4,000 euro for recommending an IT specialist, an enormous salary and extraordinary benefits for them – companies will do everything to get one and keep them forever.

Annual university festivities (Polish: juwenalia) in Krakow: everything goes as usual, sun, music, party… but somewhere in the crowd there are managers hiding and hunting for new talents. Their offer is tempting: you give us your résumé and we give you a beer. Everything to steal young programmers from the corporation-world as early as possible, even if they haven’t graduated yet.

Global shortage

IT specialists have become world’s most wanted and best paid recently

Competition is tough when it comes to IT specialists and there is still too little of them on the Polish job market. That is why companies offer even higher salaries and special benefits to lure young people. Local businesses are affected by the whole shortage the most, since big corporations can definitely offer more (apart from the vision of high-standard corpo-life) and their head-hunters don’t have to resort to any tricks to make people want to work for them – the prestige itself is sometimes enough.

The shortage of IT specialists on the Polish job market is so significant that the experts call the fights for employees a regular war. Young people seem to have become aware of their market value and demand more money, which is obvious and not at all risky because the companies have no other choice than to hire them anyway. As of today, an average hourly pay for an IT specialist in Warsaw stands at 60 zl (Polish national avarage is 19zl/h net).

On top of that, there is another problem arising: there are too few IT workers specialised in some crucial IT fields, knowing specific programmes etc. – explains Jacek Nowak, managing director at ITligent Group.

According to recent data, the deficit in such specialists amounts to 50,000 workers and is increasing constantly. The problem is noticeable not only in Poland – the whole European Union, Great Britain and the USA are facing it now, which can be surprising, having in mind Polish specialists migrating in great numbers to these particular countries. The European Commission estimates the deficiency at 800,000 for the year 2020.

Any solution that pops to head-hunters’ heads is worth their weight in gold, that is why they organise themselves at juwenalia and try to lure students with free beer. That you have hired someone does not however necessarily mean they will stay at your company forever, which poses yet another problem for the managers.

Money ain’t enough

Money just isn’t enough now – says Hanna Listek, managing director at Doradztwo Personalne Polski HR (Poland’s Personal Consulting Services HR) – That is why head-hunters are coming up with unusual ideas like gliding with the World Champion Sebastian Kawa as a job bonus.

A promising solution was presented by ITligent: an Internet portal Out2Source.com where companies can borrow experts from each other.

Thanks to that, when a project demands expanding your team with an expert, you don’t have to spend months on searching for one and praying for a success. You have the solution right there. It resembles online shopping a bit: you can see workers available, description of their area of expertise and money they want. You can add chosen people to a shopping cart and order their services for a particular period of time just like that. Currently we have over 400 experts registered on our portal, – boasts Jacek Nowak, one of the website’s authors.

This substantial deficiency makes the managers pay even for a recommendation – if you know an IT expert and they turn out to be appropriate for the job, you can get up to 4,000 euro. Anything and everything to win the war…

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