Highlights

In the recent report, CompTIA predicts the tech workforce to grow by 5% this year. Such expansion, together with SaaS apps, stands above other technology fields which will be able to increase their staff by only 1%.

Cybersecurity, data scientists and analytics are expected to become the most demanded positions with hiring activity growth up to 4.4%. Software development hits the second place in this race with a 3.7% increase in demand. As a result, the number of tech and IT-related workforces might reach 1.4 million people by the end of 2021.

EVP of CompTIA, Tim Herbert said that data of posted job positions shows that the software sector holds the position of the most demanded job category.

Details

No surprise that companies in the industrial sector invest a lot of time, effort and resources into looking for employees in tech positions. According to the Workforce Report by iCIMS, it takes up to 61 days to fill in such a position as compared to 42 days that an industrial company needs to find a decent non-tech employee.

The competition over talent in the tech world has always been intense. Right now, SaaS-type companies not only go against peers and competitors but move through other industries in the search of top talent trying to pull it from education, healthcare or finance. These among other difficulties in turn result in enterprises considering investing in their inner tech workforce resources hoping to solve the problem.

The rate of unemployment in tech positions has reached 2.4% in February, exceeding an average employer demand over the supply in some regions, the report states.

The EVP of CompTIA, Tim Herbert, expressed the opinion that in one year the software part of the labor market will be significantly tight, even considering how many different skills IT-related positions might cover.

Besides, the high demand triggers another issue – a large part of the applications that employers receive are from people who don’t have the required qualifications.

The VP of global talent attraction at Indeed, Scott Bonneau, gave the following advice on how the company can attract the right professionals:

Clearly define what your talent should possess: specific experience, college degree, achievements in the industry, etc. Concentration on a specific target group will help find the right employee.

Show your company’s advantages as compared to your competitors: the candidate should understand what benefits you can offer for his experience and skills.

Expand your hiring pool: companies usually overlook many places where potential talents are hiding, for example, coding camps.

Today tech giants like Google adopt a new approach to offset the college diplomas as a necessary requirement for a position and concentrate on candidates with certifications and apprenticeships. Amazon offers upskilling 2-year programs at universities for its employees to shorten the gap for the IT infrastructure. Still, only 36% of the adult population in the United States have a bachelor's degree, which increases skill shortages. In some cases, the investment in upskilling an employee is more rewarding than a long search in the outer world.

However, there is another way to avoid shortages in IT-related talent: hire people who might evolve with provided training, even if they don’t meet your set criteria yet. Especially that concerns young people fresh out of college.

Whether you are looking for skilled software engineers, QA specialists or game development art designers, Virtual Electronics can help. Get in touch to get the top IT talent teams tackling your projects now!