Hiring for a niche job vacancy
The skills shortage
In the current market, recruitment businesses are experiencing a shortage of skills across software, Data & IT. According to Statista, there are roughly 408,000 Software Developers in the UK, which sounds great on paper, but that’s only 0.6% of the population..
So, if you’re looking to hire within this limited pool of candidates, how can we best support you in your search?
Why?
There are several valid reasons for this. For many years, no major companies in the public eye were doing anything innovative with technology. Although we are all familiar with Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, the tech business had a bad reputation in the 1980s and 1990s, which influenced those who wanted to work in it.
Another issue is that the school system in the United Kingdom has left us with a hangover. For several years, most schools relied solely on computers to take attendance and demonstrate how to use Excel but nothing else. There were hardly any truly interesting challenges to tackle, and there were insufficient professional teachers to spark young people's interest in the topic in the first place.
While there are plenty of other factors, one important contributor was the outsourcing of many IT, development, and data positions to other countries. There is no supply and very little demand, creating a perfect storm.
How do we recruit now?
In the next years, we'll see an influx of graduate and junior-level applicants, which should help to alleviate the skills shortfall in the long run. However, you now have a vacancy in the team, so how can we recruit people?
There are three relatively simple things you may do to improve the appeal of your opportunity:
Salary
Paying a higher salary than the market rate will always attract more candidates. No one works for free, and while money does not make you happy, it does make things easier! In most circumstances, however, we do not advocate this. We'll tell you the average salary for the skillsets you're looking for, but there are better and more long-term ways of attracting qualified candidates.
Location
You'll have a hard time finding people if they have to be in the office five days a week. Working from home is a big topic right now! We all know it works because fresh graduates and experienced hires have worked remotely for at least 1-2 years. You'll be held back if you're hesitant to include remote working into your own business concepts.
Skillsets
If you're having trouble making the job remote and don't want to raise your salary, check into where you can get training. You'll have employees who are already using a programming language, a method of working, or a set of tools in the company. Examine your present team to see if someone is willing to transition from a setup to a lead/mentor role. This broadens your search to include more junior applicants and enables you to advance an existing team member, boosting retention.
We're here to help you with recruitment strategy, talent mapping, and best practises for finding the right individuals for your company. There is no such thing as a "one-size-fits-all" strategy to filling vacancies, and we take pleasure in our flexibility and openness with both clients and candidates.
