Garter recently published a report titled “Emerging IT Talent Hubs in 2022.” This report highlights the most favorable cities in the world for a range of tech occupations. Given the recent trends in the tech industry, this report is a useful intervention for tech companies as they attempt to grapple with the changing labor market constraints.
One of the most significant highlights is the emergence of tech talent hubs across various cities worldwide. Tapping into the emerging international tech talent pool can be an effective mechanism to mitigate local talent limitations and increase competition in tech.
The industry outlook
To understand the necessity of considering international talent, it is critical to understand the national tech industry outlook. Factors such as an increase in competition for tech talent, changing employee priorities, and a rise in resignations, have led to tech companies reconsidering their recruitment strategies.
Resignations are at an all time high
The past year has witnessed mass resignations. This global phenomenon which is affecting most industries has been termed the “Great Resignation.” Approximately 57 million people left their jobs, often more than once, in the 14-month period from January 2021 to February 2022. This was a 25% increase from a similar time frame before the pandemic.
On the surface, it may seem like the resignations are induced by the pandemic, which may be true to a certain extent. However, the reasons behind employees quitting are far more structural – the pandemic may have only accelerated the impact. According to a study by Pew Research Center, the most significant reasons behind employees quitting were: low pay (63%), no opportunities for advancement (63%), and feeling disrespected at work (57%).
This problem may be particularly pronounced for IT workers. According to a different Gartner report, IT workers have a higher tendency to quit their jobs than employees in all other occupations. They have a 10.2% lower intent to stay in their job than their non-IT counterparts, the lowest of all corporate functions.
Increase in demand for tech talent
With a high number of resignations and increase in demand for tech talent, hiring has become competitive. The need for tech is universal. Tech skills are not just specific to the tech industry. They’re also widely required for other businesses, as the rapid digitalization continues across all industries, such as healthcare, finance, and even the public sector.
The shortage of tech talent is a severe cause for concern. According to a McKinsey report, significant skill gaps exist in at least seven key tech occupations, including DevOps, Cloud, Automation, Cybersecurity, and more.
According to another McKinsey survey, around 87% of senior executives have said that their companies are not adequately prepared to address the skill gap. Needless to say, companies need high quality tech talent to stay competitive, making the development of robust people and talent strategies the top priority of most companies. It has become increasingly difficult to both attract and retain quality tech talent.
Remote work is here to stay
It is not just competitive hiring that tech firms have to deal with, they also have to address the changing preferences of their employees. An increasing number of employees prefer flexibility in their work and demand a better work-life balance. The pandemic-induced trend of remote work was not temporary. It is here to stay.
The number of positions open for remote work has only been increasing, even as pandemic related restrictions ease. According to the Ladders Quarterly Remote Work Report, approximately 18% of all professional jobs are now remote. Moreover, an additional three million jobs have become permanently remote in the last quarter of 2021. Some of the highest paying remote work opportunities include working as a:
Software engineer
Product manager
DevOps engineer
Data engineer
Given the rise in preference for remote work, outsourcing your talent needs to global emerging talent hubs is a viable answer to the issues of increased competition and shortage of labor supply.
Highlights from the Gartner report
The primary purpose of the report is to help businesses with workforce and location planning by providing information on talent supply, demand, competition, and cost. Given the industry outlook discussed above, it is critical to reconsider your long and short-term tech talent acquisition strategies. The report shows that a greater fraction of IT workers is inclined to work in a hybrid model, compared to all other non-IT occupations.
The report shows that India has the largest global IT talent pool. Four cities – Bangalore, Delhi NCR, Pune, and Hyderabad – feature on the existing cities list and two cities – Ahmedabad and Kolkata – feature on the emerging cities list. The low salary and high supply of talent make India a popular spot for tech firms.
In addition, out of the 15 emerging IT hubs, 6 are in Latin America. This includes Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Guadalajara, and Campinas. These are excellent near-shoring options for American firms due to their high talent supply and low cost.
Other top emerging IT hubs in Central and Northern Europe include Budapest, Warsaw, and Helsinki. While they offer a large talent pool, the salaries might be higher than in other emerging locations.
Lastly, in Asia, Manila, New Taipei City, and Shenzhen are the emerging IT hubs. The supply is high and the cost is low in these regions, making them attractive locations. Moreover, New Taipei City and Shenzhen also rank high on location parameters score as they offer a conducive business environment.
Why should you hire remote workers?
In simple words, remote hiring gives you access to a much broader and global talent pool. This ensures that you can make cost-effective hires in a hyper-competitive labor market. While the workers can enjoy the flexibility and better work-life balance (which are priorities for most employees), you get to benefit from low salary costs and a high talent supply. Of course, the city from which you should hire your remote workers depends on your particular tech needs.
Outsourcing or near sourcing labor ensures you get access to the same or better talent, at a much lower cost. Additionally, consider the nature of the job when you decide to outsource. For example, technical jobs, which require “hard-skills” might be easier to outsource as the skill-set required is more standard and not necessarily too dependent on subjectivity.
For example, if you’re hiring for a full stack engineer, Bangalore and Sao Paulo top the list of existing hubs and Shenzhen and Rio de Janeiro top the list for emerging hubs. All of these cities have an abundant talent supply at a more cost-effective rate than in the US.
Conversely, it might be a better decision to locally hire for occupations that vary business to business. For example, a project manager or a UI/UX designer might need to be well acquainted with your firm, its priorities and processes to do a satisfying job, relative to a software, fullstack, or data engineer.
When you open your talent search to the entire world, the issue is no longer the labor shortage. In fact, you’ll have a hard time picking from the pool of available talent. Remote hiring across the world can be a challenging procedure due to communication gaps and cultural differences.
At Flocareer, we offer various interview related services, which can ease the process. Our team of 4,000+ freelance interview experts specializes in interviewing talent and testing their technical skills. Regardless of the position you’re hiring for, leverage our expertise in structured and technical interviews to make sure your global remote hires are the best fit for your firm.
