Between 2022 and 2032, an estimated 377,500 computer and IT jobs will become available annually. In the tech sector, there is a high demand for cybersecurity, cloud, and software development engineers and specialists with notable expertise in ML, blockchain, and AI. However, many companies face hiring challenges due to significant skill gaps, increased global competition, and competitive salary expectations. Prolonged hiring processes that hinder productivity, project timelines, and organizational growth are among the common recruitment challenges.
Qubit Labs has a rich history of collaborating with numerous tech businesses that struggled to fill specific positions for months. We have assisted them in overcoming remote hiring challenges, finding the best candidates, and successfully onboarding them. In this article, we’ve decided to share practical tips on how to find the best talent, cut delays in filling open positions, and stand out to candidates. Maryna Buzynnik, Head of Talents at Qubit Labs, will discuss our customers’ success stories and provide valuable insights to help you find a terrific match.
Reasons That Cause Hiring Challenges
According to SHRM’s Talent Access Benchmarking Report, the average time to fill positions is 44 days for non-executives and 66 days for executives. However, this time may vary greatly, depending on the job type, industry, requirements, and hiring locations. Companies that sought our professional assistance struggled to close hard-to-fill jobs for several months.
A hard-to-fill position usually requires a specialized skill set or experience that is scarce in the labor market. This makes it particularly challenging for recruiters and ultimately leads to considerable effort in finding the ideal candidate. Several factors contribute to engineer hiring challenges.
- Skills Shortage
There may be a shortage of competent specialists for jobs requiring specialized knowledge or advanced technology. Since certain areas are proliferating, positions involving AI, machine learning, and cybersecurity fall into this category.
- Competitive Market
In a candidate-focused market, the competition among tech businesses is fierce. They must foster a positive, diverse, and inclusive work culture, offer competitive salaries, and provide employees with unique benefits to stay ahead of the competition. In a highly competitive job market, small and mid-sized companies can’t compete with large corporations in these fields, so they face significant hiring challenges.
- Specific Requirements
Filling jobs that call for a mix of advanced degrees, certificates, and specialized expertise can also be challenging. For instance, positions requiring top-notch soft and technical skills may turn off active job seekers who believe they don’t fit all the requirements. As CoderPad Research shows, soft skills are at least as crucial as hard skills, according to 81% of recruiters and 78% of engineers. So, today, most roles require a unique blend of soft and hard skills.
- Unattractive Employer Brand
Such factors as a lack of transparency, poor online presence, a toxic work environment, a high turnover rate, and limited growth opportunities create an unattractive employer profile that deters potential applicants and causes recruitment challenges.
- Vague Job Description
A decent job description should include a list of responsibilities, requirements, and benefits. If job postings lack these elements or are filled with same-old-same-old catchphrases that make a reader’s eyes glaze over, it is a red flag for applicants. They might think a business is seeking a professional who can handle various tasks.
- Undesirable Location
Your applicant pool may be severely limited if you don’t have remote work opportunities or offer an unattractive physical location (e.g., a small town with few amenities).
Recruitment Problems and Solutions: Qubit Labs Insights
Our broad experience shows that there are specific reasons why companies can’t fill positions, often due to inefficiencies in the recruiting process. Below, we’ll discuss these in detail and share exclusive hiring strategies that have helped our clients. You can take them on board or contact us so we can effectively solve your problems without sacrificing your budget or quality.
Company Seeks a Unicorn at a Minimal Cost
Sometimes, customers are looking for well-rounded specialists with an affordable price tag. While unicorns do exist, they may appear once in a blue moon. Therefore, you’ll probably experience software developer hiring challenges if you set your heart on finding a jack-of-all-trades. This realization is crucial, and it’s essential to adjust the requirements you are looking for or lower your expectations to find appropriate candidates. This will help the company and hiring managers avoid costly hiring mistakes.
Qubit Labs’ Experience:
Once, a company contacted Qubit Labs with a request to find a top-tier specialist, but their budget was limited, and all requirements were clearly defined. We were unable to find a perfect match within the budget and offered the client several options:
- Find a candidate who fits the budget, may lack expertise in one or more areas, but is a fast learner and willing to develop.
- Search for a candidate who fully meets the requirements but has higher salary expectations.
Furthermore, if a position entails excessive responsibilities, we advise the client to consider establishing two distinct roles. This strategy enables the recruitment of two specialists, allowing each to concentrate on their specific duties and achieve optimal performance.
Business Is Asking Too Much
Sometimes, companies seek specialized expertise while setting numerous criteria. In such cases, additional job requirements narrow the qualified talent pool, and a company may lose out on excellent specialists. In this context, businesses should advertise what they need, not what they want.
Qubit Labs’ Experience:
We once supported a company in its search for a niche specialist. A business faced software developer hiring challenges due to an excessively detailed list of requirements. Top-tier candidates dropped out before they even hit the apply button. We advised the client to identify the most critical qualifications and skills for the position, which would help attract a broader range of potential candidates. Additionally, we created a more flexible job description that focused on nice-to-have skills rather than must-have qualifications and suggested including information about growth and training opportunities. With this talent acquisition strategy, we found an expert for the client within two weeks. While the specialist did not fulfill several initial requirements, he quickly adapted and successfully contributed to the client’s team.
There Are Multiple Interview Stages in the Recruitment Process
Many companies that experience hiring challenges have a rigorous and drawn-out selection process. Many stages of the interview process can halt top candidates in their tracks, leading to frustration and a loss of engagement. Some companies assign extensive test tasks, leading many candidates to withdraw from the hiring process at that stage. To address this issue, it’s essential to reassess and streamline the interview procedure, ensuring it is more efficient while still effectively evaluating candidates.
Qubit Labs’ Experience:
A company contacted us after struggling to fill a vacancy for four months. After a thorough audit, we identified that the hiring challenges were caused by multiple assessments and overly complex test tasks. Besides, the company rejected specialists who completed trial assignments differently than the client expected. We came up with the following optimizations:
- Combine interview stages.
- Shorten the test task to focus on core competencies or replace it with live coding interviews, which we have found to be highly effective in reducing hiring time.
- Accelerate the interview process by providing prompt feedback and clearly outlining the next steps for candidates.
The client streamlined decision-making and compressed the interview process. As a result, all engineer hiring challenges were eliminated, and we found a specialist with the required expertise within two weeks.
Company Seeks Specialists in a Specific Location
Some companies search for specialists in specific locations, but the availability of leading local IT specialists is becoming increasingly limited compared to their demand. Therefore, many companies choose to hire offshore developers. According to Qubit Labs’ research on hiring and team management challenges, 74.3% of tech businesses opt for hiring remote talent because it enables them to reach top talent without borders and cut hiring costs.
Qubit Labs’ Experience:
“In such cases, we recommend expanding the geographical scope to access a larger pool of specialists,” says Maryna Buzynnik, Head of Talents at Qubit Labs.
We have a successful case demonstrating this strategy’s effectiveness in combating recruitment challenges. A client sought a specialist solely in Bucharest, Romania; however, the local candidate pool was limited. We proposed an alternative solution: to find a specialist from another city in Romania who could travel to the Bucharest office once a month or less frequently while working from their home city. The client agreed and onboarded a new hire within two weeks.
Shortage of Qualified Candidates
What is the biggest challenge in recruitment? It is definitely a skills shortage. IMF research indicates that by 2030, the global workforce will face a shortfall of over 85 million technology professionals. Due to a limited pool of specialists, many companies experience software developer hiring challenges.
Qubit Labs’ Experience:
Qubit Labs found a software engineer with a specialized tech stack for our client in three weeks. To efficiently fill a vacancy within a limited talent pool, we recommended that the client expand their recruitment criteria. The company considered candidates who might lack specific skills but exhibited strong potential. Consequently, our customer successfully hired a suitable specialist and implemented a training program that helped effectively develop the necessary competencies. As a result, the developer we hired has contributed to the client’s success for over four years.
Why Partnering with Qubit Labs Can Help You Overcome Recruitment Challenges
Hence, these tips will help you close hard-to-fill jobs efficiently and avoid talent acquisition difficulties. However, remember that no secret recipe guarantees success, and diligence can’t be replaced. If you prioritize setting realistic expectations, focusing on nice-to-have skills instead of outlining strict requirements, ensuring your hiring process is smooth and fast, and addressing skill gaps, closing these vacancies can be less challenging.
If you want to resolve hiring challenges and find specialists who deliver top-notch results at competitive rates, partner with Qubit Labs. Our extensive experience and unparalleled expertise, combined with an advanced applicant tracking system, allow us to find a perfect match, regardless of your budget and technical requirements. Do you want to expand your team but don’t know where to hire? You can request free custom salary research tailored to your business needs. Do you have questions or an idea you want to bring to life? Schedule a free consultation call, and let’s achieve remarkable results together.
