This evolution brought more stability on the market – as companies undertake more complex projects, hires become more engaged with their work and therefore more stable.
What do employers want?
The IT market was one of the first to bounce back after 2009. And since then we have seen constant increases, especially in 2012 – if in 2011, we had around 60 – 70 openings per month, in 2012 the number doubled. The beginning of 2013 brought an increase of approx. 30% in the number of openings and we expect it to be maintained during the year. This increase comes mostly from employers opening new centres on the market, especially research and development ones.
The most common technologies requested by employers are Java, .NET, PHP and C++. We have seen a constant request for Java and .NET, both being technologies highly sought by employers. PHP was highly demanded in 2011 and most of the 2012. For the past six months, there was a spike in the requests for C++ - 60% of our requests are for this particular technology.
As mobile gains over, we see more and more employers looking to recruit Android and iOS developers. Employers start to look also for people with a combination of technologies – e.g. Java and C++, Front End + Java, Java and Android, C++ and iOS either because the applications involve multiple technologies or because they need people to switch between applications depending on the projects they bring on.
Specialists are still valued but some of the employers look for generalists in terms of technologies. Once a project is over, the employees should be capable to move on another one, which most probably will involve at least one different technology. Candidates should have at least knowledge about more technologies and the ability to learn quickly and become productive on short term.
As the market becomes more complex, so do the expectations of employers. They want to see people who were involved in complex projects, who have a vision or a global perspective regarding the solutions they were involved in, who are able to communicate and work in teams. The focus moved from administering, coding, and just working on an application to include conceptualizing the application and having a big perspective on it. Moreover, employers start to value knowledge sharing – if they bring a senior in a team, they want to make sure the experience is transferred in the organization.
What do candidates want?
Although Romania is recognized as an IT hub in terms of skills, most of the employers will normally look to recruit the top talent in the industry. And this pool is obviously small, as with all industries. Therefore, it is highly important for employers to monitor and assess constantly the perceptions and expectations of the potential talent. We do this through an annual survey “Most desired employers in Romania” and we are able to assess how the pool is different from other professions, what motivates them in terms of jobs and employers, the triggers to be employed when presenting them a career opportunity.
The IT professionals are more prone to finding more information about the employer before applying for a job or even if they are not interested in changing employers. They are better connected and it’s not a surprise to hear candidates on a first call knowing in depth about a company’s environment, projects, management style, salary ranges, etc. The pool is more knowledgeable and this poses challenges for the IT employers – they need to have a constant focus on employer branding because the market is very sensitive to company reputation.
- Microsoft
- IBM
- Oracle
- Adobe
- HP
- Continental
- Siemens
- Apple
Most Desired Employers Survey, 2012, designed by Catalyst Consulting for Brainspotting (873 respondents, IT specialists and managers)
If we look at the ideal employer ranking and the criteria taken into consideration when choosing an employer, we see that the IT profile values companies they associate with friendly environments, learning opportunities and reputation.
Moreover, during discussion with candidates, recurrent motivation factors for changing employers are the complexity of the projects and the technologies used.
As compared to other western countries where industry hires are more inclined to specialize and less flexible in taking on new technologies, Romanians demonstrate a higher degree of learning agility and more interest in changing or using new technologies.
One of the largest gaps we find on the market, between employers and potential employees concerns the communication channels. Employers prefer the one way communication type, while potential hires value more the interactive ones.
You will find the full article in English in the attached pdf.
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Brainspotting is the leading technology recruitment and selection consultancy in Romania, working on highly specialized technologies for permanent and interim positions for over 200 national and global clients, since 2001.
We are passionate about technology and its trends and we are deeply knowledgeable about the skills needed by the industry. We work with clients from IT, Telecom, Automotive, Oil & Gas, Banking & Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, BPO and Call Centers to cover both niche and commodity technical profiles.
