Ways to close the IT talent gap in your company

The IT talent gap continues to grow despite the ever-changing global environment. Even with many companies announcing layoffs of IT staff, tech talent still remains scarce. The shortage of software developers won’t disappear anytime in the foreseeable future. And many countries will struggle to fill these slots.

Many business leaders wonder how to fill that IT talent shortage. Filling it allows them to still grow their business in the tech industry. Let’s explore why this gap exists and some options to help fill that software engineer shortage that appears in firms.

What is an IT talent gap?

An IT skills gap occurs when employees in an organization do not have the right skills to meet the planned business goals. This forces the human resources department to go find software development to fill that gap.

Why is there such a large IT talent shortage in the IT industry?

So you are probably wondering why there is such a developer shortage. A big reason why the tech world is struggling with such a talent shortage is that there just aren’t enough qualified people to do the job.

This talent shortage has been expedited by the pandemic and this bigger demand for technical solutions. It is also created by the evolution of technology. The IT industry is constantly changing. We have more products based on AI, the Internet of Things, machine learning, etc.

In order to develop these products, we need highly skilled developers.

Which countries suffer from the biggest shortage of software developers?

According to Statista.com between the years 2015 and 2022, about 70% of all organizations worldwide suffered from a tech talent shortage. Most likely this will continue to grow this year 2023 and into the future.

Some countries that suffer from the biggest shortage of developers include the United States, Canada, the UK, Norway, Australia, Germany, and Japan.

Why is having a tech talent shortage so bad?

Having a tech talent shortage in your company can have various consequences. The first consequence of having a tech talent shortage is being short-staffed. If you cannot find the right talent to fill that skill gap, chances are you will be short-staffed. So, your current staff is overworked or you are not completing projects on time. Neither of these is particularly good for your business in the long run.

Another consequence of having a tech talent shortage in your company is not being able to take your company to the next level. A lot of tech companies are looking to add software engineers with different tech stacks than they have currently on their teams. This is so they can add more software development services. These services have the goal to take their business to the next level. The ability to take their business to the next level could mean growth in the number of personnel. It could also mean growth in terms of the number of projects they can take on. Lastly, it could mean taking on more high-caliber projects which means more money.

Now when we look along the lines of growing your business. Many tech companies are looking to hire software developers to scale their businesses. If you cannot find software developers to meet your business needs, you cannot grow either. The number of software developers who hire goes hand in hand with how many projects you can do. And this goes hand in hand with whether your business remains small or grows into something bigger.

How to bridge the IT talent gap in my tech company?

There are ways for tech companies to beat the talent shortage that exists in the tech world. You may consider hiring tech talent using various recruitment solutions. Some of these hiring solutions include IT staff augmentation, in-house recruitment, outsourcing, and managed services.

Each of these hiring models can help you in hiring developers that suit the needs of your software development projects.

IT staff augmentation services

To begin with one pathway to hiring software developers is using IT staff augmentation vendors. An IT staff augmentation company can provide you with programmers to work on your team on a project-by-project basis.

Basically, you can hire software engineers temporarily to complete a project. Once the project is done, the software engineer moves on. Within the staff augmentation model, you also have a lot of flexibility. The flexibility comes from being able to add developers when needed. Along with being able to remove developers when needed. Lastly, you can switch developers as your project changes.

But before you can use this solution, there are some steps you need to take. Let’s get into it below.

Step 1: Perform a skills gap audit

The first step to being closer to using staff augmentation is performing a skills gap audit. Now, don’t be scared this audit is not hard to do. Trust us it’s not as scary as it sounds. A skills gap audit consists of 4 simple steps.

When performing a talent gap audit the first thing you need to do is to create a list of the roles in your organization. Your head of human resources may already have this type of list available that you can access.

Once you have this list, the next step is assigning the skills for each role. So for example, if you have a WordPress developer you may list that they have skills in PHP, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.

The next thing you want to do is create a survey and survey your workforce. This survey will help you gain knowledge of what skills you are missing. Your staff may notice various empty talent slots.

Afterward, you have run your survey you want to compile all your results. Then finally you want to analyze these results.

When you analyze these results you may want to consider which talent gaps you want to fill for a short period of time. And on the other hand which talent slots need to be filled for a longer period of time? You may also ask yourself if certain skills are only based on one or two projects. Or perhaps there are skills that you need permanently because they keep reoccurring in projects?

Using this skill gap audit, you can reach out to a staff augmentation company for them to help you seek out appropriate tech talent.

Step 2: Find the right staff augmentation vendor

Before you can use this hiring model to employ programmers you need to 👉 find the right team augmentation partner 👈.

When searching for a team augmentation company, the first step is reviewing various firms online. During this step make sure to check customer reviews. You can also give them a call and see if they can meet your expectations.

Once you find a staff augmentation company that can meet your expectations. You want to interview software engineers that you want to rent from them. Out of the software developers you have interviewed, hopefully, you can pick one or more that you want to borrow.

If you successfully interviewed software developers and want to rent one or more from the vendor. You will sign a contract and begin your journey with augmented staff.

Step 3: Use augmented staff to fill specific tech needs

So you found a staff augmentation partner. Now they can help you find experienced software engineers to fill specific talent gaps in your team. So for example, you are looking for a software developer that specializes in mobile application development. You need a coder that specializes in Flutter and can build a mobile app for the iOS operating system.

The staff augmentation company will pull up its database and present you with a short list of candidates who match this description. You will pick which candidates you would like to interview based on Blind CVs. After you interview a number of software developers, you can decide who you would like to hire.

You will sign a contract and be able to rent a developer on a project basis and fill your company’s skill gap.

Step 4: Scale your business with augmented software developers

One of the biggest advantages of staff augmentation is being able to quickly scale your business. When you use 👉 IT staff augmentation services 👈 you can gain as many software developers as you need in as little as one week.

This can add immeasurable value to your company. If you have a huge demand for various programming languages that you do not have currently on your team, staff augmentation can help. Once that demand dies down, you can remove those developers. The vendor will keep them on the bench. If the demand arises again, you can reach out again to gain them back.

This gives you a level of flexibility and cost-effectiveness that other hiring models may not offer.

In-House Recruitment

Traditional recruitment is usually the first solution business owners look to in order to minimize their talent shortages. This can be a great solution and typically allows you to fill any gaps permanently by hiring employees onto your payroll.

However, given the fact the world is constantly changing, many employers need to look beyond traditional hiring methods. It can be hard for HR and headhunters to find individuals to fill the IT talent gap using in-house recruitment. Some reasons traditional recruitment can be a challenge include:

• Technology is changing every few years, so finding developers that are on top of the game can be a struggle.
• Some software developers are just under-qualified and do not meet your job description
• Recruiters may be looking for software engineers in their local area and are struggling to find the right match
• Software engineers that actually meet your expectations may fall off during recruitment because they received a job offer elsewhere

Even if you manage to avoid some of these struggles and hire someone permanently. You may struggle with employee retention. Developers are constantly looking for the next big thing. Or for a project that can help them grow. For programmers staying with one company long-term is very rare and unrealistic.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a business practice that involves the hiring of a third party to perform tasks or perform operations. The outsourcing model can help you fill the software engineer shortage. Because you hire a software development company to complete a project for you.

An outsourcing company will take on a development project from start to finish. They will use their internal development teams to fill the skills shortage you have. In most cases, they will have software experts who provide the solution that you are looking for.

But with this model, the software developers are not joining your team. The outsourcing vendor takes full control of your project. They provide a temporary solution for the project that you bring to them.

Managed services

Managed services is an umbrella term for a variety of IT services that are outsourced to a third-party company. This company provides the necessary technology, tools, and expertise. All in order to help clients manage their IT infrastructure, operations, and processes.

This may be a great solution if you need to fill many software expert slots plus you need infrastructure. Plus you do not feel the need for these things to be done internally. Managed services allow your companies to focus on their core business.

Therefore, managed services can help companies streamline their operations. While also reducing costs associated with managing their own IT infrastructure. With managed service providers offering customized solutions for each client’s unique needs. Businesses can benefit from having an experienced partner that understands their specific requirements.

This partnership can be more long-term if that’s what you need. But it does not necessarily add any value to your internal development teams.

Which way of bridging the talent gap is best for my company?

Let us explore which way of bridging the talent shortage in your company may work best with the help of the table down below. We have compiled a quick snapshot of what each option offers, and what the model looks like.

This way if you didn’t feel like reading everything above, you get a good idea from this table.

How each solution can help bridge your IT talent gap?

Staff Augmentation	Traditional recruitment	Outsourcing	Managed Services
Adds additional software developers in as little as a week	Can add developers in 3 to 6 weeks	Hire an entire development team that works externally for your company.	A third party will use their developers along with IT infrastructure to help you with IT services.
Developers work on a temporary / project basis	Developers typically hired on a permanent basis	Project-based partnership.	Short-term or long-term cooperation to offload IT services onto a third party.
Staff augmentation vendor has a database of potential clients	Need to source or headhunt to find someone.	Developers are integrated into the outsourcing company culture and work together.	They will have the experts and resources you need to fill your needs.
You can find developers with niche skills	Finding niche skills may be a challenge when focusing on the local market	Outsourcing possesses and keeps the talent that you are looking for.	The software developers and infrastructure remain with the managed services company.
Work with your in-house team remotely	Can work in an office or remotely depending on your work environment	They work in their office or remotely without interacting with your in-house development team.	The software developers and infrastructure remain with the managed services company.
The vendor covers a bulk of employee costs such as taxes, health care, vacation time, etc. They also keep them on the bench. You only pay for the developer(s) you use and that’s it.	You pay for everything including keeping them on the bench	You pay for the service you use and that’s it.	You pay for the service you use and that’s it. Can be expensive because you gain tech talent + infrastructure.

TL;DR: Summary of ways to close the IT talent gap in your company

Let us do a quick rundown of the different ways you can close the IT talent gap in your company. We explored four different options:

• staff augmentation
• in-house recruitment
• outsourcing
• managed services

Staff Augmentation

When it comes to staff augmentation you can fill the skill gap that exists within your software engineering teams with temporary coders. You tell the vendor what technical skills you are missing, and they search for the candidate to fill that slot. The developer will work remotely with your team to complete the project and then they will move on to a different company.

Traditional recruitment

Another option for businesses is traditional recruitment. You gain tech skills by posting job openings online, screening resumes and interviewing and hiring someone permanently. This is a great solution if you need high-tech workers long term. But you are limited in your talent pool and may have difficulties in retaining employees. It’s important to remember that among developers there is a trend of jumping from company to company. They get bored easily and are looking to constantly grow their skills.

Outsourcing

You may also turn to outsource your project to a software development company. You can find a company that develops specific software to meet the needs that you are looking for. This may a good short-term solution or a one-off project. This allows you to increase your revenue but keep internal staff focused on core business goals.

Managed services

Finally, we mentioned managed services as another option. Managed services is a giant in terms of what it can offer. Managed services will typically take on your IT services as a third party, making it similar to outsourcing. But it will also provide valuable and expensive IT infrastructure. This is a good option for companies who have a tech department but do not want to be part of their internal organization. Managed services allow them to have a delegated IT team without worrying about it internally. Plus it does not have to be the key focus of the said business.

So which one should I choose?

Summing up it depends. But we would say that the best way to fill a skill gap is by using staff augmentation. You can add software engineers to your team to complete a project. Also, you keep control over the project. You gain what you need and you can always end the cooperation when something changes. If this sounds like a hiring option that you want to consider, 👉 drop us a line 👈. Let’s have a free no obligation chat about how we can help you with augmented staff.