Top 8 Hiring Trends in the IT Industry

Introduction

The pandemic changed the way we look at things. It disrupted our lifestyle and impacted every aspect of it. It also changed hiring methodologies and gave rise to tech-savvy HR professionals who incorporate technology and artificial intelligence in hunting for the right candidate. The change impacted the market requirement. 

Recruiting and retaining employees has become a challenge, especially when the pace of hiring is constantly evolving. We are aware of how slowing economies often result in reductions in force, and we are seeing some of those contemplated outcomes become realities.

2022 saw endless layoffs, with tech companies laying off 136,000 people, with 42,000 people losing their jobs in November alone. The impact of US recessionary fears has impacted the tech employment landscape globally and India was not immune to this churn. As most of us are aware, layoffs are still going on, as a result, the unemployment rate in India touched a 16-month high at 8.30 percent in December 2022, according to CMIE. Despite the global trend of layoffs, tech firms in India expect to pick up their hiring in 2023, owing to India’s stable geographical, political, and economic foundation.

With that being said, some of the predictions in the tech hiring indicated that upskilling is the need of the hour for the year 2023, given the emergence of present-day tech assets such as the metaverse and Web 3.0, as well as other emerging technology innovations.

Even amidst these recent hiring shifts and layoff announcements, the tech industry remains highly competitive when it comes to attracting talent. The demand for tech talent has skyrocketed, and hiring has picked up the pace. According to the Indian Staffing Federation (ISF), the Indian IT and IT industry intends to hire 8,00,000-10,00,000 people by the end of 2023. As the volume of hiring is on the rise, we are witnessing a variety of job roles and skills.

Technical proficiency has been vetted as a priority in IT hiring trends more so, than soft skills, as the latter is something that can be acquired with training, but the former is not that easy to learn and implement. Technical skills are a must-have as they form the backbone of software development. 

The tech job market has changed in many ways over the years, and the tech recruitment industry is well aware of the factors driving this shift. Owing to the changing IT needs, Alp has devised better IT hiring trends and optimized services to reduce attrition rates. 

There are two big challenges to overcome in the IT recruitment industry at present. They are-

• Filling skill gaps in the tech industries due to the ongoing skill shortage
• Sourcing technically skilled candidates as most organizations do not have an upskilling program to improve the technical proficiency of their current teams.

Recruiters are employing unique methods and strategies to attract competitive talent to fill these skill shortages in the IT industry. 

Top 8 Hiring Trends in the IT Industry

1. Hiring candidates with specialized technical skills

The software industry is highly competitive, so the need for innovative, futuristic products built with reliable technical skills is imperative. Most IT enterprise managers hire more for technical skills than soft skills. Recruiters are eyeing a more specific pool of candidates for IT hiring, who are well-versed in technical skills than other human skills. 

2. Hire diverse skillsets

Hiring new staff from outside technology fields is on the rise, especially if the prospective hires have experience turning a profit. Seeking candidates with diverse skill sets can prove to be an advantage as employees having a wide variety of skills give the organization ample opportunity to cross-train them with technical skills to meet their talent needs. 

3. Aggressive screening with specialized skill tests

Tech recruiters have begun focussing on screening candidates more through technical assessments than the traditional hiring process. Gauging a candidate’s ability for the role through technical assessment alone may lack objectivity but it gives a picture of their technical proficiency, which, at present, is the need of the hour 

4. Expanding your network and job selection

Innovative thinking around hiring new staff from outside technology is on the rise. In-person networking events need to become more prominent. Recruiters ensure that only skills and value-matched candidates are short-listed followed by the selection by interviewing candidates for both soft and tech skills.

5. Lack of bias

Recruiting talents regardless of their racial background, personality, or oratory skills has proven beneficial especially if hiring for a technical position. Recruiting talents with different backgrounds brings in a diverse culture in the workplace and increases productivity. 

6. Make hybrid work normal

For recruiters, this point works as a hiring incentive as employees have started to seek more and more flexible options. A report published by Forbes magazine showed that about 75% of employees considered changing their jobs because of fewer or no hybrid work policies in place. Offering fully remote positions has worked in favor of many tech organizations as it has allowed them to expand their talent search beyond borders helping them acquire better candidates at competitive costs. 

7. Hiring based on skillsets rather than degrees

Gone are the days when companies would hire based on the degree of the candidate. With the growth in infrastructure, there are a lot of students who do not possess a greater degree but are more upskilled than a higher degree holder. Tech professionals these days are greatly using the power of the internet to undertake educational training courses rather than a university degree to improve their foundations in tech. Companies hire based on the candidate’s technical proficiency and problem-solving skills.

8. Focus on cultural fit

Bigger salaries and dynamic work opportunities do not cut it anymore. There has been an increased interest in benefits such as having strong values, social responsibility, and inclusive work culture among others. Job seekers now vet their hiring managers to make sure they find a good cultural fit with their prospective employers.

All in all, upskilling is both a professional and organizational imperative. For leadership and individuals to jointly own the upskilling of an IT workforce, developing skills and talents cannot be without strategy and planning.

In the current IT job market tech recruiters have to reform their hiring methods and strategies with the changing dynamics of IT needs if they want to be successful at finding the right candidates to fill vacant positions.

Alp, with an industry experience of 26 years, is one of the leading companies in developing and delivering unique personnel solutions that are customized according to the specific operational requirements of organizations. The solutions and services we provide, along with other tailor-made offerings crafted to meet the highly specific requirements of today’s IT requirements.