With the ever-changing technology industry experiencing serious talent shortages here in the US, tech recruiters are often forced to compete for top candidates.
That means if you want to perform as a recruiter and bring in the big bucks, you’re going to need to keep your skills sharp and stay on top of industry trends.
The recent pandemic may have cooled the American economy, to say the least, but the tech industry remains a competitive hiring environment for recruiters and employers alike.
With that in mind, follow along as we go through some top tech hiring trends the whole industry is watching, so you can stay informed and make 2020 your best tech hiring year yet.
2020 Tech Hiring Trends
Security First
Back in December 2016, Yahoo announced that the data of over 1 billion of its users had been hacked by what they believed to be a group of ‘state-sponsored actors.’
A year later, after taking unprecedented losses, the company was forced to revise its original figures and reveal that some 3 billion users’ data had been stolen between 2013 and 2014.
That made Yahoo’s data breach the largest and most costly in history, but it certainly wasn’t a unique event. The tech industry has been under attack of late—and things aren’t getting better anytime soon.
That’s one of the main reasons why, according to the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies, the demand for cybersecurity jobs is an incredible 12 times greater than the demand for the average American job.
Even in our current turbulent economic times, there are over 500,000 cybersecurity jobs waiting to be filled across the nation, according to data from CyberSeek.
Obviously, this impressive growth in the cybersecurity space means if you’re a tech recruiter, cybersecurity should be at the top of your list for 2020 hiring.
A Mobile World
It’s no secret we live in a mobile world. From social media to video conferencing, it can all be done on the phone these days—and tech recruiters need to adapt.
The fact is over 90% of job seekers use their mobile devices to look for their next job.
No matter the industry, mobile devices are taking over, and there are a number of tech trends in 2020 that are set to help that takeover continue.
The 5G Revolution and the Internet of Things (IoT)
First and foremost, there’s 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT).
5G and the IoT will be a wonder for recruiters looking to improve their mobile recruiting game. In the short term. 5G’s decreased latency will enable quicker, better video interviews, and an improved recruiter-candidate connection.
While in the long term, 5G is set to create a whole new landscape of jobs in the tech industry. Most notably from the birth of the IoT industry, which is expected to reach a global value of $14.2 trillion by 2030.
One of the best examples of the changes that 5G will create is remote work. Eric Hanson, vice president of market intelligence at Fuze, a global cloud communications, and collaboration software platform, describes the value of 5G in an article he wrote for TechRadar.com last year saying:
“Organizations can now look to hire the best worker—regardless of where they are based—instead of the worker that is based in their headquarters’ city or trying to drive top talent towards urban areas.”
From remote work brought on by 5G to the boom of new tech jobs set to come from the IoT, tech recruiters need to be paying attention to our new mobile world—to say the least.
Social Recruiting
If you aren’t actively recruiting through social media channels in 2020, you’re behind the ball. The fact is some 73 % of the global workforce is made up of passive talent who aren’t actively searching for employment. And 87 % of active and passive candidates are open to new job opportunities.
All of these passive but willing candidates are leading recruiters to be more proactive in order to find the right talent. Social recruiting can be a great advantage for tech recruiters to help do this, but it can also hurt demand for their services. In fact, according to data from Linkedin, the number one way people are hired in the tech industry is through a referral.
Social recruiting and referrals make a lot of sense for employers. They help build team cohesion and reduce the average cost to hire, but they also force out tech recruiters. Social recruiting is really the double-edged sword of tech hiring trends for recruiters.
An Automated, Intelligent Future
In 2020, we sit at the beginning of the rise of automated intelligence (AI). If you’re a tech recruiter, you already know some of the highest paying, most sought after positions in all of the tech industry are in AI.
When the CTO of industry platforms at IBM is saying AI researchers, “are getting paid the salaries of NFL quarterbacks,” everyone should be paying attention.
The rise of AI is set to bring the tech industry more than just new jobs and enormous salaries, however. AI will also bring a whole new set of tools for tech industry recruiters that will make life much easier.
For example, on average, a corporate job post receives around 250 resumes. That’s a lot to sort through for recruiters.
Thankfully, these days the right AI tools can do the dirty work for you, weeding out candidates who aren’t a match. That makes a demonstrated knowledge of AI one of the most in-demand skills not only in the tech industry but in the recruiting industry as well.
Recruiting Works
Recently KPMG, in partnership with an IT outsourcer, released its annual CIO Survey, and the numbers were startling.
An incredible 65% of American CIOs said that hiring challenges are hurting the tech industry. Clearly, tech recruiters have their work cut out for them. The shortage of qualified, STEM trained talent in a growing industry means recruiters need to be more proactive than ever before.
Still, some new data from Linkedin should give tech recruiters hope. A whopping 89% of talent says being contacted by a recruiter can make them accept a job offer. That’s some serious value tech recruiters can bring to the industry.
The fact is recruiting works. When tech companies hire the right, knowledgeable recruiting team that knows how to recruit in tech—it really makes all the difference.