Hays Technology released its Hays Salary & Recruiting Trends 2022 guide recently, analyzing the areas in the recruiting market that are most popular or predicted to increase. The competition for top technology talent is only increasing making this the perfect time to find a job in this area with over 85% of employers recruiting tech professionals or planning on hiring in this area over the next 12 months. 

Following the pandemic and technological development boom that came with it, it is not surprising that this sector has a huge recruitment increase. “The biggest difference this year is the jobs at the top of our list. While in previous years the most sought-after candidates tended to be in more roles that required greater technical knowledge, we’re now seeing a return to the desire for people who can deliver change to a business as their digital transformation programs continue.” Comments James Hallahan, Director of Hays Technology, UK & Ireland.

Hays revealed that the top ten roles’ companies are searching to fill are:

• Project Manager
• Business Analyst
• Java Developer
• .net Developer
• Data Analyst
• Data Engineer
• DevOps Engineer
• Data Scientist
• Product Owner
• Security Engineer

Hallahan reflects on this list saying “We are seeing digital transformation in organizations at an unprecedented rate – and the events of the last two years have completely changed how businesses interact with their customers and each other, with much of the workforce requiring enhanced digital skills than at the start of 2020. The most in-demand tech jobs for 2022 are very much enablers of that accelerated digital transformation.”

Furthermore, according to Hays research tech professionals looking to move roles this year are driven to do this due to their salary and/or benefits package (34%), followed by a lack of future opportunities (18%). Meaning businesses are pushed to offer more appealing packages to employees to attain people that specialize in the tech sector.

Almost half (43%) of tech employees changed jobs in the last 12 months, while a further third (36%) considered doing so. The main reason to move jobs was a too-low salary (29%), which has increased from 24% last year. So the advice for businesses looking to recruit employees in these roles is to make the package attractive. Concentrate on positivity about career prospects within roles.  

“If you are considering a move in this year, consider not only how your skillset can meet the current demand, but think about what really matters to you in a career. Whether that’s work-life balance, colleagues, organizational purpose, training, or career development – making smart choices for the long-term will be critical if you want to thrive in a rapidly evolving jobs market.” Hallahan states.

Though the job market in the tech sector is much more competitive, positivity in this area has drastically increased with nearly three-quarters (72%) of tech employers saying they are optimistic about the wider economic climate and long-term employment opportunities. This is a huge change when compared with the 38% from last year.

Tech employees also have a far more positive outlook. Less than half (42%) say they’re concerned about the wider economic climate and employment opportunities in the next 2-5 years, lower than 74% last year and 54% before the Covid-19 pandemic. 

This shows promise for the future of the job market and recruitment, especially in the tech and leadership areas. However, this could change as post-Covid economic effects are still a factor, with aspects like the return to offices rather than remote work making a huge impact on employee happiness.

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Hays’ and Empact Ventures’ 2021 Super Connect for Good was a resounding success. The virtual final, which took place in November, saw the regional winners go head-to-head by pitching live for the Super Connect for Good 2021 Overall Champion. We spoke to the judge of both the Smart Cities entries and the South Regional Tech for Good competition, Martin Pardey. Pardey is a Director at Hays Technology, the leading recruitment experts.

Pardey has worked for Hays for 15 years. “When I joined Hays, our client-base was really large-scale corporate businesses, but over the years we have diversified our client base, and the recruitment support that we now provide is to a wide and diverse portfolio of clients ranging from startups, helping many scaling technology companies to grow as well as supplying into more established clients,” he said. “The South Coast technology scene is booming, and I’m very proud to be part of that economy for the future.”

Pardey is one of the top supporters of the Super Connect for Good competition. He assisted in launching the partnership between Empact Ventures and Hays Technology, which has resulted in successful events every year. “It’s been superb to see the quality of the applications, and I particularly love seeing companies that have been able to demonstrate that they can take a product or service out to the market and can clearly demonstrate that it’s solving a real-world problem. It’s well-publicized that there are many startup failures, so it’s really rewarding to see successes. It’s also great to see some companies that we have helped grow further,” he said.

Empact Ventures have partnered with Hays for almost four years, and Pardey has observed that the startups that partake in the Super Connect for Good contest grow more impressive every year. “The quality of the entries has improved year on year, and I felt this year was a really strong pool of startups that were solving well-publicized and, in some cases, worldwide problems. The startups that were improving people’s quality of life impressed me most as well as those that were solving environmental problems.”

Smart cities and smart startups

Pardey observes some of the trends he is currently seeing in the smart city sector: “with smart cities, a few years ago everyone was talking about solving traffic issues, parking and how we engaged differently with public transport. I think now we are seeing solutions that focus on changing people’s quality of life through innovative products. This ranges from helping people with impairments to navigate or identify effective transport, to solving environmental challenges such as waste management, or air quality, or sustainable travel solutions for the future.”

When asked what makes a great startup, Pardey answered: “a great startup has a great idea that not only has good traction initially but is scalable. Great people are important to any business as well as embedding an early vision and culture that everyone can buy into.”

For those startups that are keen to scaleup, Pardey emphasizes that good people are vital. “You need a strong founding team, but then you need to hire people with the right mentality in the future; people that can grow with you and can also adapt to the changing demands of a startup business. In my experience, not everybody can adapt to the pace of change in a fast-scaling, dynamic environment. Hence, the ability to deal with that is as important to the technical skills that you are hiring.”

About Martin Pardey, Director at Hays Technology and lead across the South East region

Martin Pardey is a Director for Hays Specialist Recruitment, the world’s largest specialist recruitment company. Pardey has 15 years of experience at Hays, specializing in recruiting within the technology and digital sectors. He is currently the Director for Hays’ Bournemouth Office, which supplies staff across technology, finance, marketing, office support, construction and property and supply chain sectors. He also leads the technology recruitment business across the South East region.

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About Hays

Hays is a leading global professional recruiting group, and an expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, making it the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific, and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. Hays operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. With 10,000 staff operating from 250 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms, last year it placed around 70,000 candidates into permanent jobs, and around 240,000 people into temporary assignments.

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