Cyber Security Recruitment

The UK IT recruitment market is becoming increasingly competitive. The recent Labour Market Outlook report by the CIPD found that the IT sector has the most roles to fill, second only to healthcare.

For those tech companies on a mission to find top software engineers, developers, data scientists or Board level executives right now, a lot of factors are in play that are making this extremely tough (something of an understatement). 

If you already have recent, direct, experience of this you will have found job postings plus wider recruitment activities returning few suitable applicants; stiff competition for the attention of top flight candidates; salaries that are several levels beyond those being paid pre-Covid.

Here are some of the factors that have led to this: 

One of the top recruitment firms in the UK. YES! Richard Wheeler Associates is listed in the Entrepreneur Handbook as one of 15 top recruitment agencies in the UK & London 2021.

London is home to more software developers than any other European city, with over 359,000 full stack developers across the capital, according to research by Atomico and Stack Overflow. London retains its spot as the largest tech hub for professional developers, followed by Paris (267,000), Amsterdam (216,000) and Cologne (165,900).

Employees are often faced with a dilemma when their skills are highly sought after - to take a new job offer and career challenge, or accept a counteroffer and stay put?  Should I stay, or….

During the past year, interest in UK jobs from candidates based outside the EU has increased by 20%, according to a new survey by Indeed.

For the first time in seven years, UK based jobs advertised on Indeed.com are attracting a greater number of clicks from outside the EU than from EU countries. 

Interest from the EU has seen only a slight increase of 1.3% since 2019. Overall, there has been a steady decline in EU interest since the 2016 Brexit referendum as EU citizens will face visa restrictions for the first time with the end of freedom of movement on December 31st.

Are you surprised by the current UK technology jobs market? Advertising plus wider recruitment activities returning very few applicants?

Challenging jobs market (Spring 2021).

For those tech companies on a mission to find top software engineers, developers, data scientists or Board level executives right now, a lot of factors are in play that are making this extremely tough (to put it mildly). 

What is it that motivates the top talent to choose a tech startup over a myriad of alternatives?

These are the most common reasons tech candidates give to RWA:

The Internet of Things is connecting more devices every day.  Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US released a report which found that 25 billion objects are already connected online worldwide, gathering information using sensors and communicating with each other over the internet.

Demand is growing for candidates with advanced digital skills, with 60% of employers expecting demand to continue rising in the next 5 years. 

Research by the Learning and Work Institute (LWI) found that over one in three employers say they face a skills gap within their current workforce for advanced digital skills, while 41% have struggled to recruit workers with the advanced digital skills that they need.

The LWI is an independent policy research organisation that conducted research exploring digital skills and the future of the labour market in the UK.