The information technology (IT) industry is booming, with many opportunities for employment and high salary potential. But a recent survey has revealed that the attractive points of entering and thriving in the industry can become moot if talent is not retained. Many IT employers who participated in the survey said they aren’t seeing the benefits of the recession recovery.
“Despite the emergence of successful tech startups and exponential growth of several computer science and engineering occupations, many IT employers are confronted by a variety of staffing challenges that have the potential to limit productivity and innovation,†said Eric Presley, chief technology officer at CareerBuilder. “The top issues in 2014 will be the retention and recruitment of high-skill talent. The most-in demand workers are attracting lucrative offers nationwide, meaning employers have to recognize and incentivize their best talent to stay ahead of the competition.â€
Check out the top 10 challenges faced by IT hiring managers:
36 PERCENT: Retaining top talent
31 PERCENT: Lifting employee morale
29 PERCENT: Recruiting high skill applicants
27 PERCENT: Providing competitive compensation
26 PERCENT: Worker burnout
25 PERCENT: Maintaining productivity levels
21 PERCENT: Managing organizational changes
20 PERCENT: Providing competitive benefits
17 PERCENT: Providing upward mobility
16 PERCENT: Cutting down on cost-per-hire
These findings come at a time when industry attraction and retention is key, especially since minorities and women are underrepresented in IT fields. African Americans represent only 6.4% of all employees in STEM occupations, and women make up less than a quarter of the STEM workforce. In terms of STEM study, there’s a disparity even before the job-seeking phase, as statistics show that 65.3% of African Americans who start out pursuing STEM degrees don’t graduate with a degree in STEM (compared with 47.9% of White students.)