According to the Korn Ferry Institute, by 2030 the tech industry labour-skill shortage will reach 4.3 million workers and an unrealised output of $449.70billion globally. Therefore companies seek to prioritise international growth and the Baltic countries are considered a hub for tech talents.
Tech specialists needed globally
The United States can expect to lose out on $162.25billion by 2030 due to sector skills shortages. China could fail to generate $44.45billion of revenue by 2030 due to the same problem.
The tech market in the UK is facing a similar situation. By 2030, Great Britain will fail to realise almost nine per cent of TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications) sector potential revenue due to skills shortages, research done by Korn Ferry Institute showed.
While Scandinavian countries became one of the leaders in the market because of the growing number of successful tech startups in recent years, they are facing a serious IT talent shortage too. Sweden is expected to have 70,000 unfilled roles in the tech sector by 2024, according to the report produced by Swedish IT&Telecom Industries.
Finland’s 66 per cent of open positions in tech seek software development professionals, as reported by a study, published earlier last year, at least 95 per cent of IT companies have at least planned to recruit from outside Finland.
Could Baltic IT experts fill in the shortage?
Pekka Nebelung, COO at a Finnish company, Jobilla, which was announced one of the 50 leading companies worldwide by The Silicon Valley Review, went for recruitment in the Baltic region. They already hired about 15 specialists in Lithuania, which has one of the fastest-growing tech startup ecosystems in the region.
“The demand for IT specialists from the Baltic is increasing all the time. German or Scandic companies are interested in hiring people from the Baltic, because here IT standards are very high, so it’s possible to hire very qualified people,“ commented Pekka Nebelung.
Diana Blažaitienė, CEO at Soprana Personnel International, a company focused on recruitment and personnel rent solutions, has noticed that there were about over 35 per cent more inquiries about looking for IT specialists in Lithuania and Latvia from Scandinavian and German companies in recent months.
“Companies come to us, because they can not find specialists who would fit their requirements, in their own countries, as well as similarly qualified specialists demand higher salaries there,” said Diana Blažaitienė, recruitment and personnel rent solutions expert.
Blažaitienė says that recently there were 98 Lithuanian IT specialists-website creators, who fitted the ideal candidate profile of one Germany-based company. There were only 27 B2B marketing specialists, who matched all criteria required by another company from Scandinavia.
Remote workforce opens companies up to a world of talent
While hiring talent for remote work may be new for many employers, Nebelung says his company had a good experience with the Baltic countries and is open for hiring more specialists from the region. “When recruiting and managing a remote team, the most important aspect is a trust in the person, who is on location running the operations,” explained the COO.
“There is always doubt about recruiting and managing teams remotely, but only the companies, which will adapt remote recruiting and work processes, are going to win this battle for IT talents,” commented Blažaitienė.
