A major challenge in the tech recruiting process is to generate awareness as an IT employer. Companies need to learn about the wishes and needs of young tech talents and keep up a personal, efficient and consistent communication in their active sourcing process. To ensure this, they need to actively include the specialist departments into the recruiting process and apply to suitable candidates as an attractive IT employer.
Automation and AI accelerate the skill shifts we are now experiencing in the talent market. IT experts are scarce, and companies are in competition for highly skilled candidates. Tech talents must constantly adapt to the variety of topics in IT and the fast-moving trends and increasingly short innovation cycles. The increasing shortage of IT experts in companies is mainly caused by the digitalization of the economy and a shift in demographics. That is putting employers into hard competition for qualified candidates - the war for tech talent.
Generation Y is entering the labor market. They are aware of their good chances in the job market and have high expectations towards their future employer. A secure and well-paid job is not enough, they also want promotions, appreciation for their work and individual perspectives. Companies cannot just rely on their size or name but need to imply innovative strategies and concepts to adapt to the wishes and needs of young IT labor.
The employer market is now an employee market.
Companies that do not adapt to this change will not be able to fill vacancies with qualified talent or not at all. According to a survey of the recruiting platform Softgarden in 2015, many companies do not meet the expectations of the workers and are not looking into changing the current candidate experience processes.¹ Employers need to find new ways to attract young and promising tech talents and actively reach out to them.
Classic job advertisements do not bring the desired outcome anymore.
Job advertisements are often stuffed with empty phrases, meaningless marketing slogans, and excessive requirements. What job candidates actually want is to get a grip on how it is to work in the company and what to expect. Also, statistics show that actively sourced candidates are more than two times as efficient than candidates who apply.
IT specialists do not need to apply for jobs when headhunters are flooding them with offers. The optimisation of the candidate journey is crucial for companies. Long processing and decision-making time and arrogant behaviour towards the applicants at job interviews lead to a rising number of job declines. In 2014 the number of declined job offers reached 50%.²
Established companies are competing against Startups in the race for young tech talents. Startups offer a short and fast application process, creative work atmospheres and enable a steep learning curve. Especially the proactive and motivated makers are attracted by young companies and startups. They prefer to work freestyle and put the pleasures of their work above hierarchies and career. To avoid vacant positions in IT and risk high economical damage, companies need to stand out from the competition, enhance their candidate journey and build up a strong and attractive employer brand.
One platform that is providing a solution to this problem is Get in IT. In our interview with the founder and CEO, Rainer Weckbach explained that he founded the company because he experienced himself, how challenging it is to find qualified tech talent in order to realise planned projects. Observing the changes in the market and having his background in occupational research, he saw the need for a product that helps young IT professionals to make good decisions at the start of their careers.
Get in IT is a job platform providing job offers and relevant information about the IT industry for young professionals. With the help of storytelling, companies can strengthen their employer branding and raise awareness as an interesting IT employer towards their target group. With active sourcing, they can fill vacancies on short notice: The application process is being reversed and employers are applying demand-oriented to promising job candidates. This addresses the ongoing shift in markets and skills towards tech.
Sources:
¹ Rechsteiner, F. (2017). Kulturbasiertes IT-Recruiting: Warum Headhunter für Ihr Unternehmen überflüssig sind. Berlin Heidelberg, Germany: Gabler. S. 16.
² Rechsteiner, F. (2016). Erfolgreiches IT-Recruiting trotz Fachkräftemangel Methoden zur Personalbeschaffung und -bindung. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer Fachmedien. S. 32.