Dive Brief:
- Tech-talent seeking executives fill only 60% of the roles they're hiring for, according to an analysis from talent acquisition firm iCIMS released Tuesday. One strategy that can help managers overcome the shortage is shifting focus away from the two cities where most tech roles are filled: New York and San Francisco.
- Instead, the D.C. metro area, including Alexandria, Virginia, followed by Boston and Detroit, are more desirable targets among large cities due to their concentration of applicants as a percentage of the overall population. Austin, Texas; Denver; and the Baltimore metro area, including Columbia, Maryland, have the highest concentration of applicants for mid-sized markets.
- In smaller markets, or cities with 500,000 to 2 million people, the highest concentration of potential new hires can be found in Raleigh, North Carolina; Madison, Wisconsin; and Salt Lake City.
Dive Insight:
In 2019, when tech tools are making remote work more seamless, a hiring strategy that looks beyond physical location can help employers meet hiring goals.
CFOs have said hiring tech talent is becoming increasingly important as automation software takes over more traditional accounting and finance functions and finance staff focus their efforts on analysis and other value-added jobs.
With demand outstripping the supply of candidates by nearly 50%, a sharper eye in selecting target cities can help companies attract qualified candidates.
Talent-seekers should begin their search by identifying where the biggest share of workers are located, comparing the number of applicants to the size of the population.
To attract remote workers, the report — a review of 25 million technology applicants' data — said employers should clearly state in their role descriptions that a position can be filled remotely.
The dearth of talent isn't confined to one specialty in tech, but the hardest staffers to hire are security analysts, data research scientists and database administrators. For roles like these, employers were able to hire less than half of their open positions.
On the other side of the bargaining table, certifications in specific skill-sets let technologists signal to potential employers they're well-versed in business critical technology. This is helpful in rising to the top of the mountain of resumes employers are sifting through.
