If you keep up with the latest news from the tech industry, you would know that with the rise of sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI), like ChatGPT, comes alarming rumors about the end of people-powered software development.
But, they couldn’t be more wrong.
As companies in the U.S. job market focus on becoming more and more digital, the demand for software engineers, programmers, analysts, and related roles is only increasing.
It’s no wonder “software developer” was named the best job in America in the "100 Best Jobs" list in the U.S. News and World Report, having a median salary of a whopping $120,730.
Software engineers design, innovate, test, and maintain the technologies that make our everyday lives simpler. They help us communicate better, be more productive, learn new things, pay our bills, purchase products, and attend to our medical needs, among so many other things.
The tech industry, unsurprisingly, fuels most of the U.S. economy.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation reveals that over one-third of U.S. economic growth comes from tech sectors. And, according to the International Trade Administration, the U.S. contains one-third of the global IT market.
Software engineering, as part of the tech industry, is a vast, constantly evolving field that has many - often overlapping - careers.
Careers in this field include (but are not limited to) software developers, information security analysts, video game designers, computer programmers, network and computer systems administrators, and computer network architects - all high-paying, high growth, and high job satisfaction.
And, despite the recent high-profile layoffs in the tech industry (which caused a fair bit of panic), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 25% job growth rate for software engineers from 2022 to 2032.
This is eight times more than the national average for all occupations.
As the competition for sourcing and retaining these coveted professionals skyrockets, tech recruiters are exploring new ways for their companies to stand out in the U.S. job market.
Trends Tech Recruiters Should Know to Stand Out in the U.S. Job Market
Prominent organizations across all industries hire software engineers - a resource always in demand to make their systems work. In fact, the top industries hiring software engineers are finance, insurance, healthcare, automotive, and manufacturing.
Tech recruiters in these industries (and otherwise) need to know that:
1. The demand for software developers is increasing
The layoffs in the software engineering industry were as low as 1.4 million, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (paywall). The market is incredibly resilient.
2. And, the tech industry is constantly evolving
We started experiencing accelerated disruption in technology first when COVID-19 hit the world, especially in areas such as grocery stores, manufacturing sites, and much more.
As the technological landscape continues to evolve, there will be even greater digitization, such as the expansion of self-service features in stores and robotic automation in paperwork. Each sector disruption will come with a need for advanced technology and a corresponding skill set in software engineers in that space.
According to McKinsey analysts, more than 100 million workers (across eight economies) will have to change occupations by 2030 and job growth will mostly be in high-skill jobs and STEM fields.
These trends along with the fierce competition for skilled software engineers puts tech recruiters in a tough position. Here are some ways tech recruiters can optimize their hiring strategy and stay on top of the game.
1. Tech recruiters should train existing software engineer employees and hire outside talent simultaneously
Software engineers need to constantly be up to speed with the latest technologies. Tech recruiters should train their internal software engineering talent, especially on specialized skills like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
However, in addition to training their employees, tech recruiters must always be on the lookout for recruiting software engineers. This can be done through popular job boards like HackerRank, AngelList, Glassdoor, and Monster.
Similarly, promoting your company as an excellent place to work has benefits that go beyond hiring software engineers.
By boosting your company's reputation in the software developer community, you'll also become more attractive to potential customers, partners, and investors.
2. Tech recruiters should broaden their search
Software engineering recruiters often shortlist and hire candidates with the most impressive resumes and experience. However, tech recruiters shouldn’t limit themselves to only that.
The best isn't always the one with the longest track record. Software engineers who are only a few years out of school may lack the experience or certain technical skills. But, when given the chance, they can be agile, learn quickly, think innovatively, and apply new strategies to problems, often making them the best candidate for the job.
While experience does matter, other factors such as an individual's capacity to learn, their ability to align their work with your company’s vision, and apply new tools and techniques to refine your company’s system are just as important.
3. Tech recruiters must offer competitive salaries and benefits when hiring software engineers
Reasonable compensation is the one thing any potential employee looks for in a job, but even more so in the case of a software engineer because of the competitive salaries offered to them.
Tech recruiters will have an easier time recruiting software engineers if they offer attractive compensation and benefits.
If tech recruiters cannot increase salaries because of financial constraints, additional perks such as company-subsidized lunches, flexible work hours, rapid career progression, and time off are great ways to attract new candidates.
Preparing a concrete hiring strategy is integral to avoiding significant obstacles in recruiting, which can impede productivity.
Your hiring strategy should 1. explore new recruitment channels to source software engineers 2. spend time and effort on outreach within the developer community. 3. have effective skills-based assessments for software engineers. 4. ensure smooth interview processes and a great candidate experience. 6. execute offer management strategically.
4. Tech recruiters should look into executing coding boot camps
A coding boot camp is a rigorous, short-term training course that helps talent transition into software engineering roles. It's one of the best ways to get candidates - with the right aptitude - up and running quickly.
One drawback with coding boot camps was that they did not result in formal qualifications, which caused tech recruiters and hiring managers to hesitate before prioritizing them over graduates from traditional universities.
Thankfully, some coding boot camps have created alternatives to college degrees by creating employer-validated curriculums and certifications.
Coding boot camps are also a good way of helping the software engineering skills shortage by bringing new and experienced engineers into the tech community.
5. Tech recruiters should look into software engineer outsourcing
Many companies in the U.S. are turning to software outsourcing to deal with the technology skill shortage.
Vietnam, the Philippines, China, and India are all key destinations for Western companies looking for professional development services and talented software engineers at a lower cost.
More and more companies are finding skilled developers who are just as capable as their counterparts in the U.S. but at lower prices, strengthening the trend of a globalized workforce.
Outsourcing also allows businesses to benefit from a wider range of talent pools which would otherwise be limited due to geographical constraints, allowing them to hire software engineers with the right skill set and experience they need to scale their software teams.
Conclusion
The bottom line is the recent tech layoffs are a false alarm and the emergence of sophisticated AI isn’t a threat to software engineers. As technology use cases continue to expand, software engineers will be needed more than ever to build the solutions.
As a result, tech recruiters need to look beyond traditional methods of recruiting software engineers to stand out in the U.S. job market.
To collaborate with competent, top-tier tech recruiters who not only know the inside and outs of hiring software engineers but can foresee and overcome challenges in tech recruiting, reach out to us on Workfully.com.