In the past month, many articles and forecasts about the job market trends in 2022 have surfaced online. However, as IT recruitment specialists, we know that our industry operates by its own rules. We’ve decided to conduct six inspiring conversations with individuals you’re likely familiar with. These remarkable experts have shared their insights on redefining recruitment processes, preferred modes and dimensions of work, programmer salaries, and key job offer components that will become must-haves in 2022. Each of them has also woven in unique thoughts and observations, making it essential reading for anyone looking to stay current with HR trends in the IT industry for the upcoming year.
Oleksandra Chernyak, Head of Talent Acquisition @ Infermedica
In 2022, the question “how to shorten our recruitment closure time as much as possible?” will gain popularity. There are several reasons for this – the talent war, which is no longer limited to the IT industry, the widespread remote work, the remote-first approach, and the international competition for hiring specialists. Additionally, a younger generation is entering the job market, for whom speed is crucial in every aspect. Fast-paced recruitment and clear communication will increase the chances of closing recruitment successfully. In IT, the approach to remote work, project themes, and salary ranges will remain significant. In my opinion, the latter will continue to rise. Moreover, a company’s mission and purpose are becoming increasingly important elements of job offers. A mission-driven environment, combined with competitive salaries and 100% remote work possibilities, will attract top candidates. During remote work, it’s essential not to forget about occasional in-person meetings in offices or co-working spaces, as well as team-building events. This will facilitate employer branding efforts based on brand awareness and trust in the employer brand, primarily one that is authentic and people-oriented.
Maciej Mazurek, COO @ Bee Talents
The number of recruitments we are currently witnessing in the IT market is extraordinary, unprecedented, and it’s challenging to predict its development. After a brief pandemic slowdown in 2020, the market rebounded enthusiastically. However, maintaining this sentiment, especially in the face of rising inflation and measures to counter it, can be challenging. Additionally, rapidly increasing specialist salaries could pose profitability challenges for some projects – although among programmers, these rates will not decrease, partly due to pressure from foreign companies.
In the coming year, like before, the focus will be on reaching candidates. This will lead to the development of new, more innovative, and candidate-centric recruitment channels, such as recruitment marketing, targeted advertising, and user-friendly career pages and application forms. These actions, in the era of hundreds of LinkedIn messages, will complement sourcing efforts and can provide more value for the price.
When creating job offers, it will be essential to offer competitive compensation, remote work options, but also the opportunity to work in the office or engage in frequent team-building activities. Another emerging trend in companies is the adoption of 4-day workweeks, shorter workdays, or task-based work. While not yet widely popular, more and more candidates are asking about this, and it often proves to be more critical than salary. Job offers should also be enhanced with attractive benefits that add value and a clear message. Companies are increasingly taking a holistic approach to their team members, offering financial support for decisions related to egg freezing or continuing the positive trend of mental health support for employees.
Effective recruitment will require a decisive reduction in recruitment processes. This necessitates a clear process, the elimination of unnecessary tasks or their shortened versions, and, most importantly, responsive hiring managers. It’s important to note that there is no statistical relationship between the number of stages and how well someone performs or how long they stay in the organization. However, there is a relationship between the number of stages and the number of candidates dropping out of the process. Moreover, each additional stage exponentially lengthens the entire process rather than linearly. Among international recruiters, the consensus is that a candidate should not be in the process for more than a week.
Among other noteworthy trends, we should also mention the digitization and automation of recruitment processes, with a focus on data-driven decision-making and the shift of recruitment agencies towards more efficient RPO and embedded recruitment models. As reports from the Polish HR Forum indicate, the industry is growing at an incredible pace, with year-over-year growth of over 50%, making revenue increases and personal development not just a success but a necessity. At the same time, this is a time of innovation, the introduction of new services and solutions, and a closer collaboration between agencies and partner teams, promising an exciting time for the entire industry.
Weronika Szatan, Head of Hiring @ u2i
2022 will undoubtedly continue some of the trends from the previous year while potentially bringing about a few changes. Hopefully, the most important “trend” will be putting people first. Caring for individuals will manifest in constantly improving candidate experiences in recruitment processes, better onboarding, and nurturing the talents already on board. Emphasizing employee experience, maintaining the engagement of current employees, and caring for their mental well-being will be the most important tasks (and the best investment) for employers.
As we remain in the trend of a high demand for IT specialists, traditional methods of candidate acquisition won’t be sufficient in 2022. Companies will need to diversify their approaches and go beyond the simplest solution of hiring more recruiters (including creating engaging, well-thought-out offers and intensifying recruitment marketing). Quality in recruitment has never held a more significant advantage over quantity. A consistent, authentic employer image and credible employee advocacy will play an increasingly important role.
There will also be a drastic change in the benefits offered because the most crucial benefit for us now is time. Flexible hours, additional days off, services like a personal assistant or house cleaning, ready-made lunches – these are the benefits that will stand out in the market. Furthermore, more people will long for the opportunity to work partially in the office, but only if the office environment resembles the pre-pandemic days – full of people, devoid of restrictions and limits. We will still want to decide whether we work remotely or in the office, and we will be more willing to participate in offline events.
In 2022, the position of recruitment and HR specialists will strengthen, and the importance of soft skills for technical roles will increase. We are likely to observe a trend of moving away from the “one-man band” approach, which involves a single person handling all aspects related to people in the organization, from recruitment and employer branding to onboarding and HR, to taking care of employees, benefits, office, and company events. Instead, we will focus on specialization in specific areas, leading to the emergence of new roles within organizations and even seeking external assistance.
Kasia Tang and Karolina Latus, Founders @ Super Source Me
Observing the market, one thing is certain – we don’t know what will happen in 2022. We hope that this year will allow us to focus on candidates’ needs and build thoughtful, personalized communication. While recruiters are rarely taught these actions, they bring a lot of satisfaction to both recruiters and candidates. The development of recruitment marketing is another opportunity for long-term relationship building. This dialogue and getting to know candidates will enable the creation of genuinely attractive job postings. Of course, these postings should include salary ranges, which provide an intermediary indication of the employer’s openness to a partnership.
Observing the market, one thing is certain – we don’t know what will happen in 2022. We hope that this year will allow us to focus on the needs of candidates and build thoughtful, personalized communication. Although recruiters are rarely taught this, such actions bring much more satisfaction to both recruiters and candidates. The development of recruitment marketing activities is another opportunity for long-term relationship building. It is this dialogue and understanding of candidates that will enable the creation of truly attractive job postings. Of course, they should also include salary ranges, which provide an indirect indication of the employer’s openness to building a partnership. It is also important for the job posting to contain a clearly written list of responsibilities, free from jargon that candidates may not understand.
Especially since it’s becoming increasingly challenging to find candidates, and recruitment processes are getting longer. We hear a lot about projects that have been ongoing for the last 9 months and can’t be closed. There is no guarantee that this period will shorten. Therefore, we need to learn to better anticipate needs, plan recruitment starts in advance, and precisely define the candidate profile. Close cooperation with Hiring Managers is crucial here, as they often need to adopt the right attitudes and provide active support during recruitment and employer branding activities.
Consciously building organizational culture is also important. Paradoxically, despite the pandemic we’ve had for the past two years, many companies still have no idea how to achieve this remotely and with asynchronous work. And that’s how we envision the future of work. This mode allows us to focus on productivity and results rather than being in the office for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It may also lead to the development of an interesting trend of a 4-day workweek, which currently seems to be a candidate’s dream. Bolt was the first company to permanently implement this solution, and the question is whether it will also become an option in Poland. Of course, due to changes in the tax system and inflation, we are once again facing a significant amount of uncertainty, but we hope to contain it, and return to normalcy after the first quarter.
Nevertheless, we are optimistic about 2022 and keep our fingers crossed for recruiters to use this time to implement positive changes in their organizations.
Martyna Żabnicka, Recruitment Team Leader @ Deviniti
The pandemic initiated a massive shift in the job market. 2022 will most likely continue these changes, as a calm evolution (though a total turnaround cannot be completely ruled out). Recruitment is certainly not going to get easier – candidates are receiving more offers and have a wider range of choices – their possibilities are practically limitless. Therefore, what organizations can do is to shorten the recruitment processes and strengthen collaboration with Hiring Managers, whose role in the processes is becoming increasingly crucial.
We must also understand the candidate’s needs – such as the type of work they expect: hybrid (which may gain popularity), remote, or in-office, very high compensation, or unique projects. If there is a rejection of our offer, we should investigate the reasons for rejection, even though it’s not always successful. This allows us to engage in a dialogue with candidates, build relationships, and return with a better-matched proposition in the future. It is also important to provide specific information about the project and potential team so that the candidate can form an opinion about the company. Therefore, creating an authentic employer brand is crucial – showing what it’s like in our organization every day, what we do, and what our values are. Consistency must be maintained in every action, including creating job postings, communicating with candidates, and marketing activities. This will help in recruiting not only programmers. Soft skills positions are gaining importance, and we observe a large number of offers, for example, for recruitment positions. This is very encouraging and shows the industry’s development and the recognition by employers of the importance of such roles in the organization.
Adrian Wolak, CEO / Founder @ TRAFFIT
Currently, there are few candidates, and the demand for specialists is not decreasing. This has various consequences. It certainly doesn’t seem like rates will suddenly decrease. They will continue to be an important part of offers, alongside interesting projects and development opportunities. It’s essential to precisely define remote and hybrid work policies because in-person job offers won’t be attractive. There are voices suggesting that companies will need to focus on delivering interesting solutions, not only because customers demand it but even more so to attract the best programmers. The reduced number of applications will also force organizations to focus on the candidates who have entered the recruitment funnel, rather than waiting for more comparisons. Only such action will allow for closing processes, perhaps even shortening them.
Investing in a strong employer branding is also becoming a necessity. A mature approach to building an employer brand is necessary for organizations to operate and recruit candidates in the long term. It’s important to remember that achieving success takes longer than a few months. Candidates no longer just look at whether a company has a nice brochure, an interesting promotional video, or colorful conference giveaways. They evaluate what kind of employer it is, how it treats its employees, what values it has, and what challenges it offers.
After six inspiring discussions, we can conclude that the experts share a common viewpoint – it will be more challenging to attract applicants in 2022, and therefore, employers must be even more candidate-focused. Offers must be attractive, both financially and in terms of development opportunities or work location, and there may be an increase in people who want occasional in-office meetings or team gatherings. Processes must be fast and efficient, with engaged Hiring Managers. In reaching candidates, employer branding will undoubtedly help, but it must be well-thought-out, long-term, authentic, and based on values. Listening to them, one thing is certain – there’s a lot of work ahead, but also a lot of exciting challenges. Here comes 2022!
