One of the biggest challenges facing companies today is to attract, incorporate and retain IT, tech and digital talent. The demand for these profiles during and after the COVID-19 pandemic seems to continue to grow despite the freezing of recruitment processes for other profiles. Is IT talent acquisition a crisis-proof recruitment?
Here are the 7 trends in IT recruitment in 2021:
A more strategic, longer-term recruitment.
Talent Acquisition is not one of the top priorities for companies right now. Their mission is to survive, so the hiring will be reduced to strategic profiles or profiles that are not already within the company, such as technical profiles and very specific IT.
That is why it is necessary to carry out more long-term recruitment, in which not only is about what is needed now and what functions he/she should perform today but in what that candidate may be able to do in the future. More than ever, hiring managers should look for adaptability, learning, flexibility and development potential in their candidates.
This will necessarily impact the way we evaluate and interview these IT profiles. All the questions we ask should address how the candidate might face future challenges, and evaluate soft skills such as creativity, innovation, critical thinking, analytical ability, results orientation and even resilience.
Could Cross-Industry Recruitment be the solution to the current Skills Gap?
The Future of Hiring: Skills-based Recruitment
Focus on engagement.
Long-term recruitment, which seeks to be efficient and save future costs, cannot be conceived without focusing on retention. Hiring isn’t just about filling a position as quickly as possible to meet the week’s goals. A proof of this is the costs of staff turnover, which in IT profiles are especially higher.
While retaining the best IT talent is complicated by the lack of professionals with the necessary skills, our retention plan must start much earlier than sourcing, and should be regarded as one of the main objectives of Employer Branding.
Attract, convert and fall in love. Inbound Recruiting.
Management of a heterogeneous team.
At the same time that we make a long-term recruitment, we must also bear in mind that projects are not static, but evolve over time. And in each of these phases, they have different talent needs. The IT teams in 2021 will be made up of people with work contracts and freelancers in equal parts, so recruiters will have to take into account other sources of recruitment where to find that flexibility that is sought. But beware, this management is also complicated. Although this type of hiring is faster and more scalable, we also find some problems such as lack of opportunities and professional growth, or less obvious problems such as a high turnover and its logistics, or the inconsistency in the availability -even quality- of these professionals.
Looking for the balance between both will be one of the main challenges for companies.
Focus on Soft Skills.
Tech skills in IT candidates are assumed. But soft skills are not. And they are just as important as the hard skills in that goal of making recruitment more conscious, focused on the future and the long term. In addition to knowing how to comply with the technical part, they have to be able to communicate effectively, listen and work in a team, among others. Professionals are expected to not only fulfil their tasks but contribute to the company’s growth. Therefore, the assessment will also have to be focused on more soft skills.
What are the super skills? Why is it important for companies to consider them?
Upskilling.
In that long-term recruiting you are not only looking for the skills that are an immediate benefit to the company; you are looking for potential. Potential means what that person is able to do in the future to contribute to the growth of the company. And that potential needs to be developed, hence promoting a training policy is key (also for retention purpose). It gives the sense that you’re investing in your employers and their career growth. But it is also a support for the company’s growth, as its employees will be able to meet their future challenges.
Technology as an ally of recruitment
Even if your company doesn’t outsource their recruitment to save costs, you’re wasting money and time if you don’t apply technology to automate and make your talent acquisition processes more efficient. Especially in sourcing, identifying and attracting IT talent (mostly passive, who does not actively seek a job but is open to listening). Artificial Intelligence and Big Data can help to increase your pool of candidates and identify the most suitable professionals in a much faster and smarter way.
The importance of data in talent acquisition.
Diversity and Inclusion.
Another major Human Resources goal for IT teams is to increase diversity and inclusion among them. Different experiences and knowledge improve creativity and innovation, creating a perfect culture for digital transformation. Recruiters will therefore need to consider many more platforms and recruitment sources than usual to ensure a diverse pool of talent. And that diversity must also be transferred to evaluation, where they should go beyond the degree or university that certified it, but the skills they can put into practice or those they can develop in the future.
Diverse Hiring: Why Attract the Brightest Isn’t Always the Best
Digital transformation has shaped the way we see and understand the world. Digital and technological acceleration has brought new challenges and opportunities and has had a great impact on talent. The gap between the supply of and demand for professionals is widening due to the lack of professionals with the necessary skills. That’s why finding the right profiles has become a challenge. At Catenon, we have been searching for professionals around the world for 20 years thanks to data technology. Identify the best IT, Tech and Digital professionals with us.
