20 years ago, the internet bubble burst and brought us into a new era. Little by little, our entire daily life has been invaded by new technologies. The road map becomes a GPS, recipes a Youtube video, newspapers a smartphone application and books a tablet. With these digital advances, other profound changes have also occurred, especially in the labor market. Indeed, the arrival of these technologies has made a certain number of industries and/or professions obsolete, and has given birth to many others. From now on, jobs are created and reinvented at full speed. It is estimated that 50% of the workforce will see the nature of their current job change and become digital. One of the consequences of these profound changes in the IT recruitment market is the shortage of IT profiles in the current market.
Characteristics of the IT job market
There is an imbalance between supply and demand in the IT job market. The demand exploded when the supply was not equivalent; as a result, the level of salaries for these professions rose very quickly in order to attract candidates.
Gradually, the training offer has become more structured, and schools have developed their courses to provide the market with the resources it needs. Thus, computer science schools, universities and engineering schools offer 742 degrees in the computer science field with new specialties every year. But these post-baccalaureate courses are not enough to fill the vacancies, which is why some schools go so far as to offer developer training courses to young enthusiasts without a diploma, in order to meet corporate demand.
The digital sector is one of the biggest recruiters in France, with over 35,000 new hires every year. These positions are filled in digital companies, but also in more traditional companies to ensure their digitalization.
The most under-represented profiles in the digital sector are web developers, who have topped the podium for almost 10 years. The Big Data and IT security professions are close behind.
Highly connected and mobile, IT profiles are therefore among the most sought-after. Recruiting them means deploying a real seduction campaign.
Which levers to use for IT recruitment?
A few levers are proving effective in IT recruitment, whatever the size of the company:
- Good hiring conditions: 94% of vacancies are open-ended, and 69% are management positions
- Attractive salaries, although the current health crisis is likely to change this trend.
- Non-payroll benefits: advantageous health insurance, contribution to childcare costs, reimbursement of transport costs in excess of legal requirements
- Disruptive recruitment processes: in the form of games (hackathons, video game recruitment); relaxed, informal communication with the candidate (personal contact, SMS exchanges with the recruiter, etc.).
- A direct approach: recruitment via social networks, trade fairs and other events; direct, personalized sourcing (which is more effective than the traditional recruitment approach in this sector).
- Local management: listening, responsiveness and proximity to top management
A good internal atmosphere, with regular events to meet and exchange ideas with colleagues.
The “Start Up” spirit of companies to attract candidates for IT positions
Small web companies often adopt a “start-up spirit” approach to recruiting IT profiles. Thus, even if the size of the company and the maturation of the products do not quite correspond to the criteria of a start-up, these companies keep the spirit and offer their employees a dynamic and playful work environment. It is therefore not uncommon to attend Nerf battles, foosball games, weekly afterworks and video game breaks within these structures. Flexibility is also a very important lever in small companies. They can offer employees part-time contracts or telecommuting opportunities. These small structures play a lot on the human aspect and approach the projects as real adventures to be lived in team
Large companies rely on mobility and professional development for their IT recruitment
Large companies are more governed by procedures and standards that cannot be as flexible as a start-up. They rely heavily on the mobility and professional development they can provide to their employees, unlike smaller companies. They offer long-term career development and the opportunity to work on other technologies and projects, other computer languages and other IT professions. Their HR budgets are also more substantial and allow for the implementation of very advantageous work councils.
Depending on budgets, company sizes, but also on values and culture, we can observe different retention strategies for IT profiles. The best strategy would therefore be based on an informed and reasoned combination of several of these levers that take into consideration two fundamental things specific to the IT sector: working conditions and the financial aspect.
At SQORUS, we use a number of levers to attract and retain the best talent.
Fromonboarding to putting strong values into practice, via a career path built with your Manager.
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Your career at SQORUS is more than just a job, it’s an opportunity to grow professionally and personally in an environment where individual development contributes to the growth of the whole.
