Throughout the covid-19 pandemic, we’ve seen many disgruntled employees sitting tight in unrewarding jobs due to a lack of confidence. As spring approaches, with it comes fresh hope and optimism that there is light at the end of the tunnel. But what does this mean for job seekers? Before embarking on a job search, you’ll undoubtedly want to know what’s going on in the world of work. So here we share our top picks of the latest tech recruitment news.

March 2021 Tech Recruitment News

Top Three Skills Groups for Career Growth Potential

The pandemic has brought to light how essential digital capability is for companies to thrive in technology, media, and telecoms. However, more than digital products, investment in IT talent is key to driving company performance. After all, what use is a fancy car if you don’t know how to drive it?

McKinsey’s recent study looks at ‘How tech, media, and telecom winners use talent to stay ahead’. Their research identifies twelve capabilities that top-performing companies excel in. From those twelve, three skills groups stand out as having the most significant career growth potential: they are:

Digital Architecture
Embedded Systems/Internet of Things
AI and Advanced Analytics

Interestingly, Digital Marketing and Sales did not feature anywhere in the list of top skills. However, the report said that high performing marketers differentiate themselves through their use of analytics and data to identify new approaches and strategies. In comparison, top-performing tech sales personnel are highly dependent on digital tools if they want to excel, particularly IT Sales. Read the full article here.

All the things connected by the internet of things — Internet of things are among the skills that provide the greatest career growth potential.

What Does the Supreme Court Uber Ruling Mean for Tech Contractors?

One story that has dominated the news recently is the UK Supreme Court ruling that Uber drivers should be classed as ‘workers’. This is fantastic news for taxi drivers, who are now entitled to work-related benefits such as holiday pay.

But what does this have to do with tech contractors? Well, previously, IT contractors were able to charge fees of around £500 per day for their services. On top of this, they could also claim back travel costs and other expenses relating to their job. The recent court ruling makes it more likely that contractors could be classed as regular workers.

However, as Tania Bowers, Legal Counsel for The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSco), commented, “there is still the anomaly to be dealt with regarding different employment status for tax purposes. There is no status of worker for tax. A person’s status is either employed or self-employed.”

The future for all contractors remains uncertain, including highly skilled tech professionals. However, on the 24th of February, the European Commission began a consultation that seeks to improve working conditions for gig economy workers. Read the full article here.

That said, the demand for tech professionals remains high. When employers weigh up the pros and cons of contract vs permanent, contract often wins. Despite the high cost of employing experts for a short time, they seem to be more available than permanent staff. Whenever we post a contract position on our job boards, the response we get is quite overwhelming! So if you have a need to employ a contractor, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Is Now a Good Time to Look for a Job?

One of the most common questions candidates ask us is, “Is now a good time to be looking for a new job?”. To that, we always reply that the best time to look for a job is whenever you’re ready. Although we suspect that when people ask us this, what they’re hoping for is a weather forecast of the current jobs market.

Just as with the weather, the forecast is hard to predict. That said, the outlook seems slightly sunnier than it did a few months ago. Below are a few recruitment statistics from APSco:

The number of permanent vacancies advertised in February 2021 was 27% less than in February 2020 and 7% less than January 2021
The number of contract positions advertised in February 2021 was 8% less than in February 2020 but only 3% less than January 2021
The amount of sales revenue from permanent placements in March was up 24% compared with last month
The amount of sales revenue from contract placements in March was up 3% compared with last month
Compared with November, permanent vacancies have increased by 24.6% and contract 14.6%

From our own experience here at Adria Solutions, the last six months has seen many candidates apply for jobs but relatively few prepared to accept job offers. This behaviour has highlighted a lack of confidence in the jobs market among candidates.

Since the start of the year, however, we have seen an apparent increase in job-hunting activity, and we’ve probably made more placements than we did during the whole of 2020. As normality begins to resume, what working life after covid looks like begins to reveal itself. With that, we predict more opportunities at all levels but particularly entry-level candidates.

Young lady feeling confident in her new job — Things finally feel like they’re looking up and candidates seem to have more confidence in applying for jobs.

Women Feel Less Confident Applying for Jobs

A recent survey by CV-Library looked at job-hunting behaviour during the pandemic. They found that only 43% of women feel confident applying for a job compared to 60% of men.

Overall, the main reasons candidates are reluctant to apply for jobs are:

67% worry about an increase in competition from other applicants
41% think there are not enough jobs available
30% say they can’t find jobs meeting their salary requirements
22% found there to be a lack of flexible working opportunities
22% felt they lack the necessary skills to apply for available jobs

We have previously written about how imposter syndrome can hold back your career. This seems to be something that affects women in tech more commonly than men. However, our experience is that candidates generally undersell themselves, regardless of gender. Most are surprised to discover what their skills are worth.

Will There be a Working From Home Revolution?

The question employee seems to want us to answer is, will we continue to work from home after the pandemic? The answer to this question entirely depends on the employer. While some employers have realised the benefits of embracing remote working, others look forward to returning to the office. Likewise, some employees have thoroughly enjoyed working from their home office while others have struggled with the experience.

Ford has long been a pioneer in embracing new working practices. Most recently, they publicly announced that post-pandemic, 30,000 of their employees will follow a ‘flexible hybrid working model’. They aim to put an end to ‘cubicle farms’ to make Ford a more attractive place to work. Read the full article here.