42% cos struggle with sourcing quality tech talent: Report

With digital transformations across domains, there is a surge in the demand for quality technology professionals, however, 42 percent companies surveyed said it was the biggest challenge for them while sourcing top tech candidates.

For the majority (42 percent) of the companies surveyed, the first step of the hiring process, that is the sourcing of top tech candidates comprised the biggest challenge they faced while carrying out recruitment, according to 'Tech Hiring & Technology Adoption Trends 2019' report by Mercer|Mettl.

"Rapid digital transformation across domains has resulted in a steep rise in the demand for quality technology professionals the world over. However, as everybody is onboarding the automation bandwagon, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain quality tech talent. This is mostly on account of inadequate knowledge regarding tech-driven best practices and widening demand- supply gap," Mercer|Mettl CEO Siddhartha Gupta said.

The report is based on a survey of 350 industry leaders from over 200 companies of different sizes.

Further, the report revealed that one-fifth (20 percent) of the respondents cited the time taken to close a tech position as the primary reason causing the potential engagement to fall through.

The report further reveals that a competitor firm offering better pay package contributed to more than half of the reasons (60 percent) for a candidate to decline a job offer.

Recruiters also reported to having conducted rehiring for the same position 23 percent of the times in a financial year, it said.

The main reasons (85 percent) that lead a candidate to accept a job offer include the pay and the quality of work, it added.

Regarding the channels used by tech recruiters to source candidates, more than one-fifth (23 percent) of the respondents said they depend on employee referrals while 22 percent used job portals and forums.

On the other hand, organisations (12 percent) that conducted campus hiring reported to having the highest success rate by closing tech positions 67 percent of the time, it opined.

While evaluating candidates, proficiency in the required tech skills comprised the top criterion for 20 percent of the organisations, while 18 percent of them tested the candidates with the view of up-skilling them as and when necessary.

In this case, cognitive ability and learning agility formed the basis for evaluation, it added.