having a hiring problem, but rather a recruiting problem and why this problem could spell trouble for the future of the technology sector.
Job Outlook for Technology Jobs in the United States
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, software developers and software quality assurance analysts will see an average growth of almost 41,000 jobs annually between 2020-2030. This 22.2% increase in jobs is an excellent sign for the tech sector and businesses, but if they will have the candidates to fill those open jobs is the question.
Why can’t tech companies recruit quality talent?
The reason tech companies, and tech recruiters are having such a difficult time acquiring talent is a much deeper reason than a surface level answer. With a lot of jobs open in the technology industry, recruitment has become difficult for most organizations. Recruiters can have a sizable pool of candidates, but the hard truth is that a lot of these candidates aren’t really enthused at the thought of talking to recruiters. Most tech organizations are focused on recruiting internally, which can have adverse effects on the company for the long term. If organizations took a different approach to recruitment, say that of a recruiting headhunter, they may be able to find better talent that will stick around much longer. Here are some other reasons companies are having issues with finding and retaining quality candidates.
Tech companies should invest in their people early
Even though many positions advertised by tech companies as being entry-level may appear to be easy enough to apply for, once you reach them sometimes it seems like your career begins from scratch. There is a lot of work involved in even getting past HR screening for a new role. Negotiating salaries has become one of the weakest points for some tech leaders, as they will often make candidates with experience and education feel less valued than they truly are.
Once inside the organization, the employee often finds out what kind of work it takes to keep up with the pace of the business, and how fast the company moves in order to get things done quickly. This can lead to burnout in the role quickly, which in turn can lead to a lack of production or the employee looking to move on to a different company. This is a major issue, especially among smaller tech companies who can lose a candidate to a bigger company due to workplace and culture issues.
Shift of focus inside technology
Another major issue that tech recruiters are facing is the shift in technological focus in the industry. Recently, mostly due to the pandemic, there has been a shift in focus from developing to being more about IT infrastructure, cloud work, and automation. Because of the pandemic, many businesses have had to shift to either a completely remote workplace or a type of hybrid work environment. Because of this, candidates are searching out jobs that will focus more on the creation of infrastructure and cybersecurity, rather than only focusing on being a developer.
Remote and hybrid work environments have led to an increase in cyberattacks, leading to an increase in investments for security technologies, according to Gartner. More candidates are also focusing on cloud skills and automation.
Competition is fierce in the tech industry
Due to the nature of the current job market, recruiters in tech are focusing on qualified candidates that are the most responsive. Recruiters must remain resilient in their pursuit of suitable candidates. Recruiting itself is not a passive activity, but rather a very active activity. It’s more than just about how many candidates you can contact in a given time. It’s about how many perfect match candidates you can effectively reach out to and follow up, as a lot of recruiters and businesses fail to do.
A good recruiter will make their approach about the candidate, rather than making it about the company. They will use different tools and resources that draw interest from the candidate. Additionally, some companies are facing issues pulling in quality talent due to their vague or unknown remote work policy. Many tech workers prefer to work in the hybrid or remote working environment and a lot of companies have been unclear in their plans to return to the office in the coming year.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced in January that they were delaying their return to the office and extending their work from home environments through at least March. Today’s tech worker generally prefers to be in a remote work environment, making it more difficult for companies that could be returning to the office soon.
What can companies do better to recruit talented candidates?
In order to improve in their efforts to recruit quality talent, there are some things that even the biggest tech companies can change. The first being to promote a better workplace culture and to stop thinking it’s always about the money for candidates. If recruiters focused more on the mission and the culture of the organization, it would attract the best candidates. Companies can also look elsewhere to find skilled candidates by using the services of a professional staffing company like Scion Technology. This can help change how major tech companies find quality candidates and retain them for the long term.
Looking for talent? Scion Technology can help!
Scion Technology can help you find the candidate that is the perfect match with your tech company. Find out more today by visiting our website and our about us page or contact us today to get started with one of our professional recruiters!
