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Tech skills shortage sparks changes in recruitment styles

Tech skills shortage sparks changes in recruitment styles

Competition leading to accelerated employment process, says recruitment firm Hays

Fierce competition for talented technology professionals means firms are changing their recruitment practices, says specialist recruiting group Hays.

Not only are companies casting their nets further afield, to other states and overseas, they are also shortening the period of time between posting vacancies and employing candidates.

“With demand high for top talent, employers are now extending their search methods to interstate and overseas. Most are also shortening the length of the recruitment process to avoid losing a strong jobseeker to a competitor,” says Adam Shapley, senior regional director for Hays Information Technology.

The skills shortage is also leading employers to adopt ‘round-robin’ interview processes – more commonly used in the US – where candidates are interviewed, tested and offered the role on the same day.

“Those employers who instead continue to take their time during the selection process, find the candidate they should have offered a week earlier has accepted a job from another employer,” Shapley added.

Forecasting trends for the coming quarter, Hays said there would continue to be strong demand for staff with a range of digital skills, with a slight preference towards permanent recruitment, “particularly in large organisations that want to retain IP and build a strong culture”.

Despite the government updating the list of jobs covered by its new four and two year visa categories following an industry backlash, the uncertainty was still having an effect on recruitment, Hays said.

This was leading many organisations to put a bigger focus on nurturing local talent and upskilling existing workforces.

Demand hotspots

UI/UX designers and front end developers remain in high demand, according to the Hays Quarterly Report for the July to September quarter, released today.

Those with JavaScript and modern libraries expertise were also highly sought after for permanent and contract roles, with Angular and more recently React/Redux being adopted by employers.

Full stack Java developers with commercial experience in AngularJS and NodeJS are in demand too.

“We are also seeing significant, increasing demand across the market for ReactJS developers who can offer more proficiency and versatility across a broader skill set. This is in response to the continued demand for a better customer experience and the ability to make web applications fast, simple and scalable,” Shapley said.

Hays’ analysis found developers were increasingly expected to cover the full stack, with .NET developers in especially high demand. Larger organisations have been requesting Android Developers more than iOS specialists, Hays found.

“It is very much a candidate market at present, which means jobseekers can request a higher salary – particularly since developers often receive multiple job offers,” Shapley added.

Automation testing is a skill in rising demand, which is reducing the need for manual testers. Many organisations are outsourcing manual testing overseas, Hays said, reducing their manual headcount once an automation framework is in place.

Candidates with experience in container technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes are also highly sought since they are popular tools for many DevOps engineering teams.

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Tags recruitmentskills shortagehays information technologyHaysstaff457 visaskills crisis

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