With the massive impact of technology on business in recent years, IT experts, especially in certain hot areas, are becoming more in demand. As a result, IT departments and software companies in the UKand the US find that they have to work harder to attract and retain valuable talent. Read on to see just what’s happening.

It’s a Developer’s World

After years of recession, home-grown IT talent is on the rise in Western countries, CIO.com reports. A recent survey by Dice.com revealed that, while 70 percent of tech recruiters were expanding their job openings in late 2014, 32 percent admitted that their offers were being rejected. The majority of those respondents also reported a rising standard of salary expectations on behalf of the candidates, due to which a number of positions remained unfilled.

According to an MRINetwork research that gauged attitudes on the supply side of the tech job market, 42 percent of IT professionals have recently turned down job offers. 31 percent said it was due to having received a better offer, while another 26 percent cited an unsatisfactory salary or benefits package as the deal-breaker.

Earlier, software companies in the UK and the US were able to cherry-pick the best talent from an oversupply of tech professionals, but now the balance is tilting in the opposite direction. With new opportunities becoming abundant, developers don’t think twice about quitting jobs they find unfulfilling. “In March and April of 2014, the number of people resigning voluntarily has increased, and is now above the 10-year average”, says Dice.com president Shravan Goli. He warns: employers that aren’t willing to adapt to these new conditions are likely to suffer heavy losses in the IT talent war.

Better Pay Is Not Everything

Front-end developers and big data experts are among those most wanted, according to Goli. He believes the surge in demand for such professionals is more than a temporary hype; it’s likely to last as companies in all sectors scramble for competitive edge in an increasingly digital economy.

Although money talks in the shifting tech job market, it doesn’t always have the last word. For one thing, more and more businesses are resorting to various benefits and perks, from sign-on bonuses through equity incentives to car lease contributions, to amp up their job offers. That’s because recruiters bound by budget limitations are hard pressed to find alternative ways of attracting elite IT talent. According to Dice.com, the number of companies offering such benefit packages rose from around 50 percent of those surveyed before 2010 to about 90 percent this year.

On the other hand, Goli points out, “The money and the perks are only a temporary fix in the talent war”. Beyond recruitment, employee retention remains a pressing issue for software companies in the UK and elsewhere; they need to get creative not just in hitching the best talent but also in nurturing it in the long run.

Like other well-established software companies in the UK, Liemur takes pride in employing excellent IT professionals – not just on British soil but in continental Europe as well. Find out about how we work or contact us for further details.