For companies looking to fill their IT openings, part of the struggle is out of their control.
US employers added 528,000 jobs in July, but IT employment growth remained broadly unchanged from June.
IT employment increased just 0.32%, or a net gain of just 17,400 jobs in the past year, according to TechServe Alliance, a commercial group based in Alexandria, Virginia.
It’s not for lack of IT jobs. CBRE reports that of the 330,000 jobs posted as available only in the Washington area in July, 23% were technology-related positions.
“It is an entirely supply-driven phenomenon. There aren’t enough IT professionals around to meet the needs of businesses, ”said Mark Roberts, CEO of the TechServe Alliance.
For companies looking to fill their IT openings, part of the struggle is out of their control. TechServe Alliance said schools can’t mint new IT talent fast enough to keep up with demand.
Some of them are under the control of the hiring company.
In particular, making their offers and benefit packages as good as possible is a way to be competitive.
Applicants for technology-related jobs almost universally have the same first question.
“Is it remote? Is it hybrid? And if the answer is “no,” they don’t want to hear more, “Roberts said.
Cite members who remember many job applicants boasting up to six or seven other competing job postings. This can be confirmed by the unemployment rate in the technology sector, which is only 2.2%.
Companies also compete with some sort of talent providers, IT consulting firms, and IT personnel firms. Those concerts often involve project-based work, which means the variety of being able to move from project to project.
“These are people who work that way because they choose to work that way. It’s not because they couldn’t get a so-called traditional job. It’s their favorite way of working, ”said Roberts.
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