I stumbled upon research from 2018, which flagged the ongoing problem of firms trying to fill IT vacancies.
Three years later, I don’t think the situation has changed.
While this survey focused on the UK, Ireland has the added challenge of competing with global technology behemoths who seem to be able to print money to ensure they employ and retain staff.
In my experience, the best way to compete is to focus on what the global players can’t guarantee.
One example: The ability of the individual to shape their role within your firm.
In a global firm, roles tend to be very clearly assigned with very clear lines of responsibility. This limits an individual’s ability to influence the direction of a project, a team, or the organisation. It also limits the potential for someone to wear many hats and to try to develop different talents.
This is fine for someone who just wants to do X. And many technology graduates and junior staff have this desire.
However, once they have done X for a number of years, many want to try new things and stretch themselves into new areas (while maintaining their expertise in X).
A global firm is not usually organised to facilitate this.
There’s lots of talk about “work flexibility”, but in many cases, this is really just “location flexibility”. And in many firms, it may also mean “time flexibility” – i.e. staff must be flexible to work at all times!
Perhaps you can also offer “role flexibility”. Could you emphasis how the individual can get involved in many initiatives and many roles over time, and influence their role, their team and the wider organisation?
Experienced people do not want to just be a cog in the wheel. They want to be able to steer the wheel sometimes.
PS If you want an alternative way to address your resourcing gaps, talk to us about how we can partner with your in-house team to cover these gaps, either as a short-term measure or as a long-term solution. Backup, DR, endpoint management – We might be able to provide the flexibility you need.
