With the arrival of COVID-19 in spring of last year, the recruitment industry across the board has seen much disruption with many companies temporarily slowing their hiring plans and interview processes being made more difficult with the introduction of social distancing measures. As a vaccine is now on the horizon, we look forward and ask ourselves how will recruitment be affected for software companies in 2021, and what considerations will businesses need to take in to account when developing their hiring strategies for the next 12 months?

Hiring will increase in the tech sector

Despite multiple sectors being negatively affected globally by travel restrictions, national level lockdowns and slowing business activity, the shift to remote working and growth in markets such has e-commerce has seen the tech sector remain robust in the face of the current pandemic. As markets gain confidence moving in to 2021 and tech companies continuing to grow, we expect the demand for skilled programmers, software developers and IT professionals to boom in the next 12 months.

Remote working as standard

Once considered part of an attractive ‘package’ offered by forward thinking companies, candidates expect, at an ever-increasing rate, to be offered the opportunity to work from home at least in part as standard. In the software development sector, candidates have long reported the possibility to work from home amongst their top preferences when choosing their next employer, and with current conditions showing the viability of remote working, we expect this preference to become standard for most candidates in the sector.

Equally, companies may well be expected to offer greater flexibility when interviewing, such as virtual interviews as a part of their hiring process.

Equality and Diversity

A talking point of increasing importance for many years now, especially in STEM industries, younger candidates and consumers in the marketplace expect that businesses show a firm commitment to values such as sustainability, equality and diversity as part of their value propositions. With key issues such as women in tech becoming increasingly important, tech firms will need to integrate fair and diverse hiring policies in to their growth plans in order to attract the talent they need this year.

Adopting AI in the recruitment process

With an expanding pool of candidates post-covid and many tech firms searching for an increasingly specialised skill-set, the turn towards using AI and digital tools to assist in the recruitment process and unearth the most relevant candidates will be more prevalent in the future. Korp Talent already implements a variety of AI tools to put companies in contact with the best tech talent – pairing this with the recruitment expertise of our recruitment ravens.

If you are looking to recruit your next key hire, or looking for a new role yourself, you can contact one of our recruitment ravens – www.korptalent.com/contact/. For more updates about the recruitment and tech industries in Sweden, and tips on how to help the growth of your tech teams, follow Korp Talent’s LinkedIn page here – www.korptalent.com