Key tech industry talent acquisition & retention trends February 2024

Now we are well and truly into the first quarter of 2024, how is the tech industry recruitment eco system shaping up after a turbulent 2023? In 2023 companies conducted widespread workforce reductions and enacted hiring freezes. The need for HR, talent acquisition and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) professionals dropped as hiring activity stalled, especially in the tech sector. As we kick-off 2024 I see a recruitment market full of contradictions, a mix of increased hiring activity for sure while some companies, and sometimes the same one still reducing their work force, but the general outlook is more positive.

Q1 2024 Key Market Trends? ?

These times continue to be turbulent and ever-changing and with recruitment being a great barometer for business confidence we see contrasting signs in terms of economic recovery. We track market data for sure, but also speak to companies and candidates every day and see how organisations are constantly adapting (or not!) to the business environment.

1.???? A December USA?survey?by Robert Half revealed that 57% of hiring managers plan to add new permanent positions in the first half of 2024. The data suggests a stronger demand for talent across most disciplines in the coming year.

2.???? HR decision-makers and recruiters are?optimistic about the future?of recruiting, with 86% of talent practitioners expressing positivity about what the future of talent acquisition holds, according to research by Jobvite.

3.???? Tech companies reported last quarter results that paint a picture of economic optimism. Meta, reported the company’s most profitable quarter ever.?Amazon?topped revenue expectations.?Google?reported record profits,?Apple?topped estimates and?Microsoft?hit record sales for the fifth straight quarter amid a huge interest in AI. Yet in spite of those results, or in part because of them, most of these companies, along with others, have had big rounds of layoffs over the past year or even in recent weeks.

4.???? Tech scaleup and mid-size companies are increasingly opening new roles, either replacement hires or adding/strengthening teams. From my discussions with senior management with companies across Switzerland and Europe which tend to focus on executive management, sales-related and marketing/product management related roles, there is mostly an intention to build teams especially to launch or expand their businesses internationally. The smart companies are recruiting now ahead of their competitors and the inevitable mad rush for talent in Q2.?

Recruitment strategy and execution

How to build an exec team for a company transitioning from startup to scale-up?

As small and mid-sized tech companies start scaling up their business the need to assemble a top-class executive team is crucial to its success. A company’s quality of leadership just simply cannot be overstated and is more important than ever. As you’ll see from my recent video on Linked in, from my experience these are the typical key sequential steps in building the team at the start of the scale-up journey. ?https://bit.ly/antalexecteambuild

How to recruit a best-in-class executive for your team?

Recruiting executives can feel a daunting task. After all, these leaders will effectively make or break your company, and competition for top executive talent is fierce, but a well defined recruitment strategy and well executed will result in the onboarding of excellent additions to the leadership team. https://bit.ly/antalexecsearch

What is the right share package incentive for startups and scaleup companies?

Recruiting frequently for tech companies scaling up their international teams, many choose to offer equity compensation to employees as part of the total compensation package for their role, alongside base salary. It is often a critical element in an offer to attract top talent to a relatively unknown company especially but they don’t all offer equity compensation in the same way.

How much equity in the company should be reserved for employees? Should all roles be eligible for equity compensation or just senior team members? Should you opt for RSUs or stock options? Should equity be granted as a one-off for new hires, or should refresh and promotion grants be considered as a way to reward performance? Will your equity compensation strategy change as the company grows? Check out this excellent article here to review the pros and cons of different solutions: https://bit.ly/antalsharecompensation

Who we are

At Antal International in Geneva we are a talent acquisition and retention consultancy with a passion as trusted advisors to our clients to help them achieve their business goals through the search and recruitment of critical, urgent and ‘hard-to-fill’ roles, as well as defining and executing talent retention strategies not only in Switzerland but also across Europe, USA and Asia. We have a particular focus on working with tech companies for executive, sales related and product management/marketing related roles; and ESG/sustainability positions cross-industry.

For more information check us out here:

https://www.antal.com/recruitment/switzerland-geneva-ga?

or reach out to me via LinkedIn or write to me at [email protected]