intelligent

need to succeed is clear . Aside from research and development , businesses that received funding in the past 12 months have been more likely to invest in people than in other more traditional areas of investment , such as mergers and acquisitions , marketing and business expansion .

From ‘ build ’ to ‘ protect ’: how business size impacts hiring priorities

According to Robert Half ’ s Demand for Tech Talent report , which combines data from a survey of 750 tech hiring managers with insights from the company ’ s specialist recruitment team , the increased focus on hiring comes as a response to the tight hiring market – making it harder to secure top talent .

With businesses who have completed a funding round in the past 12 months looking to make an average of 206 hires , it is no wonder demand for talent has reached unprecedented levels .

As a result , the start-ups that raised capital are allocating around a quarter ( 23 %) of that to hiring tech talent , up from the pre-pandemic average of 18 %.

“ Increasing headcount is crucial to being able to scale a business , but with start-ups looking to make mass hires after a funding round , adding to the existing demand in the market , it is becoming harder to secure skilled talent ,” said Craig Freedberg , Regional Director – Technology , at Robert Half . “ Supply simply cannot keep up with demand , which is why businesses are investing more to find candidates and compete on salaries .”

In a market where tech talent is hard to find , and even harder to secure , start-ups are also investing more to upskill existing employees to plug gaps . Half ( 50 %) of tech leaders reported that their business spent at least some capital from a recent funding round on upskilling and training their current teams so that talent shortages do not prevent the organisation from achieving its goals .

The pressure on growing businesses to bring in and develop the skills they

As start-ups scale , hiring priorities shift from ‘ build ’ to ‘ protect ’. For small businesses , priority hires after a funding round are business intelligence ( 43 %), leadership ( 41 %) and DevOps ( 35 %) roles – all of which are crucial for finding direction , developing a strategic growth plan and ensuring that the product is ready and able to handle rapid growth .

As they grow , the focus shifts . Large enterprises that received funding in the past five years were focused on data management – crucial for handling customer demand and protecting brand reputation .

The most common hires amongst large businesses are information security ( 46 %), cloud and infrastructure ( 44 %) and business intelligence ( 43 %). �

SUPPLY

SIMPLY CANNOT KEEP UP WITH DEMAND , WHICH IS WHY BUSINESSES ARE INVESTING MORE TO FIND CANDIDATES AND COMPETE ON SALARIES .