Talent gaps in IT – you have to train your people

The Covid-19 pandemic clearly exposed a laundry-list of reasons why digital transformation should be given priority in any business and in life. As more companies focus their attention on digitizing their operations to meet the changing consumer behavior and compete in their respective markets, training of people becomes more and more important.

Talent development programs can keep employees operating at the top of their skill set and prepare them to grow with the company. Do you agree?

However, there are too many IT jobs and not enough candidates to fill them; and let’s be honest: in the Philippines, the IT jobs are expanding.

Talent gaps stifle innovation and lead companies to get creative while sourcing new hires. Going back to the drawing board, technology executives are rethinking traditional values for qualified candidates and considering ways to streamline the hiring process to capture talent. 

As IT jobs are mostly filled by millennials and centennials, it is also important to not only look at the tech skills but ask about the candidate's mindset also, and include questions about whether they have an affinity for learning, if they're curious or to name the special something they'd bring to the role.   

When hiring for tech roles, companies expects potential employees "not only to understand engineering but to also really intimately understand our business to work in the cross-functional teams," Mojgan Lefebvre, EVP and chief technology and operations officer at Travelers Insurance, said.

Travelers Insurance assigns behavioral interviews to get a feel for the candidate's mindset. In a behavioral interview, the candidate is given a workplace scenario and asked how they would address it.

Retaining employees through career enrichment

You will agree that hunting for talent is one thing; the other important thing is to retain talent. Enriching an employee’s experience at the company — alongside diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and giving them the right tools to do their jobs effectively — can help retain top tech talent. 

Talent development programs can keep employees operating at the top of their skill set and prepare them to grow with the company.

Setting employees up for success falls on the frontline managers. Managers must learn to understand what the employee is ready for and what they're looking to get out of the role. 

Let’s realize that IT outsourcing is going to surge in 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic is driving digital transformation, which in turn accelerates technology outsourcing.

A survey by the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) showed that 87% of the IT-BPM firms are expecting to book as much as double-digit growth figures this year while the other 13% are anticipating flat growth. The industry group said there were also a ‘good number’ of companies planning to expand their business in the Philippine regions with the next 12 to 18 months.

In other words, new people have to be found and existing talent needs to be retained.

In addition, IT-BPM firms are focusing on the following priorities this year: optimization of existing operations, digital transformation and upskilling of the labor force.

Organizations who lead with the work force and involve their people constructively, and who are continuously experimenting with emerging technologies, are the ones who are the most agile and the ones who are able to proactively anticipate and deal with how technology is going to evolve the work equation.

Your feedback is more than welcome; contact me at [email protected]