The IT sector is evolving at a rapid pace with the advent of cutting-edge technologies. Hence, there is a need for young and dynamic talent, says Abhishek Agarwal

The IT sector is evolving at a rapid pace with the advent of cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet-of-Things and Blockchain. Such technologies have automated countless business operations transforming the traditional business landscape into modern. IT companies now realising the need for educated, dynamic, and young IT talents who can get the firm hold of every nut and bolt of industry requirements and accordingly cater to them.

For businesses, acquisition of new clients epitomises the need for ingenious recruitment. As the client base expands with one step, the urge for talent recruitment doubles up to pacify the business growth. However, IT staffing trends are also changing, making it important for both companies and job seekers to stay aligned with. Companies no longer intend to entertain the long-term employees who are unable to upgrade their skill sets in the volatile environment. What skills and expertise an employee possesses might become outdated with ultra-modern developments. This has given rise to increasing demand for contract-based jobs.

Social Networking

Over the years, it has been observed that a majority of the businesses rely on their existing clients and employees for revenue generation. As tapping on potential job seekers and expanding the client base is a tough job, businesses prioritise it less in their business growth strategy. Instead, they choose to train the existing employees for advanced roles regardless of the investments it would call for.

Ideally, SMBs and MSMEs must focus on recruiting the skilled candidates capable of managing the innovative projects, expanding the client base and eventually boosting the business growth. For this, they must work hard on brand-building and promotion to ensure the greater visibility for both clients and the job-seekers in the niche market. Social media and professional platforms are proven effective tools for brand management and market the vacancies. Extensive networking is the trend in IT staffing industry.

Flexible Staffing

Many firms juggle with recruiting and terminating the full-time employees. Recruiting full-time employees is, no doubt, expensive for every organisation. But, the expenses are truly paid off when the new talent (full-time or temporary) leads the business innovation and uplifts the growth of the company. Since the world runs on uncertainty and ideating before which employee would be a misfit is impractical, the staffing companies are embracing flexible-staffing model with open hands. Flexible staffing enables the organisations to hire the candidates on the basis of workload and projects. It saves the company both time and costs of initiating the recruitment process.

Passive candidates

The best of IT talents are employed in the industry. While there are innumerable employed people who are satisfied with their jobs, the majority of them would not miss the new and profitable opportunities. Such candidates are called passive candidates who may not be actively searching for new avenues, but if sought after, can avail the offer. Hiring passive candidates with exciting compensation packages encourages them to work more dedicatedly. Unluckily, the thriving IT firms lack sufficient time to skim through the pool of talent and spot the passive candidates. However, passive staffing is becoming the first choice for many businesses as the experienced job seekers need lesser time and efforts to get trained while working with a new firm.

Challenges

Lack of skilled and loyal candidates: One of the biggest challenges that IT industry faces is the inadequate staffing and disloyalty of skilled resources. A lot of times, despite hiring more and more resources the output produced are disappointing for the companies. The ones who are not fit for the job role in terms of skills and expertise are kicked off by the companies themselves. Those who are accomplished in work are often found unable to stick to the company Disloyalty of skilled workforce often become the primary reasons for companies hiring again and again for the same job positions.

Employee retention strategies: A CareerBuilder study and Sologig.com study highlighted the fact that nearly 34% of the total hiring firms are concerned with small team size and retention of existing employees. They fear of being used as a stepping stone by the existing employees to grab the better career opportunities. This not only reduces the team size but also disrupts work. Thus, companies must devise actionable and effective employee retention strategies.

Changing role of HR as a marketer: The upshots of rising social media popularity, IT companies are creating a competitive environment to get hands on the tech-savvy candidates. Instead of posting jobs on portals, recruiters have to master marketing and advertising skills to lure the qualified and experienced candidates. They should know how to reach the target candidates.

Standing distinct and high in the market: Long past the days when recruiters used to have a myriad of candidates CVs and they had to choose one from many. Now, the privilege has been shifted to well-informed candidates. Being young, talented and experienced, the candidates have excellent job offers in hand. Calling it a candidate-driven market, companies must strive to emerge as the distinctive firm where the candidates will want to work. For this, HR teams must focus on work culture, work space and the workload.

The IT industry holds uncountable opportunities for both job seekers and the staffing firms. The expectations, expertise, and experience that both parties require should match suitably for mutual growth. Where companies should identify and hire the potential candidates, the candidates should also stay loyal to the company by being a good resource. Companies should come up with retaining strategies by creating a cordial work environment, whereas, employees should focus and contribute significantly to the companies’ growth.

The writer is senior vice-president global professional services firm Judge Group