Tech Hiring Trends Right Now

The year is now well underway, so it's a great time to visit the top tech hiring trends today. Employer's worldwide have unique challenges to face when it comes to finding and hiring the right talent in such a high-demand marketplace. The level of technology and data dependency that exists is nothing short of epic. Despite rapid evolution of automation and even machine learning, there is a near equal dependency on hiring people with advanced technical skills. Universities can't produce them fast enough, and there are not enough people with the right background to meet the demand in the marketplace. This shortage is simple math. Companies, especially in North America, may take a pause to regroup – though in the interest of progression and growth, each organization will need to hire tech talent at varying degrees of urgency for a very long time. Let's break down three top hiring trends happening right now...

1. Employer Branding

Posting jobs is a fundamental need, though it is not enough by itself to attract top talent. Employers must embrace a cohesive strategy around their job ads that's enhanced by employer brand awareness, thought leadership and positive image. Job seeker user behavior has evolved rapidly to include numerous touch points. An employer must be highly conscious of their brand sentiment among the job seeker pool. In the same way we shop for products online, users will quickly paint a picture of value of your offering by sizing things up from several digital angles. Website design, messaging, reviews and brand footprint all play a critical role in attracting talent. The employer job ads must work in alignment with the other channels surrounding their brand. There are numerous strategies to deploy and critical investments that must be made around employer communications and marketing to attract high quality candidates.

2. Social Warfare

The behavior of job seekers has evolved quite a bit in recent years to include social media, social networking and social job searching. Socializing the talent acquisition process has become a must-do for employers in 2016, along with any creative measures to extend social reach with their job ad distribution and with content messaging. Building a direct following and an extensive social footprint should always be top of mind. Companies are beginning to look to publishers who curate audiences in sophisticated ways to provide an opportunity to interact with their social followers. And the social platforms themselves have numerous offerings to extend social reach. The social war has clearly permeated the talent market in profound ways.

3. Content Marketing

In connection with the first two trends, it all begins with content. Job seekers, whether passive or active, are reading and engaging with content. In today's landscape, companies are telling their story and painting their employer brand picture through sponsored content articles, contributor submissions and better job ad messaging. This content can be leveraged in new ways through targeted campaign strategies with niche publishers. Business leader interviews, product promotion and company happenings blended with messaging around talent acquisition and organization growth plans are all effective strategies. Content marketing is not only a trend, but it is becoming more of an integral part of the overall investment towards attracting top talent that can work cohesively with job ads if done thoughtfully.  It's been the missing channel that completes the picture for employer branding.

Other hiring trends worth mentioning are related to unique technical skill-sets. The demand continues for employers to fill their jobs in data science, jobs in Hadoop, jobs in machine learning, jobs in SAS and jobs in IoT. These high-growth areas in tech have been a focus in recent years, and the demand is only increasing despite macro-economic pauses. Keep a close eye on these sub categories, as it appears they are likely the key indicators of growth among the technology sector.