UK Report on Jobs – January 2023
How to Partner with an IT Recruitment Consultant
Have you considered your IT Recruitment Consultant to be part of your interview process?
This is the first stage of the interview process.
When you outsource your recruitment to Langley James IT Recruitment, you are outsourcing the early stages of your usual IT recruitment process.
Our Recruitment Consultants will act on your behalf. They will meet, interview and qualify candidates. that may be employed by your competitors in line with the job description you provide, We will make IT recruitment decisions based on the knowledge we have of your requirements. Our IT Recruitment Consultant will represent you and your company.
With that in mind, let us clarify how you can optimise this stage of recruitment to ensure your company is properly represented and your shortlist thoroughly vetted before you meet a single candidate.
Share your company knowledge with your IT Recruitment Consultant
If you attempted to recruit directly you might buy some recruitment advertising. Sift through the applicants and select a shortlist using your qualification information. Then, you would invite them to attend an interview where you would explore their suitability against your job description. You’d ask key questions and explain to them what the job is. If you like them, you will probably enthusiastically describe the business and all the reasons why they should join you as you have that knowledge.
Using Langley James IT Recruitment, you will save time. We will be responsible for most of the process allowing you to focus on other business challenges. The information you provide us with at this early stage is crucial to conduct your 1st stage interview to a standard that meets your own.
Qualification
Pass on all your early-stage qualification questions to your IT Recruitment Consultant. Provide examples of the best possible answers so they can match candidate responses accordingly. Context is important here as you might want specific experience and skill application. For example, when you say Advanced Excel skills, what does that really mean?
Describe examples of how the desired skill might be exercised so our Recruitment Consultants can explore a candidate’s experience with more confidence. Be very clear on what is essential and what is desirable so we can prioritise.
Your IT Recruitment Consultant is part of your team
By giving as much information as possible, it will help our Recruitment Consultants represent you and your company in the best possible way. Therefore, the more information we have, the more efficiently we can find you the right people.
Interview Feedback
Do you ensure that you gain feedback from our Recruitment Consultants before setting up your own interview, Part of our process is to produce a report when we shortlist. Ask for our interview report detailing the reasons why they feel a candidate is suitable. Review the evidence gained form the qualification questions you gave them and build their findings into your own interview plan.
Our IT Recruitment Partnership
At Langley James IT Recruitment we aim to keep in touch with you throughout the recruitment process. We send out a standard weekly report to update you on our progress – however do feel free to contact us at any time. We understand that things can change, and you may need to refine or change your recruitment priorities and regularly ask for feedback.
Sometimes roles are harder to fill if the salary is not sufficient, the location is non-traditional, or the specification does not sell the benefits of the role. Whatever the problem, do not wait to find out weeks later. Do whatever you can to influence the recruiter interview process and identify changes early.
UK Report on Jobs – December 2022
UK Report on Jobs – November 2022
UK Report on Jobs – October 2022
It’s Time to Talk About Quiet Firing
‘Quiet firing’ – are you guilty of it? Could it be the cause of your recent resignations? The internet is currently awash with people talking about quiet quitting. This is when an employee literally does the bare minimum to get by without losing their job. It’s become a common issue of late, especially with companies embracing flexible working. But, it can actually go both ways.
What is ‘quiet firing’?
‘Quiet firing’ isn’t actually a new thing. It’s been happening for years. Going unreported and simply being part of the employment landscape. But now it has a name and people are starting to talk about it. Maybe it’s happened to you and you just didn’t realise? ‘Quiet firing’ is essentially when a manager demoralises their employees enough, that they choose to leave. Sometimes, it’s not intentional. And other times, it most certainly is.
When was the last time you took a step back and looked at your current management practices? If, like many other companies, you have gone from managing an on-site team, to managing a part or fully remote team, your management practice has had to change. Even if you haven’t made this transition, there are other issues afoot. With the cost of living incase and desire for career progression, employees are looking for more support than ever from their manager.
Are you guilty of ‘quiet firing’?
This can happen in various ways, such as increasing worlds to unmanageable levels, not responding to requests for promotions or salary increases, or by eliminating opportunities for career growth. But that’s not all. Micromanaging, excluding employees, cutting back hours, or removing soft benefits. All the things will make an employee feel unwanted, under-valued and neglected. And with so many vacancies in the market right now, candidates are in a strong position when it comes to finding a new job.
We encourage companies to look at their management practices and identify any instances of ‘quiet firing’ by poor managers. These are the managers who do not want to invest the time and effort to support, motivate and engage their teams. And sometimes this isn’t intentional. There are time pressures on managers across all areas of IT. It could be that the manager just simply doesn’t have the time to really consider the wellbeing of their team. These trends are causing concern for HR teams who are trying to recruit and retain talent in a tight job market.
Avoiding “quiet quitting’
Interestingly, there is a distinct connection between ‘quiet firing’ and ‘quiet quitting’. If there are members of your team who used to do well but are now showing signs of doing as little as possible, ask yourself this. Why? What is it that has made them feel so disengaged that they have lost to desire to do their very best? People don’t leave jobs that they feel supported in. Jobs that pay sensible salaries, a work-life balance and offer opportunities for career progression.
This year has seen a 24% increase in internet searches for “how to fire someone” compared to last year! And, as much as a 180% increase in the term “when to fire someone”. And with the current skills shortage, it’s surprising to see these increases.
Stop quiet firing, and you’ll avoid quiet quitting!
About Langley James
We have been helping companies to attract and retain the very best IT talent since 1999. But we don’t just simply find the best candidates. We can advise you on the current jobs market conditions. Share data on average IT salaries. Talk to you about the benefits that candidates are looking for. In fact, we do everything we can to help ensure that you get the very best people for your team. Get in touch with our team to find out how we can help you to recruit the best!
UK Report on Jobs – September 2022
UK Report on Jobs – August 2022
Why You Still Need to be Offering Hybrid Working
When it comes to attracting candidates, the benefits of offering hybrid working are something you should still consider. As yourself, is it necessary to have your team on site for 5 days? We appreciate that some roles in IT are hard to perform remotely. However, it still seems that most candidates are looking for flexibility and some form of hybrid working.
We’ve all been experienced the benefits of working from home. Saving money and time on commuting, having a better work / life balance. There are many great things about being able to work flexibly. But what about the benefits to you, the employer? What have you got to gain from offering hybrid working? Our expert recruiters share their insight.
Larger pool of candidates
We are living in a time where there is a real shortage of skilled candidates. With vacancies over 1m in the UK and unemployment figures low, it’s getting harder to find the best IT talent. However, if you can offer remote working, your candidate pool suddenly becomes the whole of the UK, or even the World! Think of the diversity this could bring to your team. And the greater availability of exceptional candidates for your IT vacancy.
Improved loyalty is one of the benefits of offering hybrid working
According to various reports, we are in the middle of The Great Resignation. Around the world, workers are quitting their jobs in record numbers – and bosses are still scrambling to figure out how to keep them. However, offering hybrid working can help combat this. Lots of people were working from home during lockdown and let’s be honest, we all got rather used to it. Companies adapted and in most cases, business continued as normal.
But now that we are back in the office, the promise of flexible working is slowly disappearing. But candidates are looking for flexibility. Therefore, if you are genuinely able to offer hybrid, flexible or remote working, you should have a larger pool of candidates to choose from. Plus, if you continue with flexible working, employees are likely to stay with you for longer. Why would they move for another job if it meant going back to an offer 5 days a week?
It focuses on mental wellbeing
Mental wellbeing has been big news recently. There’s a renewed focus on the mental health of our teams. And companies who have a wellbeing policy are more likely to attract more candidates. By offering flexibility in working patterns, or work locations, you will be seen as a company who looks after their employees. It also shows that you have trust in your teams, and this can go a long way.
Are you recruiting?
If you are currently recruiting in IT, you’ve no doubt noticed the huge reduction in applications. That’s where we can come in. We’ve been recruiting IT candidates for over 20 years and have a large database of highly skilled IT candidates. Even in the skills shortage, we are still able to secure exceptional levels of IT talent for our clients. We’d love the opportunity to do the same for you. Get in touch with our team today and see how we can help you to recruit someone worth recruiting.
UK Report on Jobs – July 2022
IT Salaries Over the Last 2 Years – What’s Changed?
IT salaries seem like they are on an ever-increasing trajectory. With the demand for staff higher than ever before, and the candidate pool shrinking by the day, it’s no surprise. But what does this actually mean for salaries?
We regularly review the average salaries for the most popular jobs in IT. And we always give an indication if it’s up or down from the previous month. But it’s when you look over a longer period that you really get to see the bigger picture. Some will have you believe that salaries have increased dramatically across the board. This is not the case. Yes, it’s true that some salaries have seen as much as 96% increases. However, there are some areas of IT where salaries have remained broadly the same.
So, we’ve taken a look through the archives to give you a bigger picture view of IT salaries over the last 2 years.
Senior IT leadership roles that saw the biggest increase in IT salaries
There’s no doubt that it’s at the top end of the scale where we’ve seen tha largest jumps in average pay. In September 2020, the average salary for a CTO was £100k. And in our most recent salary survey (July 22), that’s increased to £144k. An easy % increase to work out there! And it’s a similar story for an IT Director. £112k in September 2020 to £150k in July 2022. A 34% increase. And a Head of IT too. £77k in 2020, £90k today. So, if you are looking to hire into your senior IT leadership team, it’s safe to say you’ll have to offer a lot more to attract the best than you did 2 years ago.
Trends that have helped increase average salaries in IT
The world of business has experienced many changes over the last 2 years. The pandemic meant that some business really had to fast track future plans. And this is reflected in the average IT salaries for those jobs most in demand to operate in this new normal. The step change growth in e-commerce when we were all confined to our homes has had a dramatic impact on salaries in this specialism. In September 2020, the average salary for an e-commerce manager was £65k. You’d now have to pay around £84k to secure the same talent.
But it’s not just e-commerce. Business are relying more heavily on data than ever before. Data driven insights have become an essential part of business success. And this is where we reveal the IT role that has seen the largest increase in average salary. A database manager would earn an average salary of just £50k in September 2020. This is now a much larger sum of £96k. That’s a 92% increase!
IT salaries that have remained more static
Whilst all areas of IT have experienced some increase in average salaries. Some have seen little change. However, before we share this information with you, it’s important to consider that these are the average salaries on offer. An overview of the jobs market and demand for candidates. The skills shortage does mean that starting salaries are often higher than that advertised. Take a look at our most recent report on jobs to see the trends.
When researching the change in salaries, we noticed that it’s the less senior roles that haven’t seen too much change. For example, a 1st Line Support role was £28k in 2020. And that figure remains the same today. And it’s a similar story with 2nd line. £35k in 2020 and £26k today. It’s 3rd line that has seen the largest increase in the support specialism. An increase of 9% from £36k in 2020 to £51k in 2022.
Want to know more?
We’ve been recruiting IT candidates since 1999. And we’ve seen a lot of agencies come and go during this time. It’s not enough for an IT recruitment agency to simply advertise your job and share the best applications with you. You could do that yourself! Admittedly, there would be a cost to advertise the roles that could end up costing a lot more than a recruitment fee, but the choice is still there.
At Langley James, we are experts at what we do. Our pure passion for all things IT is seen throughout our exceptional service levels. We work on all our clients’ vacancies as if they were our own. And this is where our market research comes in. We know the market. We know the trends, the average salaries and more. And we make sure that we share this with all our clients to enable them to recruit someone worth recruiting.
Get in touch with our team today to see how we can help with your IT vacancies.
UK Report on Jobs – June 2022
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