Tech Hiring – Who’s the bucking bull?

I was just reading the YourStory newsletter today and almost felt a reverse nostalgia. It was during 2001 and later the sub-prime crisis that we were all holding to our jobs as the rodeo holds on to the bucking bull. No kidding. The rodeo was the employee. What’s the reverse nostalgia? We have 70K job openings in the IT sector for top six skills.

Is it great news? In isolation, yes it is. However, when you look at it from a lens of a corporate and the poor recruiter, it is nothing short of a nightmare. The rodeo here is the recruiter. Who’s the bucking bull? You’re smart. You can guess that easily.

Candidates are walking around with 4-5 offers comparing who’s giving the best perks, obscene hikes, joining bonuses and insane goodies. Talk about the things corporates do to get one right candidate to join.

The idea is neither to make candidates look like villains nor to make corporates look like martyrs. The big question is where are we going with this “worthy candidate” shopping?

The fact of the matter is we have more openings, but less talented individuals. Go ahead and feel bad, but the training/upskilling/reskilling isn’t working as well as people thought. Why, you ask? If the training is working, why is there a frenzy to hire like this by throwing money at the problem?

Why isn’t the training working? Because we’re looking at only one side of the equation. Put the employees in one theoretical training session, answer some objective questions, certify them and place them in a project. Where’s the age-old “practice”? Who’s teaching these guys and gals how to practice in a production-like environment before they’re placed in front of a client? Now you see why we’re facing a severe talent crunch in a nation of over 5 million techies.

Once the Universities, EdTech companies, and Corporates adopt this practice in real-world environments and then assess the learning based on real-world challenges, the scene will be a win-win within a few quarters.

I do have a few pointers on what can be done. Before I state them, would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Until then, enjoy the bull ride.