Considering how many technically skilled and financially successful adults there currently are in the world, it is surprising how small the talent pool has become. Every recruiter and hiring agent looking to fill a position are all facing what has become known as the “War for Talent”. Somewhere in the last decade, the recruiting landscape changed. As boomers retire, engineer, developer, lead, and manager positions are left open with not nearly enough internal hires or skilled job seekers to fill the spaces. Companies are left to scramble for the talent available, constantly improving their employment packages and workplace perks to lure the available skilled talent. Which leaves one to beg the question… where are all the millennial tech professionals?
As the children of the boomers and early Xers, Millennials are understandably the biggest generation old enough to be in the workforce. And to top that off, Millennials are notorious for their technical talents, casual programming and development projects, and strong work ethic. So why aren’t they lined up out the door for your open positions? Understanding the answer to that question is the key to tapping a highly skilled workforce your competitors are literally dreaming of.
Where All the Talent Went
Look at the problem from outside the perspective of a recruiter or hiring manager for a moment. The two most overwhelming changes in both business and employment in the last ten years are communication and mobility. The internet has made it possible to contact and do business with anyone in the world who also has internet access and mobile devices have made it possible to access the internet from anywhere that can receive signal. There are a lot of ways to convey internet signal from traditional cables to satellite backed cell phone networks which means that internet is theoretically available even at the bottom of a mine or the top of a mountain.
Technology Changes the Playing Field
In other words, professionals can work from anywhere and if they’re savvy, they can source their own customers and clients. This gave professionals a power they never had before, to hone their skills independently from joining an industry and working their way up the ladder. Anyone who can find their own clients or outsource themselves to companies as an independent contractor can be their own boss, become an entrepreneur, start their own business, and maybe some day grow into an independent agency.
The Old Hiring Culture
Before this, getting a job was all about jumping through hoops. You had to qualify for an interview and prove that you were the best candidate for the job. The attitude was that the companies had jobs and the job seekers did not. In order to earn the right to a job, professionals would arrive when they were told to, interview as many times as they were told to, and wait indefinitely to hear back about a job. At some point in this tedious process, no doubt some frustrated Millennial made a forum post and found a client online who would hire them fast. The world changed.
Millennials and some of their older colleagues realized that the hiring hoop-jumping was unnecessary, tedious, demeaning, and they could do better on their own. Now nearly half the workforce is working from home, on working vacations, or working freelance while holding down another job entirely. The power is in the professional’s hands which explains the change in hiring culture. But if you want to find where everyone is who’s not submitting resumes, all you have to do is look, target correctly, and recruit.
[To be Continued]
Remote work has significantly opened up the traditional job pool to people for whom regular office hours are impossible. From college students taking side projects to retirees offering greater years of expertise, the right recruiting techniques can increase your skilled workforce in places your competition isn’t looking. Join us next time for the second half of this article where we’ll talk about how to reach and recruit new pools of professionals. For more professional advice on hiring top talent around the world, contact us today!
The Network Editorial Team
