Who’s Hiring: Recruiting Trends in Technology & Design

COVID-19 has impacted nearly all industries across the United States economy. In the Tech & Design community (TD), many of the trends indicate a decline in hiring due to COVID-19; however, the trends in some sectors show continued hiring and others show increased demand.

Big Tech Industry Continues to Hire

Big technology companies are still hiring. Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple are all hiring tech roles including engineers, data scientists, software designers, and cybersecurity experts.

Facebook is hiring an additional 10,000 new workers this year, mostly in product design and software engineering.
Google currently has over 3,000 open positions listed online.
Amazon is looking to fill over 20,000 roles in technology.
Apple has listed new jobs in the past month including software engineers and product managers.
Cisco Systems Inc. has pledged not to lay off any of its staff.

Big Data & Network Security Jobs Are Still Growing

Before the pandemic, the data science industry was a growing sector of technology with a shortage of talent to fill these roles. The demand for data-oriented occupations and skill sets skyrocketed in 2019, with data engineers seeing a 50% increase in demand and data scientists seeing a 32% demand increase. While other sectors face layoffs, the Big Data & Data Analytics sectors are continuing to grow.

Data Scientists growth expected.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Agency reports that cybersecurity engineers, cybersecurity risk management jobs, and information technology staff are “essential for continued infrastructure viability.”
The sudden shift to remote and distance work created a dire need for cybersecurity professionals to secure networks, technology, and personnel activity. On LinkedIn alone, organizations posted 261,545 cybersecurity jobs that need to be filled.

Startups Hit Hard by COVID-19

In light of the pandemic, many startups have laid off all types of workers including recruiters, IT staff, and managers.

According to startup exec Roger Lee, a total of 280 startups have laid off 21,609 employees since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic.
Lyft laid off nearly 1,000 workers.
Airbnb stopped hiring.
Bird, an electric scooter startup, laid off 30% of its staff.
Toast, based in Boston, laid off 50% of its entire staff, 10% of which were based in Chicago.

Rise of Telemedicine & Tech in Healthcare

The pandemic has caused hospitals and doctors to think differently about how they serve patients. Many have embraced virtual doctor’s appointments through telemedicine. This rapid shift in medicine means more hospitals and doctors are hiring IT staff and telemedicine companies have increased job opportunities.

There is a demand for big data jobs in healthcare to help track COVID-19.
Development of COVID-19 contact-tracing tool will need IT staff.
Increase in mobile health apps due to telehealth will require more IT workers.

For those within the TD community, it is more important than ever to stay current on industry trends and to ultimately follow the demand: track who’s hiring and who’s not and cater your search to those experiencing growth.