A survey uncovered that 65% of hiring managers found hiring top talent in the technological industry challenging.
The IT skills gap implies that either hiring managers are unable to find, source, and recruit talented IT professionals, or there aren’t just enough skilled candidates that recruiters can hire.
What is a Talent Gap?
Talent shortage or talent gap refers to the lack of skilled and talented candidates available in the job market.
To define it in simple language, it refers to the expanse between your candidates’ current level of talent, skills, qualities, or experiences and where you would need them to meet your client’s needs and goals.
Occasionally, every organization and industry faces a shortage of talent, and it’s the HR department and recruitment agencies that have to take up the load of solving such a problem.
Talent Shortage in the IT Industry
The talent gap in the IT industry is a crisis-like situation for agency recruiters, and it occurs when the demand for talented IT professionals is higher than the supply of trained and qualified workforce.
It is said that the tech worker shortage is about to become an even bigger problem than anticipated.
A report concluded that 58% of tech leaders voiced that there is a plan to increase emerging technological investments; however, that is a prominent challenge due to the talent shortage in the IT industry.
More than 50% of leaders expressed their concern over the lack of tech talent in the past ten years!
The talent gap in the technological field isn’t recent.
The problem has been in existence for the past few years, and the pandemic just widened the talent gap even more.
What is Causing Talent Shortage in the IT Industry?
Increasing Demand and Decreasing Supply: A report by the World Economic Forum said that 133 million job roles were likely to be created in 2022-23. However, not many qualified candidates from the candidate pool are available to fill the vacancies. Between 2002 to 2016, jobs in the IT sector increased significantly, but the supply of skilled workforce is low.
Technological Advancement: New advancements in the technological field occur every day, every minute, and the way we learn IT skills keep changing and transforming. For most people, keeping up with such advancements is tough, and hence, they may not consider upskilling themselves. This creates a candidate pool with a majority of unqualified and unskilled candidates.
Increased Requirement of Specific Qualifications and Specializations: The specialization within the IT industry is double-edged. Sometimes, organizations may require too narrow or specific specialization and skills that all candidates may not possess and the expense of training in those niche fields is way higher. This way, the talent acquisition process is disrupted.
Combating Talent Gap in the IT Sector
The severity of the talent shortage in the IT sector is definitely uncalled for
Employers and recruiters are finding it difficult to find, source, recruit and retain tech experts.
Here are some tips for recruiters to source and hire candidates effectively.
Top 5 Tips for Tech Recruiters
1. Upskill Candidates & Employees
You are not at a loss if you don’t find skilled candidates from the talent pool. Instead, you can just upskill the existing candidates and the workforce.
Recruiters can ask their clients or employers to consider creating and expanding their training programs. This will ensure the growth and development of everyone in the workforce.
When you train your talent pool and employees, you will not have to take up the stress to find quality candidates. Instead, you can turn your existing candidate base into a skilled one.
2. Use Automation Technology
If you are looking for technical talent, why not just leverage the use of technology?
Recruiters must already be aware of the benefits of using recruitment automation software such as an Applicant Tracking System.
Usage of such technology will help you streamline your hiring process, thereby, making your talent hunt easier.
Recruiters can suggest employers automate certain technical tasks in their organization too where a human workforce is not necessary.
3. Market the Employer Brand for Skilled Candidates
It’s not like the ideal candidate for a job role does not exist at all.
For a change, how about you market your client’s company and attract skilled and talented candidates to apply for the job?
Start with promoting the client’s brand name on different digital and social networking platforms.
Talk about the benefits of working at the employer’s organization and you might be successful in hiring deserving candidates or even getting hold of purple squirrels!
4. Identify Overlooked Candidate Pools
There are chances that you may have overlooked certain applicant pools consciously or unconsciously (in spite of them being a perfect fit).
Avoid overlooking older workers, candidates with disabilities, veterans, or applicants from diverse backgrounds as they may not fit the ideal candidate persona you have created but they just might have the right skill set and knowledge required.
Tapping into non-traditional and increasingly diverse talent pools can help you solve today’s talent acquisition challenges.
5. Expand Your Network
The process of recruitment majorly involves marketing and networking in order to attract and source quality candidates.
Recruiters can unveil unconventional applicants from the talent pool by networking within your community.
Actively seek out community resources and grab existing networking opportunities you get.
Look out for online job fairs and hiring events wherein you might come across various talented job applicants that might be the perfect fit for the role.
The Bottom Line
It’s 2022 and businesses rarely function without information technology.
With the right recruiting strategy, skills development programs and strategically tapping into the talent pool, you will definitely overcome the talent shortage issue.
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