Rise Above the Tech Talent Shortage by Hiring in These Three Markets

Hiring top tech talent is one of today’s most pressing challenges for HR teams. As more and more companies take their businesses online, organizations across sectors need data scientists, cloud specialists, developers, programmers, IT experts, and more. Demand for these IT positions currently outpaces supply, resulting in skills shortages across the globe. 

In Brazil, companies face a deficit of approximately 25,000 IT specialists annually. Sweden will lack 70,000 professionals with digital skills by 2022. And the United States and Russia will each have six million unfilled tech jobs by 2030. 

Some companies in countries lacking tech talent overcome the gap by upskilling their employees. International hiring is a quicker and more cost-effective solution—but only if HR teams know where to look. 

Markets like Silicon Valley, London, and Tel Aviv are widely renowned for their thriving tech hubs. They are also home to competitive hiring environments with high employee acquisition costs. HR teams looking to hire the right tech talent for their companies’ needs turn to these three under-the-radar markets. 

Bucharest, Romania

Romania has emerged as one of the world’s hottest tech hubs in recent years. The country’s capital city of Bucharest is its epicenter for top talent. 

Romania’s major tech sectors include cybersecurity, enterprise software, and fintech, but the country truly stands out for its wealth of IT professionals. It has the highest total of certified IT specialists in Europe and the sixth-highest worldwide. Experts project the country’s IT market will total EUR 7.3 billion by 2022, grow by nearly 15% year-over-year, and comprise 12% of the country’s GDP by 2025. 

Bucharest is not only Romania’s main tech city but rising in prominence internationally. The Financial Times Intelligence Division ranked Bucharest seventh on its most recent Top 25 Tech Cities of The Future report. Bucharest trailed only well-known global tech centers such as Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Munich. 

Cristian Munteanu, Managing Partner at Bucharest-based VC firm Early Game Ventures, says the city benefits from Romania’s large technical talent pool, well-developed broadband network, and favorable costs of doing business—all of which make it an ideal market for companies looking to hire overseas tech professionals. 

Bengaluru, India

Bengaluru was the world’s fastest-growing tech hub between 2016 and 2020. Tech investment in the city rose from $1.3 billion to $7.2 billion over those five years—a higher growth rate than noted international markets like London, Munich, Berlin, and Paris. 

Bengaluru is one of several Indian cities that benefited from the Skill India program. Launched in 2015, Skill India helps the country’s workforce develop expertise in in-demand sectors like tech. 

In a testament to Bengaluru’s growing talent pool, Oracle chose the city as the home for its largest international campus in 2016. Four years later, KPMG ranked the city as the world’s ninth-most competitive innovation hub. 

International companies recognize Bengaluru’s emergence as a tech talent gold mine. Lizzie Chapman, a co-founder of fintech firm Zest Money, chose to establish a hub in Bengaluru due to the city’s wealth of tech professionals. “Having our hub in Bengaluru was never up for debate,” says Chapman. “Talent attracts talent, and the community of tech talent here is one of the best in the world.” 

Shenzhen, China

Once a sleepy fishing town, Shenzhen has benefited from favorable government policies to become one of the world’s most sophisticated tech centers.  

In 1980, China designated Shenzhen as a Special Economic Zone. The designation paved the way for Shenzhen to absorb hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign investment. As the funds transformed Shenzhen into one of the world’s foremost electronics manufacturing hubs, it also attracted a surge of skilled and ambitious new workers. This influx of transplants laid the groundwork for Shenzhen’s deep talent pool today. 

Shenzhen’s skilled workforce features 37% more college-educated professionals than the workforce in China’s capital of Beijing. The city’s highly educated workforce contributes to its innovative environment: Shenzhen contributed almost half of China’s 49,000 international patent applications in 2019, good for the fourth-highest total in the world. 

Shenzhen is now home to Chinese tech giants like Tencent, Huawei, and ZTE, all of which draw additional talent to the city. Pro-growth economic policies contribute to new business development that attracts more skilled professionals. In Q1 2021, the Chinese semiconductor juggernaut SMIC announced it would build a new factory in Shenzhen—an investment worth $2.35 billion.

How to Recruit Top Tech Talent Using International PEO

Hiring in foreign countries can be daunting for HR teams, but international expansion challenges should not outweigh the benefits. While some companies undergo the lengthy and costly entity establishment process to hire abroad, HR leaders reduce expansion costs and time-to-market with International PEO (professional employer organizations). 

International PEO enables HR teams to hire in new markets without first becoming an expert on local labor laws and regulations. It also removes the heavy burden of ongoing international compliance while ensuring teams receive on-time pay, the right benefits, and everyday support from local experts. By partnering with an International PEO provider, HR teams:

• Quickly onboard teams: Researching entity establishment requirements takes an average of 160 hours, and the entity establishment process takes up to four months. International PEO offers up to 90% time savings and enables companies to hire in new markets in as little as 48 hours.
• Stretch budgets: Tech companies using International PEO reduce overseas hiring costs by up to 60% compared to entity establishment. Setting up an entity in a new market costs as much as $20,000 in initial investment and $200,000 in annual maintenance. 
• Reduce risk: Companies that do not meet foreign employment regulations face steep fines, legal fees, reputational damage, and lost business opportunities. An International PEO partner handles overseas workforce compliance, so HR teams have peace of mind in every new market. 

Hire The World’s Best Tech Professionals with Velocity Global

Velocity Global offers unparalleled expansion services from International PEO to growth strategy consulting, immigration, and more. With experts across every corner of the globe, Velocity Global has helped companies of all sizes hire and do business in over 185 markets worldwide. Reach out today to find out how we can help your company meet its international tech hiring goals.

Source: https://velocityglobal.com/blog/hidden-tech-talent-markets/