With the world changing at a faster speed than ever, it can be hard to know what’s “trendy” or especially important with employers. While we don’t tend to lend much credence to “trends,” we do pay attention to what employers are especially interested in when it comes to hiring tech talent.
And right now, there are some particular skills that are in especially high demand.
Tech talent: Put these skills on display to land a job
Soft Skills
With more of us working remotely than ever before, many employers are placing an even higher priority on soft skills — the non-technical skills that lend themselves to better, more productive team members. In particular, employers are looking for tech talent with strength in these areas:
Communication
More meetings are held on Zoom than in the boardroom nowadays, so your ability to clearly and concisely communicate with your colleagues is extremely important. Look for every opportunity to showcase your communication skills in your resume and cover letter, and especially during interviews. Make strong eye contact (yes, with your camera), be as animated as you can be to help overcome the loss of physical communication that comes with in-person interviewing, and speak concisely whenever possible to convey strength in this area.
Flexibility
The reality is that things are changing pretty frequently. Your ability to pivot, change and adapt is more important than ever before. Employers are counting on their tech talent to be able to weather any bumps in the road, righting the ship if something gets off course, stepping up if someone’s unable to work for a time and otherwise looking for opportunities to add value, even if it falls outside of your job description. Now more than ever, success requires a team effort. Your willingness to be flexible and adapt to what situations provide will help you stand out considerably from competing talent for a job.
Collaboration
In addition to strong communication, your ability to effectively collaborate with team members across town (or across the globe) will be essential to employers today. Rather than stopping by a cubicle, we’re collaborating more often in Slack or Google Docs than we ever could have imagined. To stand out to prospective employers, think of examples where you’ve collaborated with teammates in a different city, or when you’ve successfully used SaaS tools to collaborate with colleagues (both since and before COVID).
Technical Skills
To meet increased demand and deliver exceptional products and services, we’re noticing that employers are especially interested in these technical skills:
.NET
.NET has been a hot skill set in many verticals and regions for quite some time, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Employers may look for some different, complementary skills to back up .NET experience, since it’s a framework rather than a programming language. In our experience, businesses are especially interested in developers with C# and VB experience, and your ability to write clean code will ALWAYS be important. Of course, there’s no official training or certification in .NET, but employers are typically looking for some sort of relevant degree (eg. computer science or engineering).
Java
With more businesses operating in a remote landscape, and communicating with customers and clients from across town — or across the globe — strong Java skills have never been more important. Businesses are clamoring for more robust apps and websites that arm companies, their employees and their customers with the information and tools they need in this changing world. Advanced, relevant degrees are highly preferred, and employers are often willing to pay top premium for especially skilled Java programmers.
Mobile
We touched upon it when talking about Java above, but it also deserves its own mention. We were already tied to our mobile devices pre-COVID. Now, with more of us doing business on our phones, creating, sharing, collaborating, buying and selling, your ability to code, test and improve mobile apps is going to help you stand out to prospective employers. Real-world experience and a robust portfolio are extremely beneficial here, as employers are looking for mobile developers with exceptional, real-world experience. Ever been frustrated by an app that should have been better? Now’s your chance to jump in and help make better apps for all of us.
Looking for your next IT job?
Our clients are hiring! We’re looking for experienced tech talent in a range of disciplines for exciting opportunities with our clients across the U.S. Search our current IT jobs or contact a recruiter to learn more.
