Skills Gap Favors IT Job Seekers

As professionals throughout the information technology industry encounter a continuously widening skills gap, their reactions may vary depending on which side they are on. While chief information officers and other IT staff members who are currently employed may be in a frenzy as they attempt to track down the talent their departments need, job seekers who possess tech expertise that is in high demand could be feeling at ease. As this extensive search for skilled representatives continues, qualified professionals hoping to find work are expected to see even more changes in the employment situation that are in their favor.Every year, the quickly advancing trends in tech tools typically dictate the types of staff members that CIOs desire. Most recently, Computerworld explained that some of the most significant solutions influencing hiring preferences throughout this sector are calling for employees who have knowledge and experience in areas such as mobile development and big data analytics.Companies want more specialized employeesEven within these overarching fields, companies are searching for candidates with such specialized backgrounds that they can handle even the most niche technologies. For instance, the tech news source revealed that in the world of mobile development, the most coveted of skills revolve around Apple’s iOS, as more businesses plan on expanding or refining their firms’ apps for this popular platform. That is not to say that IT professionals boasting talent in Android development have anything to worry about. Their experience in developing mobile solutions for this operating system is also widely wanted throughout the business world.Additionally, because a growing number of companies aim to have at least some portions of their operations either stored on the cloud or available through mobile apps, ensuring IT security could become increasingly important for organizations throughout the country. As a result, CIOs may be competing with one another, trying to recruit staff members with vast knowledge and training in data protection and tech support, of whom there are few viable candidates that would fit the bill for these open positions.”They’re not as sexy, but [finding] people with strong skills in the tech support arena continues to be a challenge for our clients,” stated staffing expert John Reed, according to Computerworld. “All of these great technologies are only awesome when they work and when people can use them.”Skills gap plagues hiring processesBecause the professionals with the right skill sets for these positions are so scarce, many IT executives have not had it easy when it comes to hiring the talent their systems require. However, it is imperative that they pin down these IT security professionals. Otherwise, they run the risk of having to choose between keeping their company information confidential and lagging behind in terms of tech solutions because they cannot afford to implement innovative tools that are left unprotected.This dilemma could arise for more and more companies over the course of 2014. According to Forbes, firms in a variety of industries have had issues attracting the right employment prospects who boast the skills that their organizations need. To surpass this hurdle, CIOs and business executives have been devising an array of strategies so that they can successfully hire the specialists they require.Recruiters employ different tactics to tempt talentForbes revealed that some firms may be driving pay for open positions to be filled with highly skilled professionals. Even though there may be a limited number of potential representatives who have the proper credentials for the employment vacancies, a number of IT recruiters feel that their best bet is to win over talent throughout their applicant pool with steep salaries. Using income incentives and even tempting perks, CIOs may be able to recruit skilled professionals, in addition to retaining their current staff.This strategy is not for every IT department, though. Some CIOs have recognized that there just may not be enough talent out there to go around, and rather than entering a bidding war with other companies, these executives would rather just invest money into providing employees with onsite instruction. By setting up comprehensive training programs and hiring candidates who are talented but not as experienced as they could be, CIOs could spend less of their resources chasing after applicants and trying to beat out other companies with ambitious recruitment measures. At the same time, these CIOs could hire representatives with promising potential, nourishing them with in-house training and grooming them into the talent that these departments desire.