"A modern tech stack is a huge asset in recruiting"

Recruiting in the ICT industry presents challenges for many IT service providers. Contemporary and innovative technologies are an important weapon in the competition for tech talent. In this blog post, Xelon CEO Michael Dudli shows how the use of modern technologies and solutions - such as an intuitive cloud infrastructure - can help IT service providers recruit tech talent. 

Recruiting in ICT is a much-discussed topic, and even in 2022, recruiting sought-after tech talent seems difficult for many IT service providers. SMBs in particular often struggle to recruit ICT professionals. "Most of our clients have open positions that they haven't been able to fill for what feels like an eternity. I think it's pretty much the same for everyone. There aren't many IT service providers and system integrators in Switzerland that aren't currently looking for anyone," said Xelon CEO Michael Dudli. In this blog post about recruiting in the ICT industry, we look at what IT talent expects from an employer and how modern technologies help IT service providers overcome recruiting problems. 

In the ICT industry, digital natives currently make up the majority of applicants and a significant proportion of employees already on the job market. According to Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon, the term digital native refers to a person "who has grown up with information technologies and the Internet since childhood and is unfamiliar with a world without digital media." Generation Y, which includes everyone born between about 1980 and 2000, is the first generation of digital natives. 

The desire for self-determined work is great among digital natives 

"What probably distinguishes all those born after 1980 is their affinity for PCs, cell phones and social media. The members of Generation Y are the first digital natives and have already fundamentally turned the job market upside down with desires such as home office and flexible working hours as well as with their self-evident use of social media. Rigid working hours are unattractive to them," writes the international management consulting firm Mercer in a blog post. Among employees under 40, the desire for self-determined work is strong. "Gen Y wants to think for themselves, act independently, and carry out their work in a mobile manner and with flexible working hours" is the conclusion of recruitment specialist HR Monkeys. 

The option to work remotely can be a big advantage when recruiting new Gen Y employees. In surveys conducted years before the outbreak of the pandemic, many digital natives said flexible working hours and the option to work remotely were a non-negligible aspect when choosing an employer. Most tech professionals want to maintain their newfound flexibility in work location and hours since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, according to a Boston Consulting Group talent study released in November 2021. An overwhelming 95 percent of all respondents want to work from home at least once a week, and the vast majority want to work two or three days a week in a home office. Flexibility in working hours and location requires a scalable and stably functioning IT infrastructure. It must be possible to access applications at any time, from anywhere in the world, and with multiple end devices. 

As a young tech start-up, Xelon not only has experience in recruiting tech talent, but also knows the requirements of today's workers for the IT environment. We are happy to help IT service providers build the right infrastructure. Contact us now to design a customized IT environment that tech talent loves. 

What role does salary play in recruiting IT professionals? 

There are still many myths surrounding ICT recruiting. One of them, for example, is that SMEs cannot hold their own in the "battle for talent" against international tech corporations such as Google, IBM or Facebook. What is the truth behind this myth? Tech giants that invest considerable financial and human resources in employer branding do indeed swallow up a large share of the sought-after ICT professionals. In Switzerland, Google and Microsoft are two attractive employers that often hire IT talent straight out of college. How can Swiss IT service providers keep up? 

One thing first: The "battle for talent" cannot be won with money alone. "Tech talents know that their skills are in hot demand. Companies can no longer simply throw money around in the hope of getting the best candidates. If you want to secure top talent, you have to pay more attention to the wants and needs of job candidates," writes tech company CodinGame in a blog post. 

ICT professionals are primarily looking for better career opportunities or a new challenge when they change jobs, according to a 2021 article published by the Boston Consulting Group. The other reasons for looking for a new job: they feel they are undervalued in their current position or that their work-life balance is not what it should be. Pay was not among the top reasons for changing jobs, according to the study. "I don't think most techies are primarily concerned with salary. Salary is part of the attractiveness of an employer and certainly an important part and you have to be in the range that's within the range. But, I think soft factors like tech stack and team are clearly more important," Xelon CEO Michael Dudli also says. 

The 2019 Global Brand Health Report found that nearly half of tech employees would not accept a job offer if they weren't interested in the product, and 43 percent would turn down an offer if the company had a bad reputation. Tech professionals care most about company culture and learning opportunities, according to the study. Michael Dudli of Xelon shares this sentiment: "The good people in particular want to have opportunities and see that they can grow." 

The cloud accelerates innovation and enables focus on the core business 

Investments in a customized IT infrastructure, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and other technologies that enable repetitive tasks to be performed more efficiently benefit the digital natives who are being courted on the labor market. They generally find it easier to delegate work to technologies than their older colleagues. This allows them to focus on strategic activities and the core business. 

Working with the right cloud provider, for example, takes a huge amount of pressure off IT teams. This saves time and enables a stronger focus on business-relevant work - which is not only an advantage when recruiting new IT professionals, but is also of importance when it comes to retaining IT talent. "We hear so many IT service providers saying 'I can't find people who still want to go into the data center and bolt any servers in there.' I'm finding people who want to work with the cloud; I'm finding people who want to focus.' I think having a modern tech stack makes it easier for IT service providers to recruit and retain IT talent," says Xelon CEO Michael Dudli. 

"Technology is a huge asset in ICT recruiting," confirms Werner Raschle, CEO of Swiss recruiting firm Consult & Pepper. In numerous surveys, IT decision-makers and opinion leaders named the cloud as the undisputed leader among technology trends. Further growth is expected for cloud computing in the coming years and, according to the renowned market research company Gartner, the cloud "kept all its promises" even during the COVID 19 crisis. 

Want to know how your company can create the right working environment for sought-after tech talent? Download our whitepaper "Recruiting in the ICT industry" now.