Where are all the IT workers?
As IT talent shortages continue, it’s more challenging than ever to attract and recruit good IT specialists to your business.
The good news? There are some simple strategies you can use to remain competitive and attract the best IT candidates to your business.
With many businesses fighting for people to return to the office, there are often clashes between employees and employers.
There are plenty of benefits to office working, but if it’s possible to offer some form of flexibility, whether it’s in the form of flexible hours or hybrid working then this is going to appeal to a wider range of candidates.
This could be done by offering core hours, flexible hours, hybrid working with a certain number of office days, or annual leave buy and sell schemes. A recent survey by T2M Resourcing on LinkedIn found that 46% of candidates prioritise hybrid and flexible working patterns the most during their job search, even more so than salary (which 37% of candidates prioritised).
The workforce has been automating faster than anticipated since 2020. With the rise of automation tools and technologies such as AI, many have expressed concern over their future careers.
The good news is that these technologies have presented a lot of new opportunities within the IT industry. However, people must be able to improve their skills as technology develops.
Upskilling and cross-skilling your current workforce can be a great way to bridge skill gaps that might currently be present in your business.
What is upskilling?
Upskilling is a workplace practice whereby businesses provide training and development opportunities to improve the skillsets of their employees and minimise skill gaps within their workforce.
What is cross-skilling?
Cross-skilling involves businesses training their employees with skills that are not directly related to their current roles but can be valuable for the organisation in various ways. Cross-skilling can help to ease skill shortages within businesses and improve the levels of collaboration and productivity across the business.
What are the benefits of upskilling and cross-skilling the workforce?
Upskilling and cross-skilling both focus on improving current employees’ skill sets, helping to decrease or remove skills shortages within the workforce, and allowing current employees to advance in their jobs.
Upskilling and cross-skilling help employees become more productive and efficient – which helps to improve overall workplace productivity.
What are the disadvantages of upskilling and cross-skilling the workforce?
Although both are hugely beneficial to businesses, upskilling and cross-skilling can take a lot of time and investment. Sometimes if there is an immediate need within a business, it is quicker and more efficient to hire someone who already has the skillsets, rather than train current employees to fill those gaps.
It is always a good idea to offer upskilling and cross-skilling development programs and training sessions within your business, but often this might not always be enough to ease the need for new hires.
Recruitment Agencies and Consultants that specialise in Technology Recruitment don’t just know about the IT industry, but also the recruitment industry.
IT Recruitment Consultants spend hours talking to different IT candidates, as well as reading various IT job descriptions – so you can consider them knowledge experts.
The benefit of working with IT Recruitment Consultants is that they are also better equipped to tap into the passive candidate market. Nearly half of all UK candidates (45%) are predicted to be passive candidates.
This means while they might not be actively seeking work, they are often still open to new opportunities when approached.
It’s harder to find these candidates as they are not searching for or applying for jobs. However, Recruitment Consultants have the tools available to tap into the passive candidate space to engage them with roles you might be recruiting for.
If you’re still not sure whether it’s worth engaging with an IT Recruitment Consultant, there’s no harm in getting in touch to ask if you can have a conversation about the roles you’re currently recruiting for and whether they think it would be possible for them to find the candidates that you’re looking for.
While it might sound obvious, you’re not going to attract IT candidates to come and work for you if you’re not offering anything to attract them.
Look into the market rates, what are your competitors paying? What salaries can you afford to offer? Are there other company benefits that make your business attractive to work for?
At T2M we can provide you with additional services such as salary benchmarking activities.
It’s also important to ensure you’re regularly revising packages and benefits for your current workforce, remaining competitive to retain the best talent that you currently have should also be one of your main priorities.
It can be expensive to get wrong, with research estimating it costs a business approximately 20% of the original employee’s salary to replace them.
T2M Resourcing is here to help – our Technical and Engineering Division recruits across the UK, working with a variety of SMEs and Mid-Market businesses to attract the best talent to your business.
We take a partnership approach to recruitment, taking the time to get to know your business, the people in it, and how it operates.
The T2M Technical and Engineering division takes the time to grasp the technical requirements and key details of each role. We appreciate and understand the sometimes subtle differences between these positions as well as keeping up to date with developments in each field.
Our team has a passion for technology. This isn’t just about recruitment, we enjoy hearing and learning about all that your business does.