Think Tech Hiring is Tough Now? Surveys Say It’s Going to Get Worse

A raft of new surveys from as varied a group as Dice, CFO magazine, and Silicon Valley Bank all say the same thing: Tech hiring is accelerating.

To put that another way, if you think it’s hard hiring IT professionals now, just wait a few months.

From start-ups to mature firms, companies say they’ll be adding tech workers now and into next year at a faster pace than they have been. Even CFOs, who say they expect their overall company hiring to increase by 2.5 percent, predict they’ll be hiring tech workers at twice that rate.

Among startups, 83 percent told Silicon Valley Bank they’ll add IT staff in the next year. The survey found 90 percent of start-up software companies will be hiring, with smaller, but still high numbers of hardware, and life sciences start-ups also planning to add tech staff.

Most of their recruiting will be local to their home state, reports the bank. But over the next two to three years, software start-ups in particular expect they’ll have to look beyond the local geography, even going internationally for talent.

More upward pressure on salaries

“This may reflect their more robust growth expectations, greater flexibility in accommodating workers spread across locations, and/or the level of competition for skilled software engineers, which may be forcing start-ups to cast their hiring nets wider to attract workers with the skills they need,” says the report.

With tech professionals already at a premium, the hiring plans will put upward pressure on salaries, as companies compete for the ever-shrinking pool of talent. Dice, which found 73 percent of the tech recruiters and hiring managers it surveyed expecting to hire in the next six months, said 58 percent report salaries will increase.

Other hiring inducements haven’t changed all that much since last year, but where they have, the most commonly mentioned were bonuses of all types. Other benefits being offered are more vacation time and telecommuting.

Despite the growing competition for tech talent, getting professionals to jump ship isn’t easy. Only 37 percent of the surveyed managers say their voluntary departures have increased this year.

“Our customers tell us it’s hard to entice tech professionals out of their current positions,” said Tom Silver, SVP North America of Dice. “There is just not enough confidence for professionals to leave what they know behind and take a chance with their careers.”