What's whipping up the tech recruitment 'perfect storm'?
Rhona Carmichael, Managing Director of recruitment firm Harvey Nash, explains why organisations of every type are struggling to fill technology vacancies, and why salaries are shooting up
The current tech recruitment crisis, also being experienced across other industries, is the result of a ‘perfect storm' of factors created in part by the Coronavirus pandemic.
That's the opinion of Rhona Carmichael, MD of recruitment firm Harvey Nash, speaking to Computing recently.
"I've worked in tech recruitment most of my career," began Carmichael. "The rewards for tech talent is at an all time high, which is creating a perfect storm. All businesses have had to reassess their operating models and pivot to survive the pandemic.
"That means it's not just tech companies competing for IT candidates, now all industries are looking for a share of that talent. We've seen more change in the workplace off the back of the pandemic since the industrial revolution."
The trend was confirmed recently when Computing spoke to Sainsbury's group CIO Phil Jordan, who explained that his organisation was recruiting as fast as possible just to stand still, with 20% of IT roles permanently vacant.
But this is only part of the story, Carmichael went on. The other part is around a change in workers' attitudes.
"People have reassessed what they want out of life and work," she stated. "It's a real watershed moment in recruitment. Candidates now expect to tailor and personalise the employee experience. It's no longer just about salary or the company name, it's about culture, flexibility and wellbeing."
She explained that employees expect to be treated better than they have in the past, and that the balance of power has shifted, forcing firms to rise to these expectations.
To sit alongside these issues, salary expectations have also risen significantly, and firms are struggling to understand market value as it's changing so rapidly.
"Even well-meaning employers who like to think they pay in the top quartiles find themselves in a reactive situation with resignations. Any company can find that a top employee has suddenly been offered a significantly higher salary elsewhere even though the company thought it was paying the right amount.
"Wage inflation has been crazy over the last 12-18 months. Companies can't keep pace, not through lack of trying but through lack of data."
Whilst many individuals and organisations have benefited from the remote working trend, with workers no longer always expected to live within easy reach of the office, some companies have lost out.
"In certain areas employers are seeing new challenges because of remote working. Previously you might have had a fairly captive pool on employees in some regions, but you're now competing with organisations in London, or even right across Europe."
Carmichael continued: "That contributes to the democratisation across UK for salaries. We used to see a difference in a London salary, now that's been hugely eroded."