September 18th, 2018
The Romanian Tech marketplace is competitive and shows no sign of slowing down, making the fight for talents in 2018 more competitive than ever before. So keep your hand on the pulse and work on refining your strategy according to the changing expectations of candidates. It will be your first step in establishing a data-driven strategy that reflects the current needs of the market and defines you as the top of mind employer in your field.
So, what is the best way to discover the expectations of the IT talent pool?
This spring we surveyed 3454 respondents with an IT background, from all over Romania and with different expertise levels. We asked them about their expectations towards Top Employers and investigated their perception of the Romanian employment market. All findings are featured in the IT&C report of the Most Desired Employers Study 2018.
In this article, we want to share with you some of the key descriptors of your audience and what really matters to them when considering you as an Employer to work for.
What really matters for an IT candidate?
As IT candidates are currently in the highest demand, they have the luxury to choose which employer they wish to work for. This is where employer branding comes in the game. The times when the salary was the argument closing the deal are over, now it’s all about company culture and candidate experience. What IT talents care about are how the organization treats them and the opportunity to do meaningful work in a friendly environment. In 2018 the company evaluated as having the most pleasant work atmosphere is Microsoft. Check below other organizations that made it to the top 10 in this ranking.
art of attracting IT candidates is establishing a strong presence as an employer both online and offline. Being acknowledged for meeting your employees’ requests will not only bring you new hires but also prevent retention drop in your organization.
Other rankings available in our report investigate the Employers who offer the best salaries, best training, and hiring top talents.
Criteria IT candidates use when choosing an Employer
As the Most Desired Employers Study 2018 revealed, offering Flexible Work is crucial for candidates when choosing an employer and its importance will continue to grow over the next years. In the era of digital nomads and evolving technology, talents no longer perceive an ‘’nine to five / six’’ office work schedule as necessary to do their jobs. No doubt that employees who have the possibility to organize their work themselves are generally more productive and happy in their jobs.
Almost half of the newbie candidates under a year experience want to have a positive impact on society, this being one of the main criteria when choosing an employer. It’s a sign that especially the younger generation cares about its environment and encourages the corporate social responsibility trend in the workplace.
To check other important criteria and their level of importance, download our free e-book with insights from the Most Desired Employers Study 2018.
Work-life balance as the main professional objective
Maintaining a healthy balance between personal and professional life is top of mind objective for more than half of our IT respondents. As you might expect, it grows in importance, especially for Seniors who are no longer in need for kick-starting their careers. The objective of becoming an expert, which was seen as a priority in 2016, now drops to the second place. What does it mean? Employees want not only more freedom at work, but they are also less likely to sacrifice their comfort in the name of a successful career. What matters most to them is having control over their lives and engaging in meaningful work.
IT candidates trust in personal interactions
When it comes to gathering information on jobs and employers, the IT candidates trust the most in personal interactions. However, professionals tend to rely on their personal network while juniors put their trust indirect interaction with employers.
Importantly, when it comes to trust and information, IT talents tend to reach out to other people, and this is something worth exploring in your employer branding strategy. We all have our small networks – same as your employees, customers or even refused candidates. Treat them all like your potential brand ambassadors and make sure their experience with you reflects the reality of your organization. After all, word of mouth is a powerful employer branding tool.
These are only some of the insights to focus on when attracting IT candidates. We hope that it will help you gain a new perspective on the current talent market and inspire you to use a data-driven approach to shape your talent-winning recruitment strategy. If you wish to explore in-depth insights about your target audience, its preferences and perception, we invite you to get full access to the Most Desired Employers Study 2018 and contact us at angajatori@catalyst.ro
For the key findings from this year’s study, download the free e-book. Check below what kind of information you can find there.
- Nationwide Ranking of the Most Desired Employers in 2018
- TOP 10 Most Desired Employers among respondents with IT&C background
- List of top attributes defining a Most Desired Employer in Romania
- All the criteria candidates use when choosing an employer
- % of salary increase to accept a job change
