IT sector candidate shortage a growing opportunity
- Feb 12, 2024
- Maureen Harrison
- Career advancement
Respected Information Technology recruiter Maureen Harrison at 2A3 Group on recent changes in the employment market. Maureen sees a great opportunity for candidates to re-engage in the job search process during this challenging time. While this article focuses on the IT sector, at Knighthunter.com, we see this affecting other sectors too, including Construction, Manufacturing and Professional Services e.g.Accounting. Hopefully we will see more sectors follow suit in the coming months.
IT sector candidate shortage a growing opportunity
It has been a long year for both employers and job hunters. Employers have been holding steady, not wanting to extend their budgets or bring on new people which they would need to onboard remotely, adding to their sense of trepidation over the hiring process. Job seekers, on the other hand, have been reluctant to apply for new positions because they don’t feel secure in making a new move. There have been stories of new hires being laid off due to sudden downturns in business volume due to the pandemic restrictions.
Since January of 2021 there has been a real market turn around, particularly in the Information Technology sector. Employers are scrambling to fill new roles and find specific skills but candidates are just not putting up their resumes on job boards or answering job ads.
This is not the best scenario for employers but it is good news for potential job seekers. Because there are fewer job seekers, employers are competing for smaller pool of potential candidates for each role. It means that they may be willing to hire someone with a bigger learning curve and they may also be willing to offer better compensation or more flexibility in working arrangements. It could also be a good time for an employee to ask for more responsibilities, ask for a new training course or a raise.
This, in the hiring business, is called a candidate driven market. It tilts some aspects in favour of the candidate while at the same time adding to the concern some employers have about a candidate‘s reasons for leaving their current position. It will provide big dividends to the candidate to make sure that they have all of the information about the potential job and also that they have all of their credentials, availability and background information ready and in a presentable form. Working with an agency is one way that can help you keep your details confidential until you are ready to share and are interested in applying for a new role. An agency can also help you to handle the salary, benefit and vacation negotiations and also provide insight you need to work through some of the challenges of learning about the new organization and what is special about the opportunity.
Maureen Harrison is the owner of 2A3 Group, and an Information Technology recruiting specialist, with over 20 years of professional experience. Connect with Maureen on
LinkedIn and check out her company website at:
www.2A3group.ca
