[REPORT] IT INDUSTRY 2023: HUMAN RESOURCES AND LABOR MARKET OUTLOOK

The report aims to provide employers and job seekers in the IT industry with a multi-dimensional perspective for reference on the current human resource landscape facing the strong impact of the economic recession, recruitment demand, career objectives and necessary preparation for IT industry personnel in the future.

Ho Chi Minh City, October 24, 2023 – VietnamWorks inTECH – an IT recruitment brand of Navigos Group, releases “Report on HR Situation & Recruitment Outlook in the IT industry in 2023”. The report aims to provide employers and job seekers in the IT industry with a multi-dimensional perspective for reference on the current human resource landscape facing the strong impact of the economic recession, recruitment demand, career objectives and necessary preparation for IT industry personnel in the future.

The report is conducted by Navigos Group from a survey of nearly 1,500 attendees (including IT candidates and businesses in Vietnam).

SECTION 1: IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC RECESSION ON BUSINESSES AND IT LABOR

1. Businesses in general and technology businesses in particular

1. According to geographics 

Businesses in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are more strongly affected by the wave of layoffs than other provinces.

According to the survey results, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are two large cities with many job opportunities and both cities are most affected: Ho Chi Minh City has the highest rate of workforce reduction (22.2%) while Hanoi has a low rate of reduction. but instead, businesses in Hanoi often choose to cut down salaries, bonuses or other benefits (accounting for 14.7%).

2. According to the business model

General businesses with products and services not in the technology industry have the most stable staffing ratio.

As businesses with products and services not in the technology industry have a small number of IT workforce compared to technology companies or Outsource/Consulting companies, IT workers in this group have the highest stability rate (76.4%). Meanwhile, the remaining two groups are more seriously affected, the proportion of employees affected is up to 42%.

3. According to company size

Companies with fewer than 100 employees have a high rate of layoffs. Businesses with a number of employees from 1,000 – under 3,000 have the most stable staffing ratio (76.5%), however companies with over 3,000 employees have a relatively high rate of reduction in salaries, bonuses or other benefits (16.7%). 

2. IT workforce

1. According to working experience

IT workers with less than 1 year of experience are most affected by the wave of staff cuts.

In terms of working experience, employees having from 3 years – 8 years of experience have the highest rate of stable jobs, accounting for 65.1%. On the other hand, workers with less than 1 year of experience are most affected when only 23.8% of people have stable jobs. At the same time, this group also has the highest rate of being laid off and not having a new job, up to 30.3%.

2. According to geographics

The IT workforce in the Ho Chi Minh City area is heavily affected by the wave of labor cuts.

The wave of staff reductions has a significant impact on the IT workforce, especially in the Ho Chi Minh City area, the proportion of employees affected is up to 47%, while personnel in the Hanoi area tends to quit their job and look for new opportunities.

3. According to the business model

IT workers working at Outsource/Consulting businesses are most affected among the three business models.

In general, IT employees of all three models are greatly affected by the economic recession. Accordingly, IT personnel working at technology companies recorded the most stable jobs, accounting for 61.3%. However, at Outsource/Consulting businesses, only 45.6% of employees have stable jobs and are the most affected group of the 3 models. For IT personnel working in businesses with products and services not in the technology industry, the tendency to quit their job and look for new opportunities is higher than in other models, accounting for 21.6%.

SECTION 2: THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE OF IT LABOR MARKET

1. Popular programming languages

Javascript and Java continue to be the most preferred programming languages by many programmers and businesses.

Although businesses are also interested in PHP, only about 5.2% of programmers can meet this need. In addition, about 2.2% of businesses are also in need of recruiting candidates who understand the Kotlin language. Also according to our survey data, SQL is the query language preferred by many candidates (17.1%) and the most recruited (10.7%).

2. Common Libraries & Frameworks

.NET continues to lead as the most popular libraries and frameworks

Following that, React.js and Node.js are recognized as the next most popular libraries and frameworks. Although employers have high demand for Angular and React Native, programmers tend to choose jQuery and ASP.NET more.

3. Employees’ expertise and businesses’ demand

Software Developer, Tester/QA-QC, Business Analyst are the three positions that are most interested in by candidates and businesses.

Besides, from the survey results for employers, DevOPs ranked 3rd in the most difficult job positions to recruit, accounting for 18.6% of the total responses. The position has very few candidates (1.1%) although the regular recruitment demand of businesses for this specialty is quite high (6.1%).

SECTION 3: DEMAND, CHALLENGES AND RECRUITMENT OBJECTIVES IN THE IT INDUSTRY IN THE NEXT TIME

1. Recruitment demand on IT in the period from late 2023 to 2024

Businesses in cities still need to recruit IT workers.

In spite of being influenced by the wave of massive layoffs, businesses in cities still need to recruit IT personnel in the coming time, specifically about 10 to 30 employees, of which Hanoi accounts for the highest rate (53.3%).

For technology businesses and businesses with products and services not in the technology industry, it is expected that there will be a stable recruitment trend, mainly around less than 30 employees. On the contrary, due to the workload, IT Outsource/Consulting businesses tend to continuously recruit personnel for each project with a larger number in the range of 50 – 100 people.

2. Challenges for employers and employees

1. Challenges for businesses during the recruitment process

The shortage of high-quality human resources continues to be a major challenge for businesses.

The economic recession forces businesses to downsize and reduce budgets for recruitment activities. In addition, although the need for human resources in the technology industry still exists, the shortage of high-quality human resources is still a big challenge.

Product Owner/Product Manager, Full-stack Developer and DevOps Engineer are the top 3 positions that businesses consider difficult to find suitable candidates for. In addition, when asked about difficult recruitment levels, 89.9% of businesses said it was difficult to find candidates for senior positions.

2. Challenges for candidates in the process of finding a new job

IT candidates are facing many difficulties in the job search process.

25.7% of IT job seekers find it difficult to find a job because “There are not many positions to apply for”, followed by “High competition between candidates”, as well as due to the gap between business needs and experience of the candidate.

3. Recruitment objective and career goals of businesses and employees

1. Recruitment objective of the business

Businesses will raise recruitment requirements to have quality, experienced, and multitasking IT personnel.

In the coming period, businesses will focus more on recruitment quality, have more stringent requirements, and prioritize multitasking candidates who can undertake many jobs and have high experience. 23.5% of businesses said they would focus on maintaining their existing talent pool, followed by building their recruitment brand in the technology community. On the other hand, 15.2% of employers will prioritize expanding the IT Human Resources sector.

2. Career goal of employees

After the wave of staff layoff, IT personnel are less strict and more proactive in the job search process.

“During a stable economic period, the recruitment needs of IT businesses are almost exploding to serve growth, so IT employees are always focused and hunted by businesses. However, at the present time when the labor market is affected by economic factors, businesses are narrowing their recruitment needs and budgets, and at the same time setting higher requirements, requiring personnel with many skills, taking on more responsibilities. Therefore, IT workers also have clear changes in their job search behavior: Workers who intend to change jobs will be more considerate in their decisions, and want to find a stable company. In addition, workers looking for new jobs also tend to choose companies with less volatility by lowering their expectations about salary, benefits, and working environment. In addition, IT workers also actively seek to improve their skills to meet business requirements.” – shared Mr. Cai Dang Son, Director of Product & Engineering at Navigos Group

According to survey results, up to 42.4% of candidates are currently looking for a new job and 23.7% intend to change jobs in the next 12 months, but still in the technology field. Workers also said they will continue to hone their skills/expertise and are especially interested in new technology or new programming languages. Besides, foreign language is also one of the top concerns of IT candidates, accounting for 37.6%.

IT candidates mainly look for jobs on social networking sites (accounting for 20.6%), followed by online recruitment websites such as VietnamWorks with 19.1%.

Refer & download full Report here.  

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About Navigos Group

Navigos Group is the leading human resources recruitment service provider in Vietnam, and its mission is to help job seekers and companies achieve their dreams through professional recruitment services. Navigos Group is known for its ecosystem that includes VietnamWorks – the largest online recruitment portal and Navigos Search – a mid-level and high-level personnel recruitment service. Since 2013, Navigos Group Vietnam has officially become a member of en Japan Group specializing in providing human resources recruitment services with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Up to now, Navigos Group has marked 20 years of operation in the Vietnamese market.

About VietnamWorks

With over 9 million monthly visits, VietnamWorks is the leading and longest-operating job website in Vietnam. Every day, VietnamWorks brings countless new jobs to over 5 million experienced candidates and is always at the forefront of providing the best recruitment solutions for over 60,000 companies, mostly multinational corporations and leading brands in Vietnam. The rich database of experienced candidates and reputable employers of VietnamWorks is a valuable asset in the competitive recruitment market in Vietnam. VietnamWorks InTECH is VietnamWorks’ recruitment website dedicated to fully supporting IT candidates in their career development, at all levels, from fresh graduates to senior candidates, thanks to the combination of online services and high-level personnel recruitment consulting services from Navigos Search.

About Navigos Search

Navigos Search is Vietnam’s leading executive search brand. With more than 20 years of experience in the HR field, Navigos Search offers a team of motivated, market-savvy consultants, and the most comprehensive database of applicants at all levels. According to Navigos Group’s new philosophy – Human Growth – Navigos Search is delighted to assist Companies in finding the best talents, as well as be a trustworthy partner for candidates to choose the “Right Fit” and “Go Further” in their professional journey.