Today, hybrid infrastructure solutions provider INAP released the results of its latest report, Tech Talent: Meeting the Needs of an Evolving IT Profession. This survey polled 1,000 IT professionals who are involved in different stages of the hiring process to find out what they look for when evaluating today's talent pool, from new college graduates through seasoned industry professionals, and how they feel about the current state of the IT profession. For example, compared to this same time last year, 68 percent of organizations are offering higher salaries for open positions due to changing skill sets and a smaller talent pool.

Not only do these statistics reveal the changing state of hiring for the IT industry, they also acknowledge that the essential nature of the IT profession and the critical roles IT professionals perform at organizations lead to a challenge for companies looking to retain their current employees. Findings show that 79 percent of respondents saw long-term retention as one of their biggest challenges, with 57 percent showing that retaining senior level IT employees was more challenging, while 27 percent thought retaining junior level staff was a bigger issue.

"Over the past year, the increased demand on IT professionals highlighted the many ways that IT teams keep their organizations functioning through times of change and challenge," said Mike Sicoli, President and CEO of INAP. "The sudden shift to remote work demanded much of our IT talent and accelerated the need to modernize applications and infrastructure solutions as we now embrace the new normal of hybrid work. In addition to keeping up with ever-evolving technical skills, IT professionals will need to demonstrate flexibility, creativity and resourcefulness to ensure success, which will require changes in the way businesses attract and retain IT talent."

Additional findings from INAP's Tech Talent 2021 Report include:

• It takes some time to get essential workers up to speed: In terms of learning and development, 89 percent of IT hiring managers believe they properly equip new professionals with the formal training and skills development they need to succeed in the role from the start, with 29 percent revealing that two to three months is the expected time to get a new hire up to speed

• Talent search has changed along with evolving IT needs: The increase in organizations moving off-premises to the cloud (81 percent) resulted in 84 percent of hiring managers seeing a change in the IT job candidates they're considering. In addition to that, 82 percent have seen the rise in automation in the IT industry affect the types of skills that they're looking for in potential candidates.

• New grads face a different landscape than in the past: Despite an emerging group of new candidates that have finalized their education and graduated during a global pandemic, 83 percent of IT professionals looking to hire today see these prospects as being well-prepared for the IT profession and half believe they're trained in the latest industry tech. Not only that, but IT hiring managers (77 percent) have continued to offer internships that resulted in a full-time job opportunity for the employees.

Survey Methodology 

The data reflected in this report was derived from a survey of 1,000 IT professionals who either work as hiring managers or are involved in making hiring decisions at U.S.-based companies. The survey respondents are actively looking to hire new IT professionals at their organizations. Commissioned by INAP and facilitated by Pollfish in May 2021, the survey's margin of error is +/- 5 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

About INAP

INAP (Internap Holding LLC) is a global provider of performance-driven, secure hybrid infrastructure solutions, enabling technology leaders to simplify their IT infrastructure journeys and accelerate innovation. INAP's portfolio of bare metal cloud, modern data center, optimized network and services help businesses flexibly and reliably move workloads to the right destination at the right time—reducing risk and maximizing value.