The tech talent shortage continues to grow across the US, and it’s putting immense pressure on startups. CIO explains that the struggle to find professionals with competent tech skills has always been a challenge for US businesses, but the shortage worsened within the past few years. The shortage is even more difficult for US businesses now because of the surge in new technology needs, the fast pace of digital transformation, and the limited amount of tech degree graduates.
This problem has already had a significant impact on large businesses. Unfortunately, the blow is even more devastating for startups with limited staff and resources.
The Impact of the Tech Talent Shortage on Startups
In the digital age, startups rely heavily on tech talents for their growth. These new businesses require tech experts to build websites, manage consumer data, and protect their network systems. But due to the limitation of tech talents, many startups find it hard to attract their target consumers and achieve progress within their business.
Founder Mark Granahan of iDEAL Semiconductor points out how he has to fill every function in his startup, even if these roles require a technical education. He explains that he has to fulfill applications and systems roles, as well as engineering tasks, which typically require degrees, Master’s degrees, and PhDs. Many startups in the semiconductor industry face a similar dilemma, and the skills gap is leading to a chip supply shortage in the US.
Likewise, startups in other industries struggle to attract tech professionals because they are competing with big businesses in the search. Many companies must compromise their scaling efforts and finances to find and attract the professionals they need. Nevertheless, the founder of Business Mint still commends startup founders for opening up new job opportunities that people may enjoy. However, he reminds entrepreneurs that these obstacles should encourage them to rise to the challenge and advance their thinking in different business areas, such as job recruitment.
Experts Urge Businesses to Improve Their Management of Tech Talents
There are a limited number of tech graduates and skilled tech talents, so startups need to be more innovative with their human resource programs. The 2022 Workforce Trends: IT & Tech report by LHH shows that the high demand for top tech talents is serving as motivation for 70% of hiring managers. This in turn is leading them to improve their talent attraction efforts and employee management programs. Human resource professionals are even creating skills development programs to attract and retain talent because of their plans to expand their IT and tech departments within the year.
On top of that, deputy CIO Monica Caldas of Liberty Mutual Insurance suggests that businesses can attract more talents by personalizing the learning and development experience. To illustrate, startups can open up internal talent development programs that allow their staff to train with new technologies appearing in the market. Startups can also attract new talents by discussing their career growth plans and finding programs that can align them with the startup’s target market needs. Through this method, both startups and the staff can achieve the growth that they want.
Startups need to work smarter, now that they have much more competitive when attracting tech talents. By improving their human resource programs, they can overcome the talent shortage and achieve their projected goals.
