The State of the Tech Job Market

Attracting and hiring skilled workers that will help your company grow is about more than just posting on a job site about your open position.

You'll get better results when you know the landscape -- what matters to top tech talent, the biggest hiring challenges, and what's coming next in the tech sector-- and can improve your talent acquisition process to find the perfect candidate for your position.

That's why Modis surveyed 500 IT decision makers responsible for hiring in their organizations. In this post we'll share some of their insights as well as some of the key findings that will help you understand what to expect at the negotiating table.

This post also includes:

• Emerging trends
• Statistics
• Survey results

So, if you want to learn about tech job trends, you'll love this new blog post and infographic.

But first...let's take a quick look at the tech industry landscape.

A Quick IT Industry Overview

As you know, the tech sector is booming.

Experts predict a 12% growth in tech employment by 2028 --resulting in 546,200 new tech jobs -- that's double the 6% projected growth in all other industries.

The IT industry is a leading source of employment. According to The Brookings Institution's Trends in the Information Technology Sector report, the IT-related industry will be among the top five fastest-growing industries over the next decade.

Emerging technologies like AI, IoT, and blockchain will continue to drive growth and hiring in the IT industry.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, some of the fastest-growing and trending tech jobs right now include:

• Information Security Analysts
• Operations Research Analysts
• Software Developers, Systems Software
• Computer & Information Research Scientists
• Web Developers
• Computer & Information Systems Managers
• Computer Network Support Specialists
• Computer User Support Specialists
• Database Administrators
• Industrial Engineers

As we approach a new decade, the demand for this tech talent will continue to rise as well as the competition for the top candidates. BLS projections show more than half a million new IT jobs will be created by 2026. As the US is the largest tech market in the world, companies looking to land top tech hires must realize they're playing in the “big leagues" and need to bring their “A" game if they want to win.

Let's take a look at the state of tech.

Why is Compensation and Benefits Important?

Why is compensation and benefits important?

Skilled professionals have many resources for finding their next tech job opportunity.

That's why compensation and benefits are such an important part of recruitment and retention. Because for every candidate that has a burning desire to use technology to save lives or improve living conditions, just as many candidates just want to get paid what they're worth.

Our research found that 26.4% of IT decision makers said salary is “extremely important" for attracting and retaining top talent and 63% said that tech workers are more concerned with salary and total compensation than the stability and longevity of the company.

So, if you're wondering why compensation and benefits remain the most important component of attracting and retaining talent within the tech sector, you should know that the best paying tech jobs have an advantage in recruitment over lower paying jobs.

Consider a company looking for an A.I. specialist. According to the New York Times, “A.I. specialists, including both Ph.D.s fresh out of school and people with less education and just a few years of experience, can be paid from $300,000 to $500,000 a year or more in salary and company stock."

Why would an employer pay a recent graduate that kind of salary? One reason is that every company needs tech professionals. When you combine that fact with a shortage of talent and big companies trying to hire as much of the available talent as they can you get a competitive hiring market that requires an effective talent acquisition process.

Challenges in Hiring Employees

The IT decision makers we spoke with expressed concern over some recruitment challenges. They struggle to find candidates who possess all of the skills required to be a good fit for the position.

One of the common challenges in hiring employees includes struggling with diversity around age, gender, and ethnicity. Other challenges in hiring include a skills shortage. Employers reported that the hardest skills to find are:

• teamwork & interpersonal skills (31%)
• security and infrastructure (22%)
• project management (21%)

Sometimes, salary isn't the reason a promising candidate will pass on a job opportunity.

• A recent study by Textio, an augmented writing platform, examined the performance of 75 benefits in more than 300 million job posts to determine which perks attract IT job seekers and speed up hiring time. The results indicate IT candidates prefer traditional benefits along with flexibility and work-life-balance benefits.
• Another survey from The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) found health insurance is the most important non-salary benefit, with 91% of respondents giving it top priority. 88% of respondents reported incentive compensation, like bonuses as being essential to their hiring and retention efforts.
• Dice.com research shows tech pros consider the ability to work at home more important that increased compensation with 63% of respondents saying they'd take a pay cut of between 10%-21% of their salary to be able to work from home some of the time.

So, don't underestimate the power of leave, insurance and financial incentives when recruiting tech talent.

Artificial Intelligence and Future Jobs

Now that we've looked at the current state of the tech industry, let's take a look at the future and where the tech sector is headed.

One hot topic of conversation is the artificial intelligence impact on jobs. It seems like everyone wants to know how artificial intelligence and future jobs will interact. There is no need to worry about artificial intelligence job loss. Although AI will help companies do more with fewer people, new jobs will be created around AI, data sciences, coding, and IoT.

Here's an example of artificial intelligence and its impact on the tech sector. We are already seeing many companies transition from computer support specialists handling routine inquiries to using automated bots and software to answer FAQs and customer support questions.

As you can see, there are a lot of exciting developments in the tech sector. Check out the infographic below to learn even more about hiring and retaining the best IT talent.

If you're looking for your next tech hire, Modis can help connect you find your perfect candidate.