The job market for highly trained tech workers is being upended as endless layoffs hit the industry giants and AI erodes entry-level hiring in the sector. It’s not unreasonable, then, to think this means recruiters looking for tech-savvy talent are finding it easy to recruit people with the skills they want from a much larger applicant pool.
Surprisingly, that appears not to be the case. A new report suggests that finding qualified technical talent remains tough, and may even be getting harder.
Human resource consultants McLean & Co. looked into hiring tech workers, and found a large number of employers are finding their recruiting efforts difficult. Fully three in four employers surveyed by the firm reported significant challenges. This is important because McLean’s data show that 71 percent of C-suite executives are actively trying to hire workers to close up skills gaps in their companies.
Another wrinkle McLean found is that over the next five years, the core skills that recruiters seek out are expected to shift dramatically, meaning that matching available talent to the skills companies need may get even trickier.
McLean’s HR advisory leader Adrian Shackelford explained that all of these issues add to common recruitment mistakes like publishing unclear job requirements and inconsistent candidate screening. This makes the tech talent hiring problem “both persistent and increasingly complex,” news site HRDive noted. Essentially the “technology landscape continues to advance faster than talent can keep up, widening long‑standing skills gaps,” Shackelford wrote.
HRDive also quotes Bryce Murray, principal at Oklahoma-based HR services company HoganTaylor Talent, on another issue. Murray explains that one of the key places where talented workers used to seek work LinkedIn is no longer well regarded by applicants. Talented workers are quitting the platform because they’re being pestered by recruiters.
Murray said he also worries about the degree to which HR workers in charge of hiring tech talent often aren’t educated in the field. “Because you’re not an engineer yourself, it’s just more difficult because you don’t know how to articulate what you’re looking for,” Murray worries, making it harder for recruiters to actually check that a job seeker’s skills are verifiable and aligned with the needs of the job.
