Tech Hiring Insider – Q1 2023

I’m regularly invited to attend webinars hosted by some of the biggest global names in the talent attraction business and this week I joined two presentations hosted by Linkedin and CWJobs who as part of Stepstone Group are owned by one of the worlds largest e-recruitment businesses.

Both organisations have a huge reach and user base so I’m always interested to hear the outcomes of their research as it helps us both devise strategies for accessing the talent and ensure we are giving accurate up to the minute advice to clients on how to position their roles and the likely hurdles they will need to overcome when hiring.

Across both webinars there was a lot of information, some of which I’d classify as absolutely must know for hirers. The Linkedin report “The Future of Recruiting 2023” is a global report based on interviews with global talent leaders, surveys of thousands of recruiting professionals and candidates, and analysis of millions of data points generated on LinkedIn. They break the report down by region and whilst it isn’t necessarily tech specific it is based on professional hiring so many of the lessons apply across sectors. The key Linkedin UK takeaways were:

The CW/Total jobs presentation went into some more granular details that validated much of our experience and definitely worth sharing:

• Tech workers are approached for a new role on average 3.61 times a month
• The average tech workers salary has increased 27% in the last 12 months
• Salary is still the number one attention grabber for potential candidates, with men and women equally money driven (46% each)
• It takes about 6.5 weeks to fill a position in the IT and telecommunication sector, up from 4.8 in 2019
• The top response from employers to addressing hard-to-fill vacancies has been to upskill existing staff (47%), followed by raising pay (43%) and increasing the duties of existing staff (36%)
• More than 2 million tech vacancies were advertised over the last year
• 56% of digital leaders are expecting their technology headcounts to rise in 2023, and over half (52%) expect their technology budget to increase

Both Linkedin and CW offered the following actionable advice:

• Assess current needs – review what skills employees have and whether this reflects what the company now needs.
• Stand out against the competition – showcase the things that matter most to employees, including salary, benefits, and progression opportunities.
• Re-think the recruitment process – aim to offer fast track applications for the most suitable candidates.
• Balance hiring entry-level and experienced talent – new talent gives experienced workers more space to upskill, and experienced workers provide young hires with new insights and expertise.
• Build a more diverse and inclusive tech team – diverse tech teams offer different cultural perspectives and can inspire creativity and drive innovation.
• Select hiring partners based on effectiveness above cost

All reasonable points to consider and as you may imagine I’m in particular agreement with the last one.

If you’d like to discuss any specific hiring needs which are holding your organisation back from achieving your goals then please get in touch, we will have the solution.

Andy