According to research carried out on behalf of telecommunications giant O2 at the end of 2015, more than 2 million skilled professionals will be needed in the UK.

In order to position the UK as a digital leader and fulfil its ‘digital potential’ over the next five years, around 2.3 million tech experts will need to be recruited. But where can employers and organisations find the best and brightest talent, and how can they do so without wasting resources and spending inordinate amounts of time on recruitment?

Rethinking tech recruitment

Luckily for employers, TechWeekEurope has a few useful tips to change the way we think about recruiting for digital roles. Here are just a couple:

• The lack of a degree shouldn’t necessarily be a barrier to entry. In the tech world, some of the most talented and successful individuals are those that either didn’t have access to formalised training, or didn’t want to embark on an expensive degree course. A degree doesn’t necessarily make for an ideal employee, and it certainly doesn’t guarantee one that will innovate and drive your business forward.

• Look out for passion, dedication and self-teaching – these are crucial attributes. Candidates who taught themselves to code or who started their own companies aren’t in it for the money or simply to climb the career ladder; they do it for the love of all things digital. This is the kind of individual who will help steer the direction of your company, take the lead on exciting new projects and become a valued, long-term asset for your organisation.

Winning the ‘war for talent’ and how digital recruitment specialists can help

Around 38% of IT leaders who are planning to recruit new talent in the next six months say that it is very challenging to find what they would describe as excellent talent, according to the CIO Executive Council’s 2016 IT Talent Assessment Survey. The desperate demand for talent, and an ever-expanding skills gap, has created what some industry insiders call a ‘war for talent’.

Challenges facing IT recruiters include everything from not enough qualified applicants to a lack of a strong recruitment strategy, as well as problems working with HR and the inability to offer attractive enough compensation and benefits.

The Survey also revealed ways that businesses can seek and attract the talent they need to drive digital innovation within their organisations. Word of mouth referrals from employees was found to be one of the most successful tactics for recruitment, with the use of specialist IT recruiters a close second. A total of 20% of those surveyed said they found recruiters to be a ‘very successful’ method, while 51% described it as successful.

If there is never enough time to dedicate to tech talent recruitment, you need a specialist on your team. SOLOS Recruitment Consultants specialise in seeking out only the very highest quality digital, IT and tech professionals and can handle every part of the recruitment process on your behalf – get in touch to get the ball rolling.

image courtsey of Stuart Miles @ freedigitalphotos.net