5 Strategies for Overcoming the IT Talent Shortage

By John Bemis On February 12, 2018 · In Job Market

Updated: June 27, 2023

With today’s IT talent shortage, every tech role you must fill is challenging. As new technologies accelerate, the search for great IT talent becomes even more competitive. With consistently low unemployment rates and a looming IT skills gap, there are many challenges when it comes to attracting and hiring tech professionals with experience that matches the job description.

How can your organizations overcome this IT talent shortage? Try these 5 strategies to keep your tech team fully staffed.

Hire IT Talent for Potential and Transferrable Skills

When you’re looking for IT talent with experience in innovative applications like Microsoft Azure, or languages like Kotlin that are quickly gaining traction, it can be challenging to find the right people since the pool of experienced talent is small. Rapidly developing technologies and evolving coding languages make it hard for even the best tech professionals to keep up. Thankfully, many highly capable IT pros are ready and able to learn the skills you want if given the opportunity.

Look for a professional with a history of picking up new skills. Someone who can learn new coding languages or become an expert in new platforms quickly will likely be able to repeat that success. A motivated, organized problem solver will develop skills through training and become a valuable member of your team. Asking candidates about previous challenges they have overcome and how they approach learning opportunities can help you gauge how quickly they can acquire the abilities you’re seeking.

Offer Training and Development Opportunities for IT Talent

What better way to overcome the IT talent shortage than creating your own talent? Offering training and development opportunities  (2018) is a great way to attract top talent and is critical for recruiting people with the skills your company needs.

A recent report found that most companies tend to use 4 different coding languages. These languages include Javascript (69.7%), HTML/CSS (62.4%), SQL (56.9%) and Python (41.6%). If your company does not use the same languages, can you realistically expect every potential hire to know the four specific languages? Probably not. Hire a pro who knows these programming languages and train them on the rest.

In time, the IT talent you hire may become some of your best team members because they’ve already demonstrated their ability to adapt and learn. Instead of focusing on what each candidate lacks, focus on their skills and train them to grow into the role you are hiring for.

Engage and Retain Your IT Talent and Consultants

It is a massive expense to replace employees who leave. The cost of employee turnover is staggering in terms of lost profits and productivity. Engagement is key to reducing turnover – keeping employees and consultants happy and loyal to your organization.

Currently, 85% of employees worldwide are not engaged or are actively disengaged at work. These people are far more likely to search for other positions and leave you a vacancy. With today’s IT talent shortage, it is thus imperative that organizations engage the highly skilled tech talent they want to retain.

Employee engagement comes in many forms, but the cornerstone is making employees and consultants feel valued. Employee engagement can include providing flexible work arrangements and perks like happy hours, but the most important factors are listening to employee feedback and planning for the future.

Working with employees on a career path and helping them progress makes those professionals feel like they’re moving forward. For consultants, this discussion requires planning for their next role and their long-term course, collaborating to find how and where they can be assets to the company.

Understand the Cost of IT Talent

When did you last assess your compensation structure? According to a Dice report, the average tech salary has increased 6.9% between 2020 and 2021. Clearly, this creates an even more competitive hiring environment. As the tech field evolves, market pay will naturally rise. Tech pros with in-demand skills are often receiving multiple job offers, which makes competitive pay a necessity to get top professionals on board.

Research the position’s local market pay as you build the job description for your next open role. Using tools like Payscale, Salary.com, or Benchmark IT’s 2022 Technology Salary & Hiring Guide can help you understand what new employees will expect to be offered. When you’re looking for IT talent with rare or popular skillsets, your company should expect to pay a salary at or above the market rate.

This is also necessary for seasoned employees. If the market rates for their positions have significantly risen since they joined your organization, but their salaries have not kept up, your company’s employees may start job hunting. Staying current with the market’s costs will help you retain the strong professionals you already employ.

Work with a Staffing Partner

A good partner is intimately familiar with the challenges of the IT talent shortage. They should know what talent will cost, which skills are transferrable, and how to assess each candidate’s potential. Furthermore, your staffing partner should already have a robust network of connections to locate candidates that are the best fit for your organization.

A true staffing partner is more than just a resource. Partnering with a staffing organization like Benchmark IT that understands the industry and the IT talent shortage will help you maintain a competitive advantage to locate the top technology professionals you need. Staffing partners will help you save time and will allow you to hire fully-vetted IT professionals who have the technical skills necessary to ramp up quickly and fit seamlessly into your company’s culture.

Overcome the IT Talent Shortage

The tech industry’s booming growth is creating a wealth of opportunities for candidates but a challenge for employers looking to keep their IT teams fully staffed. To overcome the current IT talent shortage, organizations must employ alternative hiring strategies and focus on retaining the strong IT professionals you already have.

Are you struggling to find the right IT talent? Find out how Benchmark IT can help fill your team.

About Benchmark IT –Technology Talent

Benchmark IT offers technology consulting, executive search, and direct hire recruitment and staffing services. We service a wide range of clients and industries throughout the metro New York area and beyond. Our proprietary recruitment process and dedication to precision, ethics, and personalized service, set us apart from other recruiting firms. As a result, Benchmark IT has become a trusted partner among Fortune-ranked companies, mid-market, start-up, and growth-phase firms since 2007. For additional information, visit www.bmarkits.com.

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