Even though labour markets are striving to recover from the impact of the recent economic downturn and the hiring rates are slowly decreasing, talent shortage remains one of the crucial issues faced by IT leaders these days.
Up to 61% of CEOs consider talent acquisition as their top workforce concern (1). Finding the right people with appropriate technical and soft skills has turned into the greatest challenge for businesses around the world.
Read this article to learn more about the current talent shortage situation, its possible outcomes for CIOs, and an infallible way of dealing with the problem.
The IT talent gap: tech talent shortage in detail
For a start, take a closer look at the latest skills shortage data every IT executive should know and consider in their business decisions.
The lack of IT competencies is hindering business strategies around the world. The development of technology, alongside the increased prominence of IT departments, means the shortage is getting even bigger and more serious.
When there are not enough people in technology, organisations keep falling behind. In fact, 75% of companies (2) have reported talent shortages. Whats more, large companies are struggling the most to recruit talent, as compared to smaller ones.
The prospects for the future aren’t very bright in this respect. According to a new report by Korn Ferry (3), more than 85 million jobs might go unfilled by 2030 because there aren’t enough skilled candidates. The report claims that human talent and intelligence is 2.33 times more valuable than all other aspects of growth put together.
Most in-demand tech skills and talents
When it comes to tech skills, they are in particularly high demand as the IT market is constantly growing. Among the most sought-after skills and technologies, Data Storytelling, Cybersecurity, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, User Experience Design, and Cloud Computing stand out as the top assets.
In terms of particular roles and positions, Cloud Engineers, Database Developers, DevOps Engineers, and Front-end Developers are the most required talents by employers nowadays. What follows is that finding skilled and experienced software development professionals continues posing serious problems to IT managers. Only in the us, the demand for software developers, QA analysts, and testers is expected to grow by 22% by 2030 (4).
One of the tech areas where skills shortage is particularly painful to IT leaders is the cloud technology. Mature and qualified professionals are especially demanded in this field. Even 79% of leaders (5) point to the lack of right skills when it comes to cloud specialists.
Business areas and IT industries affected by tech workers shortage
Some of the business areas which need to handle talent shortage to the largest extent consistently include data analytics, IT design and management, and executive management.
When it comes to particular industries, the manufacturing, engineering, digital, software, and finance sectors are listed as those facing the largest obstacles related to the lack of available talent.
Especially fintech is developing at an impressive pace but it’s also a staggering example of an industry which is most severely affected by talent shortage. Only in the UK, fintech vacancies have grown 136% year-on-year (6). Again, the most in-demand roles within fintech, accounting for a third of all job roles advertised by this industry, are software engineering and development.
Talent shortage and its impact on IT sectors
More than a half of CEOs list skills shortage as one of the factors that is most likely to affect the profitability of their industry in the next 10 years, according to a survey by PWC(7). The same survey reveals that 40% of CEOs believe that their organisation will not be economically viable in 10 years if it continues on its current course.
Having access to a reliable pool of highly competent professionals is a must for a company to remain competitive in the digital-oriented global economy. Experts say that actually, human talent becomes only more valuable as technology grows, which is an inevitable consequence of the changes taking place in the world and the world of business. This aspect must be definitely taken into consideration by IT leaders.
It leaders need to realise the crucial relationship between talent shortage and the risks it brings. In particular, they need resilient, adaptable, and skilled people to deal with the economic and geopolitical uncertainty.
Moreover, skills gap is one of the factors that hinder agility in business, and agility is indispensable for achieving success. A related outcome is the fact that unavailability of skilled digital teams makes it impossible for IT leaders to keep up with the pace of global changes in business and technology. More specifically, nearly 70% of businesses (8) are simply slowed down in their operations by talent shortage.
Other possible outcomes of talent shortage which impede the fulfilment of IT leaders business goals include failing to deliver products on time as well as general roadblocks in the product delivery lifecycle.
For Cloud and DevOps teams in particular, talent scarcity means problems with cloud migration and modernisation and a growing number of troubles to shoot by insufficiently numbered teams. This may lead to obstructions in the company’s digital transformation projects, or even complete withdrawal.
Start nearshoring to succeed despite tech skills shortage
One of the best and most often recommended solutions to the problem of talent deficit in IT is talent outsourcing. This is particularly relevant when it comes to development teams but outsourcing IT consulting services is also a great idea for tackling recruitment issues and an opportunity to work with innovative leaders from other countries.
When your available talent pool is not enough, you need to find skills elsewhere. In the era of advanced remote technologies, you can easily collaborate with external markets and communities outside your organisation. If the existing talent gap is significantly hampering the growth of your business, borderless workforce is the way to go. IT leaders have been increasingly looking at outsourcing as an effective means of accessing new skills and capabilities.
Sources:
(1) https://assets.glginsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GLG_CEOSurvey_Guide.pdf
(2) https://go.manpowergroup.com/talent-shortage
(3) https://www.kornferry.com/insights/this-week-in-leadership/talent-crunch-future-of-work
(4) https://codesubmit.io/blog/shortage-of-developers/
(5) https://cloudacademy.com/blog/the-cloud-skills-shortage-what-it-is-and-how-to-solve-it/
(6) https://www.digit.fyi/talent-shortages-threaten-global-fintech/
(7) https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/c-suite-insights/ceo-survey-2023.html
(8) https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252526731/Almost-70-of-businesses-held-back-by-talent-shortage