10 Reasons Why It's Difficult To Find Agile Tech Workers.

Building an agile workforce can be a great asset to your business. Bringing together different disciplines, people and working styles can make a more profitable and productive business. 

Recruiting the right people for your agile business can be tricky, particularly when it comes to your tech department. When it comes to finding agile tech workers many businesses struggle to find the right people for their opportunity. That’s a trend which is unlikely to change over the coming years. But why is it so hard to find agile tech workers? Let’s look at some of the reasons.

SHORTAGE OF TECH TALENT

To recruit agile tech workers you need to be able to recruit tech talent in the first place. A study by Gartner found that COVID-19 accelerated the scale of digital transformation leaving many companies with a tech skills shortage. With a widening gap between demand and supply of tech workers, recruiting new talent to your business may become even more challenging.

LENGTHY HIRING PROCESS

Tech is a field that thrives on speed, new developments and streamlined activities. Sadly, many recruitment processes don’t work in the same way. If you’re looking to attract the best agile tech workers then your process shouldn’t take longer than 2-3 weeks, any more than that and you’re at risk of losing great candidates. 

INNOVATION & DEVELOPMENT

The tech industry is filled with new technology, innovations and developments. Staying at the forefront of all those changes is difficult. This becomes even trickier when you have an agile workforce spread across different time zones or locations as it puts the pressure on the individual. Too often creating an environment to facilitate learning and agile workers' development is hard to find but it’s something that makes you stand out from the crowd.

PROACTIVE RECRUITMENT

With such a highly competitive market many of the best agile tech workers already have roles that they’re happy in so traditional recruitment methods don’t work. Relying on an advert and applications are outdated methods, and instead companies need to become proactive in their recruitment - seeking out the best candidates directly.

RIGID BUSINESS MODEL 

Work location and remote working are quickly becoming the cornerstones of tech working. But if your business model doesn’t reflect these or fully embody the ethos of agile working then this can quickly drive talent away. If agile working is only in one area of the business it can cause friction between areas of the business and undermine the principles of agile working.

WORK FROM ANYWHERE

At the heart of agile working is the idea that location doesn’t matter. But the reality is without the right digital collaboration and management tools such as Slack, video conferencing or Asana, you’ll end up with isolated team members working independently. Establishing your infrastructure and being able to explain to candidates your expectations and the reality is essential to recruiting agile tech workers.

RECOGNITION AND REWARDS

Out of sight, out of mind is a big worry for agile workers. There’s a perception that without adequate face time they won’t get the recognition they deserve and could be passed over for promotion opportunities or recognition. Being able to demonstrate how your workplace culture extends to remote workers or part-time staff will help to reassure and soothe those concerns.

BURNOUT 

There can be a misconception that an agile worker is available whenever they’re needed. This can particularly be seen in start-ups where there’s a huge level of work to be done, and often redone at short notice. When the boundaries between work and personal time become blurred, and agile working becomes more taking than giving that creates issues for recruiting other agile tech workers to the business.

RISING POPULARITY OF FREELANCE WORK

The world of work is changing and taking on freelance or contract work is becoming an increasingly popular way of working. For many, it’s the ultimate in agile working and the potential instability is outweighed by other benefits. It adds an extra layer of competition when recruiting for an in-house role and means the package on offer needs to be even more irresistible.

CHANGING PRIORITIES

Agile working is more than simply where you work. For many, it also refers to workplace culture and the values it embodies. Increasingly tech talent is looking at the wider context of an employer - what their priorities are, whether they’re culturally and socially responsible and using that information to make a decision. It’s no longer all about salary or other traditional perks.

A highly competitive marketplace and a shortage of tech workers are without doubt hampering your ability to find the agile tech workers you need. But there are a whole host of other factors at play that you should be aware of. From your culture to your set up to your package if you’re struggling to find the right talent you need it’s worth reviewing your recruitment process and identifying areas to improve.

Are you looking for talent solutions for your technology organization, or searching for your next opportunity in tech? Reach out to our Source Technology team today. hello@source-technology.com