Consider these statistics:
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT jobs grew at a rate faster than for other occupations, even through the recession.
- Likewise, according to the TechServe Alliance IT Index, IT employment hit an all-time high of 4,107,700 jobs in January 2012 and has hit successive all-times highs in all subsequent months but one.
- In addition, according to a Dice.com survey in June, 73% of IT recruiters and hiring managers expected to hire more IT staff in 2012 – an 8% increase from the beginning of the year.
So what does all this mean for you?
That recruiting IT talent just got a whole lot harder.
As one of the leading IT staffing firms in Overland Park, Morgan Hunter knows that the talent pool simply isn’t growing fast enough, and, as a result, competition for the top IT professionals will be as fierce as ever in 2013.
So what can you do to strengthen your recruiting and hiring strategy, so you bring aboard the IT people you need? Here are some ideas to consider:
Idea #1: Pay more for in-demand skills.
It’s all about supply and demand. And if a particular skill set is in high demand, then be prepared to pay more for it. Just because our economy isn’t exactly humming along, doesn’t mean that your competition isn’t going to pay top rate for a superstar mobile app developer.
Idea #2: Don’t treat recruiting as an afterthought.
In the fast-paced business world, hiring managers can sometimes be reactive instead of proactive when it comes to hiring. But this puts you in a position of desperation. So instead, make sure you have the internal resources and strategies in place that enable you to treat hiring as an ongoing process throughout the year…not as an “as-needed” one.
Idea #3: Pick up the pace.
We see it all the time. Great companies losing out on top talent because their hiring process is simply too slow. They want to schedule rounds of interviews and spend weeks assessing each candidate, one by one. But when it comes to hiring IT talent, they typically have multiple job offers within a short amount of time…which means if you don’t speed up your hiring process, you’ll lose out.
That said, don’t skip important components of the hiring process, like skills testing, just to hire faster. Use assessments, such as programmer aptitude tests, to help you efficiently and effectively identify the right talent.
Idea #4: Get creative.
IT professionals receive countless blind emails and inquiries from recruiters interested in hiring them. Most of them end up in email heaven. Instead, do something to stand out.
And if you’re ready to outsource the process to IT staffing experts, give Morgan Hunter a call.
As one of the leading IT staffing firms in Overland Park, our Information Technology Division specializes in recruiting technology professionals, ranging from Chief Information Officers to Desktop Support. All candidates are rigorously screened by our consultants to ensure their technical compatibility, and to identify the personality traits which allow them to blend smoothly into your organization.