Why is it so hard to hire and keep IT people?

by Thomas Kinsinger
Director of Technology, E-N Computers
20+ years experience in enterprise IT and managed services.

Are you looking to hire another IT manager and is it taking much longer than expected? Maybe your IT manager just submitted his resignation, even though it seems like he just got everything stabilized. This kind of IT staff turnover can be frustrating since everything in your business relies on technology and the people who support it.

In conversations with prospective and existing customers, we’ve noticed that many are struggling to find and retain IT help. We thought it might be helpful to dive into a few reasons why it seems harder than ever.

QUICK ANSWER:

Why is it so hard to hire and keep IT people?

First, IT pros like to move on to a new challenge after two to three years — and it’s the fastest way to increase their salary. Second, they now seek greater flexibility with remote and hybrid work; requiring workers to be in-office full-time or most of the time will cost you the best people. Other factors include economic pressures pushing wage expectations upward and IT education that doesn’t provide practical skills.

IT pros naturally seek change
Some IT pros lack people skills
You’re not adapting to remote or hybrid work
Changing attitudes about compensation
IT education not meeting practical needs
What can you do?

IT pros naturally seek change

IT people are problem solvers at heart. They live for researching, investigating, and deconstructing a problem, then developing and implementing a solution. As long as they are adequately challenged — and supported by management — they tend to be happy. But that phase doesn’t last forever.

In our experience, IT professionals are ready to move on from a job after two to four years. At this point, they tend to feel like they know the systems, and everything is in maintenance mode — they’re ready for a new challenge somewhere else.

At an MSP, there’s always a new challenge. We’re not keeping up with all the departments of one organization; we’re keeping up with dozens of companies and their departmental needs. Some people thrive on this while others burn out and seek a more stable corporate or government environment.

Some IT pros lack people skills

A good IT pro needs both technical skills and people skills, because they need to be able to bridge the gap between user and computer. It can be challenging to find these skills together. Often, the brightest technical minds have little patience or tact when dealing with others. This limits the pool of preferred candidates when you’re looking to find and keep IT help.

Over the years, we’ve honed our interviews to find candidates with people skills who are willing to work on a team. They also need technical chops, or at least the underlying skills to troubleshoot, research, and solve problems analytically. Here are the 29 best interview questions to ask IT job candidates.

You’re not adapting to remote and hybrid work

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a major shift to remote work during which companies—and workers—saw stable or increased productivity. Tech workers, including IT professionals, realize that most of our work can be done remotely. Some managers, though, are not embracing this change. Faced with return-to-office mandates, many top tech workers choose to leave a company rather than cease remote work.

Why is working from home popular with so many? Consider how workers benefit:

One to two hours of reclaimed commute time each day, which equals 6 to 12 work weeks. This is great for spending time with family, taking care of personal matters, and resting.
Less stress from commuting.
Saved expenses on fuel and vehicle maintenance.

Organizations that try to bring people back into the office typically do it because they find it hard to manage remote workers. Their tendency is to micromanage. These managers love having everyone in the office just as much as their subordinates love being at home. Companies with a culture of micromanagement even use spyware to keep an eye on their employees—a huge breach of trust that is not usually received well.

On the other hand, we believe that remote and hybrid work can be extremely effective when managers know how to provide autonomy and monitor outcomes. Organizations willing to provide this flexibility will attract the best talent.

How we approach remote work

At E-N Computers, we have a hybrid schedule where one day a week in-office is expected. We find this helpful for maintaining work relationships and keeping everyone in sync. Personally, I love coming into the office because I have four homeschooled children and struggle to get any work done at home. For many of our employees, though, remote work is a great adjustment and we are happy to offer that flexibility.

Changing attitudes about compensation

In the past, we have worked with community colleges to fill positions and hire interns. We find that this provides them with practical experience and allows us to teach them to work our way. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we typically paid recent graduates $35,000 to $45,000 to fill an entry-level position. We’re now finding that graduates from the same schools are expecting $80,000 for the same positions. When your network and server engineers are making that, it’s not practical to bring new hires on at that price.

We understand that higher wages are not just the expectation of a younger generation. The state of Virginia is moving to a $15/hour minimum wage, which is just over $31,000/year. A help desk job that pays a little above minimum wage isn’t as attractive to job seekers, including those fresh out of college. Economic pressures are straining the budgets of individuals and small businesses. At this point, many of us are like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, running from the massive boulder.

via GIPHY

All of this is on top of the fact that many small and mid-sized organizations don’t keep up with cost of living increases, offer promotion opportunities, or re-evaluate wages to keep up with skills and the market. So every few years, iIT professionals have to move jobs to get the best mix of compensation and benefits possible.

What an individual worker is looking for in total compensation will vary, but you want to strive to offer the best that you can. Many workers discovered during the pandemic that flexibility was important to them, and good companies found ways to be flexible. The more flex you can offer, the better able you will be to attract and retain talent.

IT education not meeting practical needs

Talk to any seasoned IT professional and they’ll likely tell you that higher education is not meeting the needs of the IT industry. We see candidates fresh out of college with an undergraduate degree that are completely unprepared for even a basic help desk role. We’ve worked with interns that struggle to follow step-by-step instructions because they’re not familiar with Windows.

This phenomenon exists with many IT certification and boot camp programs as well. We find that they prepare people to pass a test, but they fail to build the understanding or experience to do well in an entry-level position. While some basic certifications like CompTIA Network+ may get your foot in the door with some employers, we prefer to look for something else.

When we talk with job candidates, we like to ask about extracurriculars. If they tinker with technology in some way — maybe they were in a robotics or electronics club in school, volunteered to work with their schools IT department, or they have built their own IT home lab — they can talk about troubleshooting, research, problem solving, and teamwork.

What is a home lab?

A quick aside for IT job seekers that stumble on this post: a home lab doesn’t have to be complex to provide practical experience. Here are a few ideas of projects you can try at home that demonstrate familiarity with IT concepts and skills:

Find or buy a used laptop, erase the storage drive, and install a Windows or Linux OS.
Install virtualization software (there are free, open-source options) and use it to create a virtual machine.
Replace the modem and router supplied by your ISP with compatible ones you own and configure them.
Find or buy a used network switch and configure it.
Set up a media server and use documentation to securely configure it for remote access so that you can stream videos while away from home.

What can you do?

If you’re struggling to find and retain IT help, there are a few things you can do. First, look at your compensation package. It should reflect the value that the person brings to the company, and they should be reasonably able to live independently on it. Second, do your best to embrace remote or hybrid work options. This might mean training managers to manage outcomes rather than hours worked or status indicators. Third, consider whether you can budget for training, conferences, or online learning tools that support professional development.

You can also look into working with a managed service provider (MSP) like E-N Computers for either co-managed or fully managed IT support. Co-managed IT lets you benefit from always-available support that is most familiar with your business and staff, while also having the staffing of an MSP that supports dozens of customers. There are a few staff roles that work well with co-managed IT. Fully outsourcing your IT support is usually more cost effective for businesses with less than 50 employees.

E-N Computers is a regional MSP that offers fully managed and co-managed IT. We support defense contractors, healthcare providers, schools and libraries, and a wide variety of other businesses. We give our clients peace of mind by providing comprehensive support and strategic planning.

Next Steps

When you have the right people working together, you can implement systems and processes that actively help you reach your business goals. We sometimes call this IT maturity. But for many organizations, something is off when it comes to their partnerships, strategy, systems, and settings. How can you know what’s working well and where you have room for improvement? Start by taking our free IT Maturity Self-Assessment. You’ll walk away with some pointers and, if you want, a free appointment to discuss your results.

Take the IT Maturity Assessment

Is your business ready to weather changes, including employee turnover? Find out by taking our IT maturity assessment.

You’ll get personalized action items that you can use to make improvements right away. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to book a FREE IT strategy session to get even more insights into your IT needs.

Take the Assessment

Why is it so hard to hire and keep IT people?

Why is it so hard to hire and keep IT people?

Table of Contents

IT pros naturally seek change

Some IT pros lack people skills

You’re not adapting to remote and hybrid work

How we approach remote work

Changing attitudes about compensation

IT education not meeting practical needs

What is a home lab?

What can you do?

Next Steps

Take the IT Maturity Assessment

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