If your business is having trouble hiring for IT and technical positions, you’re not alone. Hiring for IT talent and tech are incredibly challenging right now because there just aren’t enough IT professionals to go around. Most already have a stable position or enough available freelance work to keep them busy for a hundred years. However, they’re also passively looking, which means browsing job boards and keeping an eye out for ‘greener pastures’. So why aren’t IT professionals finding their way into your hiring process?

Check Your Assumptions About IT Recruiting

One of the biggest problems with IT recruitment is that many modern businesses have unrealistic expectations of what makes a good (or available) IT candidate. Many want X years of experience, X level of college education, and X years with X skills. And in any other industry, that would make sense. But not in tech and IT.

Here’s some funs statistics from Stack Overflow’s global survey that will begin the path of enlightened IT recruiting:

  • Approximately 3/4 of tech professionals are under 35
    • That means a maximum of 17 years of legal job experience
  • 87% of tech professionals teach themselves new technologies
    • That means skill without college degrees or official certifications
  • 57% have less than 5 years professional coding experience
    • That can translate to unusual resumes that don’t look as impressive as you’d expect

What this boils down to is that most of the “top talent” out there are not middle-aged manager-level technicians and admins.

They are young (mostly) guys who are self-taught. Many didn’t go to college or didn’t finish college. Many got their skills doing projects or freelance work at home that doesn’t look traditionally tempting on a resume.

Most IT professionals have never worn a business suit, or only for interviews.

Many Businesses Turn Away Top IT Talent by Accident

When you consider all these factors, it’s easy to see how old-fashioned businesses can make the mistake of turning down their best chance at a top-notch IT department. Even worse, the job description itself makes it clear that the young, self-taught IT generation is not welcome to apply.

Many businesses today are looking for the nearly-mythical 45-50-year-old manager-level, college-educated IT professional because that’s what would make them the most comfortable. They need a network admin and they want someone who shows up in a suit, or at least in a tie and knows how to talk to management. What they get is half a dozen young people with mixed educations, sometimes college but not in a technical field, who have been making money freelance or in startups instead of building a nice respectably continuous job history.

Their resumes are all over the map. Their educations are unpredictable. They’re all a little quirky. Folks: this is the IT talent crowd. These are your “Top Tech Professionals“. Sure, there are a few 45-50 year olds in ties in the bunch. But they’re the exception, not the rule. And they’re probably working on one heck of a retirement bonus with the same company they’ve been working for over the last 20 years, not surfing the job market.

If They Don’t Know Your Tech, They Can Probably Learn It

The last major misconception when it comes to recruiting IT professionals is whether or know they have experience with your software, your programming languages, or your component technology. We know you want someone who knows your EMS inside and out. You want someone who has worked with your brand of router and your tech stack since they first entered the industry. However, that’s just not practical anymore because there are so many types of technology out there. The time when there were only a few dozen technologies to know is now far in the past.

Remember: IT talent teach themselves new languages and technologies. They are independent and fast learners. In fact, they are eager to learn, unlike more predictably specialized professionals of the past. If they don’t know your technology yet or haven’t worked with it before, don’t write them off yet. There’s a chance that what you’ve got is similar to what they know, and that they can pick it up fast enough to be of use to you by the time the onboarding period is over.

Give your IT recruits a chance to learn before your eyes. Figure out how fast they’ve learned other technologies in the past. Give them a chance to poke around your interface and prove how quickly they adapt. Because this is a fast-adapting crowd and you’ll probably be impressed.

Learn More About Recruiting Top IT Talent

Are you recruiting IT with unrealistic expectations? Do you know other companies who have been? Dispel that old idea of the 45-50 year old manager in a tie. Get used to the idea of hiring 20-30 somethings with variable backgrounds and careers based on high-speed learning. if you’re lucky, you’ll find a rising star and nurture them into the top-of-class IT talent your business needs. For more IT recruiting insights, contact us today!

Looking for more advice on IT recruiting? Top tip from our recruiters: If you interview someone you really like and identify them as a talent, MOVE FORWARD! In this climate, it is imperative that you do your due diligence but don’t wait around. Watch the video