Do you have difficulties in filling ICT vacancies? You are not alone. Many enterprises that recruited or tried to recruit tech specialists had difficulties in filling these vacancies.
Hiring expertise in information and communication technologies (ICT) is a challenge for businesses in the European Union (EU), information issued by Eurostat reveals. During 2018, 9% of EU enterprises recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists. More than half of these enterprises (58%) reported that they had problems filling vacancies requiring relevant ICT skills.
Among the EU Member States, enterprises in Romania found it most difficult to recruit ICT specialists. Although only 3% of Romanian enterprises recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists during 2018, 90% of them found it hard to fill these vacancies.
Recruitment of tech specialists was challenging for enterprises also in Czech Republic, where 80% found it hard to fill such vacancies, as well as in Austria (74%) and Sweden (72%). In contrast, the proportion of businesses finding it difficult to recruit tech specialists was below 40% only in Spain (27%) and Greece (38%).
It is becoming more and more challenging for enterprises in the EU to fill their vacancies for tech specialists. The share of enterprises who found it hard to fill these vacancies stood at 37% in 2013 and 38% in 2014. However, this share has risen sharply by 4-6 percentage points every year since, reaching a peak in 2018.
Ideas and solutions to tackle the recruiting challenges in tech
What should be done at national level to tackle these technology and recruiting challenges in the near future?
- A handy solution may be for Romania to attract tech talent from neighbouring countries and from Asian countries, for example.
- The government should support institutions of higher education, which provide ICT specialists with broad and comprehensive knowledge, while it should also start to further invest in the private education sector to enhance the training and re-training of well-skilled junior professionals.
- The focus should be more deep on Romanian specialists from Diaspora. For example, the Government is working on an online platform that will make jobseekers from abroad available in Romania
- We should raise the local initiatives geared to tackle ICT challenges for the future: for example, organisations that upskill and foster digital skills for youngsters.
