by Lucia Maffei / via The Boston Business Journal
When the pandemic first hit, tech companies as well as other businesses put hiring down on their list of priorities. But last year, hiring came back and the majority of large tech employers in the state recruited new people at full speed, according to a Business Journal analysis.
“It’s pent-up demand from 2020,” said Brent Kleiman, founder and CEO of Boston recruiting services firm Argosight. “It takes time to turn things back on.”
The Business Journal compared total headcount figures for more than 20 publicly-traded tech companies in the Bay State with the 2020 figures, as reported in annual reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The result is measurable benchmark of how quick companies added new jobs over the past year, although headcount increases can sometimes be due to acquisitions in addition to hiring.
For Kleiman, a key trend that emerged in 2021 in the local job market is a power shift away from employers in favor of candidates. Job seekers today feel they have more control over their careers and can advance more demands, from compensation increases to remote work benefits. Employers, on the other hand, feel they have to do more to convince people to join or stay, he said.
Kleiman said that employers have taken a serious evaluation of their offerings as a result. “The question is, ‘What is our value prop? What are we offering these people, besides the job?'” he said. “One of the things that we’re seeing a lot is companies having to define, ‘Who are we? What are we doing? Who would want to work here and why?'”