HOLMDEL, N.J., Sept. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Over the past two years, technology recruiters and hiring managers report that it has become more acceptable to hire candidates with relevant skills even though they may not have a four-year degree in the technology field, according to a new report from iCIMS Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based talent acquisition solutions.
iCIMS found that nearly half of all technology recruiters find it more difficult to fill skilled technology positions today than they did two years ago because of a shortage of applicants who have the right skills or experience. As a result, employers are hiring candidates with non-traditional education backgrounds, with more than two-in-five tech recruiters stating that less than 25 percent of their hires had a college degree in a related field.
iCIMS’ new report, “Shifts and Trends in Tech Talent Qualifications and Needs,” is drawn from the company’s database of more than 75 million applications and four million jobs posted per year, and a third-party survey of 400 technology recruiters and hiring managers.
“To land a tech role in any industry, job seekers need to increase their marketability by adding training such as coding boot camps and specialized certification courses to complement or in place of a relevant degree,” said Susan Vitale, chief marketing officer at iCIMS. “To fill roles, some of which have never existed before, employers need to look beyond traditional universities and their tech degrees, and engage candidates who have demonstrated aptitude, use freelancers, develop in-house training programs and create long-term partnerships with local colleges to create a pipeline of qualified talent.”
Key findings include:
Tech Employers Hiring More but Faced with Less Qualified Talent
- Nearly half (49 percent) of tech hiring professionals find it more difficult to fill skilled technology positions than they did two years ago because of a shortage of applicants who have the right skills or experience.
- Many tech jobs are newly created positions. In fact, 45 percent of tech hiring professionals state more than half of the technology roles their company hires for today did not exist two years ago.
Skills-Based Hiring is Becoming More Popular for Tech Roles
- Just over three in five (61 percent) tech hiring professionals state a four-year college degree alone does not prepare job seekers to be successful in today’s workforce.
- Forty-five percent of tech hiring professionals state that in the next two years, a coding boot camp will be as meaningful a qualification for skilled technology jobs as a college degree.
- Eighty percent of hiring professionals would offer tech candidates the same salary regardless of whether they had a relevant degree.
- Seventy-four percent of tech hiring professionals have increased their hiring of freelance or contingent technology workers in the past two years due to lower costs and more access to specialized skills and flexibility.
Emerging Technologies and Rapid Growth Require Talent to Expand Their Skills
- Sixty-one percent of tech hiring professionals agree that a four-year college degree in a technology-related field alone does not prepare job seekers to be successful in today’s workforce.
- Hiring candidates with non-traditional educational backgrounds has become increasingly common. Forty-four percent of tech hiring professionals said that in the past year, less than 25 percent of their technology hires had a college degree in a related field.
- DevOps and cloud computing/software as a service are the most important experiences that technology job candidates should have.
The Fastest Growing Industry for Tech Roles is Not the Tech Industry
- The retail industry hired 79 percent more tech employees in 2017 compared to 2016 while manufacturing and financial activities hired 14 percent fewer.
- Over the last two years, data scientist and computer/information research scientist roles saw the greatest increases in hires.
- Sixty-nine percent of tech hires across various industries were male while 31 percent were women.
To view the full report, please visit Hiring Insights.
About Report Methodology:
The findings from this report are drawn from the company’s database of more than 75 million applications and four million jobs posted per year, and third-party survey data of 400 technology recruiters and hiring managers.