Location, salary & talent: The latest trends in tech recruitment

In our latest research, we take a deep dive into the latest location, salary, and talent trends in UK tech. Unsurprisingly, the need for technology talent continues to grow, with over 1.9M IT job postings advertised in 2021 in the UK.

Let’s take a closer look at how tech recruitment is evolving:

A drop in London job postings sees a rise elsewhere

Although London remains the UK’s largest tech hub, job postings in the city have reduced from 24.51 % in 2019, to 21% in 2021. By comparison, other tech hubs across the UK have either seen an increase in postings, or no change at all.

For example, Birmingham saw a 0.4% increase over the same period, and Manchester saw a 0.06% increase, whereas job postings in Edinburgh, Leeds, Glasgow, and Bristol stayed the same.

The balance between remote and office-based roles has also shifted. Our research finds that 1 in 4 job postings on our platform now reference remote or home working. In 2019, only 13% of job posting referenced remote, or home-based working, with 87% making no reference to remote work at all. However, in 2021, just under 25% referenced remote, or home working, with around 75% not referencing it at all.

More tech jobs despite smaller talent pools

According to Google, there’s been a steady decline in searches for both ‘jobs’ and ‘IT jobs’ since 2017. Overall, candidate activity remains slow across all markets.

In the tech industry, we’re experiencing a candidate-driven market, with a high number of jobs being advertised to a smaller talent pool. It appears that the industry’s skills shortage of recent years is set to continue.

In 2021, the top 10 most popular search terms on the CWJobs platform were:

• Business Analyst
• Project Manager
• Cybersecurity
• IT Support
• Network Engineer
• Software Developer
• C#
• Data Analyst
• Test Analyst

We’re also seeing more focused job searches, with only 29% of candidates in 2021 searching for several job titles at once, compared to 45% in 2020. Similarly, only 33% searched by location in 2021, compared to 48% in 2020. We’ve also seen a 61% decrease year on year in the number of candidates searching by hours/contract type.

The drop in searches for multiple job titles shows that candidates are now more focused on what they want from their next role. The decline in searches by location is likely due to remote working becoming more normal. And the decrease in searches by hours/contract type, again, could be because of remote working, but also because of IR35, which has had an impact on contract roles.

Tech salary trends

According to This is Money, the top paying jobs in 2022 are cyber security (£61,590), software engineers (£48,272), and management roles (£46,645).

There’s also a rising demand for front-end developers as businesses continue to adapt to the demand for online consumerism caused by the pandemic.

Recent research from Robert Half finds that 24% of CIOs are prioritising cloud-based projects, so it’s likely that the demand for cybersecurity professionals will continue to increase.

The company’s 2022 Salary Guide found that in the last quarter of 2021, cyber-attacks per organisation reached an all-time high, making cybersecurity one of the fastest-growing sectors in today’s job market.

This research echoes CWJobs’ findings in regards to the highest tech salaries. On our platform, we see salary ranges that are higher than the industry average. In 2021, some of the highest-paying tech jobs were:

• Chief Information Security Officer (£157,723 – £165,223)
• Solution Architect (£111,229 – £116,608)
• Full Stack Developer (£78,848 – £83,091)

In terms of location, our sister site, Total Jobs, reports that London is the highest-earning city for tech jobs with an average salary of £65.7k, followed be Bristol (£51.5k), and Manchester (£48.7k).

When it comes to demand for tech skills, London and the South East are clear winners in terms of location, but the North West, Yorkshire, East Midlands, and Scotland are also performing really well. For example, there’s strong demand for software development in the North West, Java skills in the South West, and business analysis in Yorkshire.

What matters to tech talent?

A competitive base salary remained the most important factor to tech candidates in 2021. However, there has been a noticeable shift in expectations elsewhere. The importance of new technologies and innovation dropped in 2021, being replaced by elements around trust, career development, security, and people.

In terms of what tech talent wants their employers to talk about, training and development tops the list (55%), followed by renumeration and benefits (49%), and diversity and inclusion (43%).

The topics that have increased the most in importance between 2020 and 2021 are corporate social responsibility (12% vs 9%), what the workplace looks like (8% vs 7%), and the company’s market performance (7% vs 6%).

Aside from a salary increase, the top 10 demands that tech workers have for their current or future employers are:

• Flexible working options (49%)
• Bonus schemes (34%)
• Clear career progression (30%)
• Competitive pension (30%)

Consequently, the top 3 measures employers should focus on to retain talent are:

• Rewards and recognition for hard work (52%)
• Listening more closely to what the workforce really wants (42%)
• Providing flexible working options (42%)

Workers are showing a clear desire to be heard by their employers and are far less interested in tokenistic gestures like ‘employee of the month’. With the workplace changing so significantly over the past two years, employee expectations have completely transformed. Tech workers are more ambitious and future-focused than ever before.

Roundtable webinar discussion

After releasing our research, CWJobs hosted a roundtable webinar event that brought together people from the recruitment and tech industries to discuss the findings in more detail. The conversation centered around the evolving importance of company culture, salary benchmarking, and the need for well-written job descriptions.

The role of the c-suite in communicating company culture

The panel discussion began on the topic of c-suite involvement in the recruitment process and the need for executives to have an influence on a company’s identity in today’s candidate-driven market.

Company culture is becoming increasingly important to candidates and chief executives need to communicate the company mindset moving forward. Hiring teams need to know precisely, the type of people they want to recruit and this comes from building a clear in-house culture that can be reflected in communications.

An increasing emphasis on corporate social responsibility

Companies also need to be aware of the changing culture within tech and evolve to meet the requirements of top talent. For example, an increasing number of candidates are concerned with corporate social responsibility and how companies are helping to make the world a better place to live. As such, tech recruiters need to communicate what the company stands for from an environmental and social perspective.

The importance of salary benchmarking

The panel also discussed the importance of salary and benefits benchmarking. Companies need to include salary information in job descriptions to help time-poor candidates make quick decisions on whether a role is right for them. Equally, companies need to highlight their benefits packages and offer the type of perks that appeal to the next generation of tech workers. Flexible working, financial benefits, and career progression are all top priorities for Gen Z.

Job descriptions and video marketing

When it comes to writing job descriptions, the panel agreed that there’s room for improvement in the industry. Nowadays, a lot of candidates search for roles on mobile devices, so descriptions need to be concise and provide a snapshot of essential information. For many candidates, their first impression of a company comes from what they read on a job advert, so it’s important that company values and culture are reflected in the messaging.

The effectiveness of video marketing was also discussed, with the panel agreeing that short, punchy videos that feature actual employees can help increase the number of applicants to a role. Videos provide candidates with an insight into what it’s like to work for a company and they give candidates a feel for the culture. In the age of social media, video recruitment campaigns can help reinforce a company’s brand and improve candidate engagement rates.