After a tricky 18 months of Covid it would appear that IT & Tech sector is well and truly back on track. As the vaccine is rolled out across the age ranges in the UK there is a definite resurgence in the IT job market with forecasts of GDP growth of 7.2% in 2021, which is well up on the 5.1% previously predicted.

We’re seeing companies that weathered the covid-storm grow significantly and those who all but shut down starting to recruit again. Businesses and their employees discovered a new way of working during the various lockdowns engaging remote workforces, and as a result competition and demand for various IT skillsets has spiked causing a surge in massive salaries being offered to attract and secure top talent. However, in this candidate driven market, temp and contract billings have spiked, fuelled by a permanent staff shortage.

Permanent vacancies have risen for the past 4 months consistently which is the highest rate for over 20 years! This makes attracting high-quality candidates ever more challenging as they will generally have multiple options on the table. Salary is only one consideration, although we have seen some truly bonkers salaries offered to steal and retain people. Flexibility is the next most important with flexible hours, ability to work from home and hybrid working options being key. Bonuses, sign-on bonuses and equity are all being thrown into the mix to retain staff. Candidates also consider what tech-stacks and training are offered to determine which is the right job to take, because we as all know techies love a course and want to play with all the new toys!

This skills gap has quickly become a skills crisis and in-house recruitment teams who often resist engaging with agencies have been coming to agencies to enlist their help – Good job som3 is here then! We not only provide an extra pair of hands but advise our customers with market knowledge and connections with passive and active talent pools. Where some customers are still trying to recruit at old budgets, they may be way off the current pace for that skillset and hence permanent engagement and retention become an issue. Pace in recruitment and trimming down laborious or broken recruitment processes is another area where hiring businesses can miss out on top talent.

At som3 we’re ramping up our own teams to cope with the increase in tech vacancies as we know that focus and finding the right people for our customers whether contract or permanent is vital to ensure continued growth and success in this ever-changing marketplace.