Trends in IT recruiting

The information technology industry is continuously shaping and transforming the other industries in the global economy driven by growth and integration of communications and IT into the society and the economy.  From mobile applications and cloud computing to infrastructure and social media, very few industries have to change their operations more rapidly and few are required to adapt to these changes within the appropriate speed for success. In IT recruiting, may be more than other industries, time factor is very important. Whether top talent in is needed for organizing internal IT or a technology provider is looking for the best in the industry , the recruiters in the  IT recruiters are faced with rapidly changing competitive parameters. The changes are aimed at efficiently and effectively driving the results of any given business. A quick look into the present information technology hiring market shows various major trends that are forming a landscape that is very challenging for the recruiters as well as employers. The aim is to enable leaders deal with significant operational, technical, cost and managerial challenges that they encounter in their endeavors. Intense competition, speed of innovation in products and changing platforms and even business models are forcing the recruiters and employees to consider these trends and adopt strategies that will help in dealing with them.

Findings

Different factors including the economy, change in the behavior of candidates and an upsurge in usage of social media have played a big role in shaping the way recruiters and employers relate with the tech experts and professionals. Various changes have emerged due to the market needs especially of talents and experts needed to assist in dealing with the arising challenges.  The three major trends in IT recruiting includes increasing employment of contingent workforce in form of freelancers and contractors , increasing issues related to mobility of talent tools and  the use of social media in the recruitment process. Modern employers encounter the moment –to-moment fluctuations that arise from market changing market demands which need a quick decision making and even agility in response to market trends (Fraumeni , Manser , Mesenbourg, n.d).  These are mostly seen in smaller organizations than in large firms.  The IT recruiters have to approach freelances so as to assist them in dealing with rapid innovation and change in the economy. The employers have to recruit staff in accordance with their clients including the government recruiters such as Labor Department who may not focus more on long-term employment but on filling the short-term needs or even part-time employees (Gheorghe, 2015). This means that Just-in-Time recruitment is becoming a strategy for employers especially in functions such as marketing where organizations are in need of taking advantage of appropriate time in the market.

 In this regard, there has been development of various tools such as Elance, which is a Silicon Valley based Private Talent Cloud. Such tools make it possible for recruiters to find and bring on board contingent employees to work under specified deadlines. In the current business world, Just-in-Time hiring is surely a major critical strategy that enables effective use of resources to attract and win over top talent while at the same time retain control and visibility at the business level. The recruiters are finding it possible to fill important and gaps that require high skills with freelance employees (Gheorghe, 2015).  The issue of Virtual Reality is being adopted by many recruiters as more work becomes doable virtually. There are various advantages related to continent workforce .Employers who strategically and effectively use contractors normally have a good structure and outline of how the contractors will be used. The recruiters no possess the luxury of recruiting a permanent workforce since employers are rapidly moving to a model that is more contingency-based (Global services & research portfolio (n,d). In this model contractors and freelancers are becoming a good fit with the organizational recruitment strategies.

The emerging talent mobility challenges in the current environment are significantly related to market and economic realities of given segments in any industry. The IT recruitment industry is able to reach out to a wide pool of talents who are need in any particular place or industry, especially in sectors that are continuously expanding.  The challenge of immobility relates to relocation costs and recruiters are embarking on a strategy of looking for candidates whose relocation will not be needed. The IT recruiter have had to act on behalf of employers to communicate and convince the candidates for hire that undertaking assignments outside their homes will be important in optimizing their careers. The recruiters have to adopt some mobility policies so as to recruit external experts and talent who will fill up positions that are not attractive to internal staff.  The various recruitment programs have to be subjected to pressure of cost management and reduced allocation of resources which affect the recruitment of individuals whose relocation is necessary. In this sense, recruiting of different but rare talents become a hard task for the IT recruiters as they try to remain within the employers cost regulations and control.

The increasing use of social media has influenced the way IT recruitment is being done by reshaping the whole industry. In recent years, social media has been a huge and effective tool for carrying out business activities. The tool is revolutionizing how organizations communicate to the market and in this sense, how the staffing industry is recruiting employees for the clients. Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are becoming important tools for the forms recruiting IT specialist and linking them with clients.  Social media is affecting the connection between job seekers and recruiters, how recruiters arrive at their conclusions and the way IT recurring agencies present themselves in the market.  It is allowing the recruiting agencies to reach out to more candidates by expanding their networks since there are no longer geographical limitations (Nikolaou, 2014). The recruiters network and connect with the best IT talents across all places as required by the employers who are their clients.

 Through the media, it is possible to join industry discussions, groups and even forums to have an access to experts and great mind that they can contact directly. The greatest advantage is that the recruiters can easily access passive candidates who are also talented. It is clear to them that passive candidates are mostly better off, but since they are not search for jobs placed on boards or applying to recruiters, connecting with them is quite hard.  However, a social platform such as LinkedIn allows the recruiters to eventually create links with the candidates so as to provide them good opportunities that they cannot afford to overlook. This is for the satisfaction of the clients which in turn builds the reputation of IT recruiters. The platform allows the recruiters to filter the search criteria so as to obtain the potential candidates who will match the skills requirements of the clients (Nikolaou, 2014).  The strategy is more effective than expecting that a person with required skills will apply for apply for a position from a job advert that has been posted online.

 The social media platform is also becoming important for IT recruiters to assess their candidate who use it to open up more about themselves. Obtaining a complete portrayal of prospect employees may not be possible by looking viewing their resume. The platform offers a link to the samples and portfolios, professional qualifications and this is enabling the recruiters to learn a lot about candidates who can fit in the positions at the workplaces of the clients. With many users , the platforms forms a great way in which IT recruiting organizations can enhance their brand awareness and then fain enough exposure. The recruiters are using the platform for market with an aim of brand recognition especially among the small and medium sized organizations that may be restrained by huge cost of using the traditional methods of search for the right IT specialists. The IT recruiters are also increasingly using video contact to facilitate the recruitment process since this allows for higher rates of engagement than any other contents (Nikolaou, 2014). Eventually the social recruiting fulfills the goal of building up the employer brand and getting potential candidates to view the IT opportunities being offered by the employer.

Emerging issue

 An important issue arising in this case is recruitment for contingency workforce.  The consistent fluctuations in market demand for quick decision making process and agility to adapt to emerging trends is making firms, especially small size and medium size to seek freelancers and contractors to perform tasks requiring IT expertise. As such the role of IT recruiting firm ensures is to provide a link between the clients and these specialist to provide their services on temporary basis.  The growth of contingent workforce is becoming more prominent and in the performance of similar service for employers. Employers are seeking provisional workers and this is being enhanced by new online platforms that are becoming more sophisticated in cases where such services are required on part time basis.  The IT recruiting industry is able to provide contingent workers to offer relief in situations that are stressful like replacement of talented individuals whose absence will affect the operations of the firms (Gheorghe, 2015). The rise of the contingent employees becomes very important to recruiters who are able to meet their clients need for reduced costs and filling skill gaps and hence allowing business to become agile and hence, address certain challenges they may encounter. The IT recruiting industry is therefore, able to provide platform where the employer can access the IT expert services at the most convenient moment.

Conclusion

IT recruiting plays an important role in providing the link between the clients and candidates through various platforms. Timing is an important aspect in IT recruiting given that information technology and communication provides is constantly changing and hence the need for top talent to address arising challenges. The various trends that influence this industry include part-time workforce, workforce mobility and social recruiting.

References

Fraumeni ,B., Manser ,M., Mesenbourg, T., (n.d). Government STATISTICS: E-COMMERCE AND THE ELECTRONIC ECONOMY.

 

Global services & research portfolio (n,d). 2017-2018

Gheorghe, M. (2015). State of Freelancing in IT and Future Trends. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, 9(5), 1474-1478.

 

Korsakienė, R., Stankevičienė, A., Šimelytė, A., & Talačkienė, M. (2015). Factors driving turnover and retention of information technology professionals. Journal of business economics and management, 16(1), 1-17.

 

Nikolaou, I. (2014). Social networking web sites in job search and employee recruitment. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 22(2), 179-189.