According to ETHRWorld, the flagship digital platform for the HR vertical of The Economic Times, the UK is heading for a technology talent crisis, with more than 70% of CTOs saying there is a lack of quality developers. But luckily, with IT outsourcing, tech businesses in the UK and beyond can source incredible tech talent elsewhere.
Why does there seem to be such a lack of tech talent in the UK? The factors stated in the report are varied, but primarily seem to be concentrated around the UK education system not producing sufficient quality candidates, and tech moving so fast that candidates and their skills can’t keep up.
In this article, I will guide you through the different factors contributing to this technology talent crisis as discussed in the report, providing solutions for each as to how your tech business can benefit from IT outsourcing (without exceeding your budget or spending weeks searching and interviewing candidates).
Reasons and Solutions for the Technology Talent Crisis
1. Lack of Time and Money for Effective Recruitment
Reason: 37% of CTOs said their organisation lacks the budget needed to recruit the best candidates, while 31% said they lack the time and resources to source candidates effectively.
Solution: Established tech companies can start their tech team abroad without having to deal with the country’s bureaucracy, such as opening a company in Portugal (no need to hire lawyers or accountants!). Moreover, salaries will be paid by KWAN. Contracts will be done by KWAN. So the only thing your tech company has to do is to choose the right candidates from our carefully curated shortlist!
Is your tech company a startup or a small business? If so, it can be harder to find the time and budget necessary to build up a strong tech team. Moreover, spending unwanted time and money on recruitment can lead to frustration while you’re working so hard to grow your tech business. But with success and growth, comes the need to expand your workforce. Outsourcing in startups is a great way to combat this problem, as by handing over the responsibility to an external team of recruitment experts, you will save your own time, as well as giving your company the opportunity to strengthen and evolve in the best possible way.
KWAN offers many advantages to tech companies looking to grow their teams, especially businesses who might not necessarily have previous experience hiring tech talent. Adding someone new to your team will be easier and faster with KWAN, as not only do we know the market well, having worked within the tech recruitment and outsourcing industry for the past fifteen years, we have a database full of candidates ready to start at a moment’s notice. In the UK, a month’s notice is usually standard for an employee to move from one job to the next (plus a week of holidays between jobs, perhaps?) whereas with KWAN, you can have the perfect candidate already working for you in just two weeks. This saves you a lot of time and money that could mean starting working on a new project almost a month earlier, or having your team waiting for that IT professional you’re still trying to hire!
2. Lack of Expertise and Skills
Reason: 43% of CTOs found a lack of expertise and skills in the areas required.
Solution: This is a staggering percentage of companies admitting to a lack of expertise and skills, which is absolutely vital, if not the most important thing needed to guarantee the success of a tech company. Global outsourcing is a fantastic way to broaden the talent pool, and to ultimately give your company the best chance of success by building up a strong tech team. By setting up your tech team in the right country, there will be no lack of candidates with the required expertise and skills.
Thanks to a recruitment process made of several technical challenges and a dedicated talent acquisition team, KWAN has built up an extensive community of tech talent, readily available to companies around the world. Trained in multiple different areas of tech, from software development, quality assurance, and so on, the skillset of our candidates is all-encompassing. What’s more, IT professional at KWAN are even doing frequent hard skill training provided by the company, so you can rest assured they will be ready to get going right from the start.
3. Lack of Quality Candidates
Reason: 35% of CTOs said there is a general lack of quality candidates.
Solution: Once again, this can be solved by global outsourcing. Just because your company is based in the UK doesn’t mean your team needs to be! In fact, by opening yourself up to crossing borders in your search for the perfect candidate to fit your needs, you will end up with a larger pool of tech talent, ultimately making it a lot easier to build up a strong team.
At KWAN, we have many Portuguese developers open to international job opportunities in the tech industry. With professional knowledge of the English language, trained at MIT-linked universities, and with existing experience working with international tech companies, either based in Portugal or abroad, Portuguese tech talent is definitely something to consider if your company is struggling to find the right person for the job you need to fill. Just by recruiting people from different countries alone, you are improving your company’s success rate, as the ‘Cultural Add’ strategy suggests. Read more here about the benefits of building a tech team which crosses borders and cultures, in comparison to keeping your team limited to UK employees.
4. Current Economic Uncertainty
Reason: 31% of CTOs say candidates are more reluctant to switch roles due to the current economic uncertainty.
Solution: Now of course, this final point is a little more tricky to overcome. It’s not only the tech industry that is suffering as a result of the current economic uncertainty in the UK and beyond, with thousands of companies struggling to keep afloat within a world of rising interest rates and taxes. First and foremost, people want to feel secure in their job.
So, the best thing you can do in this case is to make your employees feel as though they are valued, supported, and working towards growing their career in your company and the tech industry all together. Maybe you’re having trouble bringing new skills to your team because people are afraid to leave their current jobs? Read our article on quiet hiring which explains how you can provide your current employees with training to overcome that lack of skills? What’s more, outsourcing IT professionals with KWAN also provides your company access to extra benefits such as our People Managers, who will provide constant support and coaching to your team members, and so increasing retention for your tech project.
IT outsourcing with KWAN offers your tech company the perfect solution to sourcing and maintaining a strong, skilled, and committed team of workers
In conclusion, while the UK might be headed towards a technology talent crisis, this doesn’t have to affect your tech business. With IT outsourcing, it is more than possible to source those quality candidates equipped with the right skillset to work for your tech team. Besides having the same timezone as the UK, there are so many reasons to choose Portugal as the country to nearshore your IT team, in this article, we give you a few more reasons to do it.
Reach out to us and let us know what gaps are needing to be filled in your team. We’ve already done the hard work for you… interviewing and finding the most qualified people working in the tech industry. Therefore, starting or expanding your tech team will be a much easier and straightforward process. Visit our website and get in touch!
