Three Strategies To Manage The InHouse Tech Talent Gap

Last year I attended the Fast Company European Innovation Festival in Milan. I found it interesting that representatives of various industries, including high fashion, consider talent a real luxury. In fact, if you think about it, a talented technician will take care of all your luxury needs. They are rare and expensive. You'll never have as many people as you want, and being the best people on board gives you a certain reputation that others envy. These trends become more evident every year.

Hardware specialists like Panda: extremely rare

Demand continues to grow almost exponentially and resources are extremely limited. Last year, there were more than 900,000 IT job openings in the United States. It is estimated that there will be more than 500,000 specialists in Europe in 2020.

Given these facts, if you have experts on board, you're in luck. However, as the CEO of a cloud platform that delivers on-demand talent, I have already found that a significant number of companies are struggling to close the technology gaps in their companies. These companies will have to accept that they will not be able to achieve all their dreams and will have to look to other strategies to secure resources. Not everyone can be a panda, so it's important to build your strategy around your other strengths.

Costs of following the above strategies

We are all familiar with the famous business adage “time is money.” There are few industries where this is more applicable than the IT industry. Considering the “time” aspect, recruiting and hiring the right person can take several months. We all know that some IT jobs remain unfilled month after month.

The “money” part is of course very important, especially when considering the marketing, recruiting, training and other associated costs required to fill the position. All of this can result in an increase in the logistical costs of renting a booth of up to $6,000.

People are not what they used to be

A major factor in all of this is the change in the way IT professionals work and their expectations. It has already been reported that nearly 70% of all workers worldwide work outside their offices at least once a week. This is not due to financial reasons but rather reflects their personal choice. About one-third of American adults are self-employed in some capacity, and this number continues to rise.

How to deal with it?

So what strategies will you implement to address the growing tech talent shortage? I think there are three important steps you can take.

1. Implement a comprehensive human resources strategy and take advantage of new tools.

Once you understand that internal talent is not the only or even the main resource you can rely on, the next step is to build a new HR strategy. Temporary, B2B, and co-op workers should be given the same importance as company employees. You need to make sure they are motivated; work efficiently; Understand your goals, mission and vision; I would love to do your next projects if you need them.

To achieve this goal, you need to have the right tools in place, such as G Suite or cloud collaboration environments like Slack; project management tools like Jira, Asana, or Basecamp; real-time analysis tools such as Isaak or Peakon; Training, teaching and learning solutions.

2. Use the human cloud.

One of the latest trends associated with the rise of the gig economy is the human cloud . Digital platforms allow external experts to create and implement projects, and in many cases enable project management and feedback. While cloud providers attract freelancers (like Upwork and Toptal), new platforms like ours connect big players with B2B providers and turnkey teams.

Especially for large organizations, consider creating your own people cloud: a platform to manage your talent (both internal and external), verify their skills and needs, and match them to the best projects.

3. Invest in knowing your customers.

Since experts will be selected for specific tasks, the question is how to make the right decision. The answer: science of talent. We need to understand a person's true strengths and in which teams and projects they will be most effective and fulfilling. These factors must be weighed and all adjustments must be based on data.

The good news is that there are already solutions on the market that support this approach. For example, for technical talent, you can use Devkiller, Codility, or HackerRank tests to test technical skills, and Pearson, Mettl's Pearson, and TalentLens solutions to test cognitive skills. Implementing talent science can significantly improve internal processes. Today, according to Harvard Business Review (subscription required), only 40% of employers test general aptitudes or skills, including IQ.

Talent is a luxury item in the gig economy. You can find purchasing and management solutions in a short time.

Why innovation is more about people than great ideas | Alexander Janssen | TEDxFrislan