Forty-six percent of IT managers who have hiring responsibilities would offer a top performer up to a 10 percent or more salary increase to leave one job for another.

And, despite the rising attraction of work-life balance or workplace flexibility to employees, those in a position to hiring a techie believe money is still far and away the most important factor in landing a job candidate.

Those are some of the conclusions drawn from a survey of IT hiring professionals by tech staffing company Modis. The survey was designed to cull out what hiring pros look for in candidates, what they are willing to do to land a top performer, and who is having the toughest time filling critical tech positions.

General consensus could be found around several topics. For instance, a majority of respondents, regardless of tenure, age or job title, agree that health care tech jobs were going to be the most difficult to fill going forward.

They also generally agree that salary is more important than most other factors in persuading someone to work for them. Most felt Chicago is the emerging tech professional hot spot. A strong majority say they would rehire someone who had a left to take another job if they felt that person was a top performer.

Moving on to specific details, the survey reported the following overall results when it asked:

When hiring a top candidate that is currently employer, what is the average salary increase you are willing to offer to get them to jump ship?

  • |

    • No increase: 2 percent.

    • 3-5 percent increase: 19 percent.

    • 6-9 percent increase: 33 percent.

    • 10-15 percent increase: 32 percent.

    • Above 15 percent: 14 percent.

Hiring back a top performer that left:

  • |

    • I wouldn’t consider rehiring a top performer who resigned: 12 percent.

    • I would consider rehiring a top performer who asked to be rehired within three months of resigning: 35 percent.

    • I would consider rehiring a top performer who asked to be rehired within six months of resigning: 21 percent.

    • I would consider rehiring a top performer no matter how much time had passed since their resignation: 33 percent.

Which hard skill is most difficult to find?

  • |

    • Security/critical infrastructure: 22 percent.

    • Project management: 21 percent.

    • Quality Assurance: 18 percent.

    • Programming: 13 percent.

    • Program/product management: 10 percent.

    • UX/UI: 4 percent.

Which soft skill is most difficult to find?

  • |

    • Team work/interpersonal skills: 31percent.

    • Communication skills: 26 percent.

    • Adaptability: 14 percent.

    • Problem solving: 14 percent.

    • Critical observation: 14 percent.

The full survey includes a breakdown of responses by job title, educational background, and tenure in the industry.

Some of the differences of opinion are striking, such as salary offerings, where 50 percent of company presidents say they favor offering salaries of more than 15 percent over what one was making, compared to 14 percent of all respondents.

Presidents were also far more in favor or rehiring a strayed employee any time they asked to come back, with 59 percent of them saying they’d do that, compared to 33 percent overall.

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Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.

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