I know you are already familiar with the fact that the market faces a significant lack of IT professionals. However, several stats show tremendous growth in the IT recruiting sector. For instance, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the IT industry will add 531,200 new jobs by 2029.
Whether you are already working in IT or aspiring to do retraining to this area, you have all the rights to think, “This is the greatest moment to find a highly-paid and stable job,” only by looking at these amazing numbers.
But the truth that stands behind these numbers is that there is an important gap between what companies want and what applicants offer.
Since every recruiting process is very specific (according to the company’s contextual needs, projects, and policies), somehow closing this gap stands in applicants’ power by:
- checking out closely the job requirements;
- trying to understand from the beginning what the company does/doesn’t;
- checking out the company’s portfolio for having a realistic overview of its projects;
- browsing on the company’s online presence (social media, blog, etc.) to understand the working environment.
Does it sound like it’s all the applicants’ responsibility to close this gap? ‘Cause, it’s not.
In fact, companies have a tone of work to do to build trust among employees and a positive image for external audiences. But, practically, for checking the list above, every company has to invest time, money, human resources, and effort continuously. And, above all, every employer branding initiative must rely on solid truth.
What companies expect for the job seekers
The greatest company’s challenge is to synchronize projects demands with available human resources (IT professionals).
Usually, every (new) project comes with the urgency of providing a complete team. So, fast recruitments are often needed.
And, as recent stats showed, these are the most in-demand tech skills when it comes to new recruitments:
But tech skills are not enough for hiring the right professionals for the right projects.
Therefore, the recruitment equation also includes:
- Fast availability for getting hired.
- Soft skills.
- The synchronization between the candidate’s professional objectives and the project’s needs.
In terms of numbers, take a look at what stats say:
- Three-quarters of hiring staff say it’s easier to attract top talent when the candidate knows about your organization, confirming that employer brand is a powerful business tool. (CMD Recruitment);
- 75% of companies use behavioral interview questions to assess soft skills. (G2.com);
- 8 out of 10 recruiters use references to screen candidates. (Finances Online);
- 82% of hiring executives see candidate experience as important. (Finances Online).
What applicants expect
- 92% would consider leaving their current jobs if offered another role with a company that had an excellent corporate reputation. (Corporate Responsibility Magazine);
- 69% of job seekers are likely to apply for a job if the employer actively manages its brand. (Glassdoor);
- 79% of job seekers will consider a company’s mission before applying. 66% of employees find motivation in a company’s mission, and 64% attribute their company’s mission to the main reason they stay in their current jobs. (Glassdoor);
What generates the gap?
The gap is at the intersection of several factors:
- Communication: applicants coming from different cultures | different time zones | poor understanding of the job’s requirements (generated either by too little relevant information posted by the employer, or by superficial scrutiny of the requirements by the candidate);
- Matching the job with the right candidate: over/underqualified candidates | lack of soft skills needed for a specific project | the level of the professional challenge brought by the project (above/below the candidate’s expectations);
- Competition: unrealistic offers from similar companies | employer branding campaigns that are not vocal enough | aggressive hiring campaign sustained by the competition;
- Remote recruiting: resized applications (unrealistic portfolio, misleading info in the resume, etc.) | inappropriate frameworks for conducting an interview | desynchronizations & connectivity problems;
- Dynamic requirements: technology changes | new project requirements | dynamic objectives
The most effective way to avoid dealing with these gaps is to pay attention to both companies’ profiles and job requirements.
Since you can take care of on your own the first ones, for the second part, you can count on our advice.
Take a look at the following insights:
If you are interested in a project manager job
You are responsible for…
Are you going to manage a dedicated development team? Your role is to make sure your team accomplishes the work at the agreed deadlines on a set scope and that is making its deadlines with no changes to that scope of work.
If you are managing an external project with internal staff, things will look pretty much the same. The difference stands in the fact that you have more flexibility in choosing the tools you work with and the project’s objective is more stable.
In-demand tech skills for this job
It’s a must-have for every project manager to master project-management methods like Agile, Scrum, Kanban, or Waterfall. For instance, being comfortable working with Atlassian – JIRA for projects tracking represents a significant plus.
Besides these, having previous experience in working with the technologies selected for the project would be a major plus.
Soft skills required:
Leading a team can be done based on strong soft skills: communication, solving problem mindset, flexibility, empathy, etc.
See the projects developed with our teams:
If you are interested in a cloud architect job
You are responsible for
As a Cloud Architect, you are in charge of the cloud computing strategy. Your main responsibilities are to deploy, manage, and support cloud applications.
In-demand tech skills for this job
- strong understanding of multiple operating systems;
- networking, programming, and security skills.
- knowledge of cloud technologies and services (e.g., Amazon Web Services) and architectural principles;
- experience with scaling cloud applications.
Soft skills required:
Collaboration and communication skills are must-haves for this job.
If you are a mobile app developer
You are responsible for
…developing apps that can work on Android, iOS, Windows, and other operating systems.
In-demand tech skills for this job
If you wanna grow as a mobile app developer, you must have extensive knowledge of the various mobile platforms and wide experience in programming, UX design, testing, debugging, development and maintenance.
Soft-skills required:
“Just developing” is no longer enough for getting a good job. It’s essential to put your tech skills in context and make them work together with your soft ones. So, what completes your tech skills best is:
- knowing to collaborate across departments (e.g., design, test, release, and support);
- having a problem-solving mindset;
- being flexible and ready to adapt fast to dynamic objectives and new requirements.
Example of what we request from a mobile developer:
Tech skills:
- Working experience in Android development;
- Strong Java skills with extensive knowledge of the Android SDK;
- MVP and MVVM patterns;
- Kotlin;
- Experience with third-party libraries;
- Working knowledge of best practices of Android app design and creating UI layouts for multiple devices using Material design;
- Proficient understanding of code versioning tools, such as Git;
- Solid OOP and software design knowledge;
- Solid understanding of the full mobile development life cycle.
Soft skills
- being a real team player;
- effective communication skills;
- open-mindset;
- critical thinking;
- flexibility & adaptability.
Check out available jobs for you at Roweb.
If you are a software developer
You are responsible for
…Designing, developing, installing, testing, and maintaining software systems for internal and/or external clients.
In-demand tech skills for this job
To be a successful software developer, you must combine multiple tech skills for coding, designing, and building applications, websites, or mobile apps.
It’s mandatory to master multiple programming languages (e.g., C#, C++, HTML, Java, Microsoft .NET, etc.).
Soft-skills required:
- strong communication skills;
- ability to understand client requirements fast;
- ability to provide recommendations for improving web, software, and mobile applications;
- analytical skills.
Job opportunities at Roweb
If you are a QA
You are responsible for
If you are a QA automation tester, you are in charge of design automated tests to validate the functionality of web and mobile applications.
In-demand tech skills for this job
- up-to-date knowledge of software programming and software test design;
- good knowledge of test automation using Selenium + C# for web applications;
- support test automation solutions for different environments (Web, Web services, and XML);
- strong understanding of various test frameworks and able to extend the T&L IT Keyword Driven Selenium Test framework to existing and new digital assets:
- proven experience developing automated test systems using Selenium;
- good knowledge of API Testing using tools such as Postman;
- SQL knowledge
- working experience in Continuous Integration concepts (CI/CD) leveraging Azure DevOps and streamlined delivery of code.
Soft-skills required:
- good communication skills;
- analytical skills;
- strong attention to detail;
- good project management skills.
Ready to apply for a QA automation job at Roweb?
Why working for Roweb is your next career step
We’re a software services company with a solid background in implementing complex projects for global clients. Our dedicated teams of experienced software professionals have successfully implemented over 1000 projects. We develop custom software, web, desktop, and mobile applications, beautiful and scalable websites that focus on the user experience, custom online portals, and Magento e-Commerce solutions.
In 2020 we’ve been named among the top B2B providers partner in Bucharest, Romania by Clutch, In recognition of our success and impact.
We were also acknowledged for our hard work by listing us in ”Top Development Partner on the 2020 Clutch 1000”, representing only the top 1% of companies listed on the site. At the same time, we occupied 1st place on the “Top 70 Software Development Companies in Romania” listing made by The Manifest.
We’ve worked with companies from USA, UK, Belgium, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and Romania and we understand the needs of and provide solutions for companies of all sizes ranging from start-ups to large enterprises.
Industries we’ve developed solutions for include:
- Travel;
- Real Estate;
- Health Care;
- Human resources;
- Tourism & Hospitality;
- Media, Social Media Marketing;
- Financial Services;
- Transport & Logistics.
