Tech roles are still ‘the most in-demand,' says job market expert—but you need these skills to land them – CNBC

Amid the slew of mass layoffs in the tech industry over the past year, some job hunters might think twice about trying to enter the industry.

But fear not, says Richard Wahlquist, chief executive at the American Staffing Association, a trade group that represents staffing companies across industries.

Wahlquist has a birds-eye view of which sectors are hiring and which specific jobs employers need to fill. He notes that sectors like health care and construction continue to need workers. But from his vantage point, he says tech is still leading the way when it comes to hiring demand.

“Despite recent headlines involving layoffs at major companies, tech jobs remain among the most in-demand jobs in the labor market,” Wahlquist tells CNBC Make It.

What has changed about the tech hiring landscape: the jobs are less at Big Tech companies. Instead, tech workers should target their job search at small and medium-sized enterprises, says Wahlquist.

Indeed, ZipRecruiter’s chief economist Julia Pollak said in February on CNBC’s “The Exchange” that even the tech workers who had been laid off found new jobs quickly.

According to Layoffs.fyi, nearly 213,000 tech employees worldwide have been laid off in 2023 as of early July.

Wahlquist says the downsizing was a response to the “irrational hiring exuberance” that occurred during the pandemic when Covid-related stimulus spurred Big Tech growth. As the macro environment changed and the prospect of a recession loomed, those companies that had over-hired found themselves in need of a staffing trim.

Many workers used to see power players like Meta, Amazon and Google as havens of job security in an ever-changing industry. However, over the past year, many employees at those companies have woken up to surprise layoff messages in their inboxes, telling them their job has been cut effective immediately.

Now, the narrative has flipped: Big Tech is no longer the refuge from volatility that it might have once been.

Instead, Wahlquist says, tech workers are better off looking at “small-to-medium-sized companies, non-profits and even state and federal government.” They may also find hefty demand for their skills outside of the tech sector like in finance and banking, he adds.

For example, he cites the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which announced in May that it was looking for tech workers for 1,000 new roles.

“Tech is everywhere in the labor market, and the relatively small number of layoffs at some very prominent large companies is not going to change that fact,” says Wahlquist.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that between 2021 and 2031 jobs for cybersecurity analysts will grow by 35% and software developers by 25%, both outpacing the average 5% growth rate.

That is, the demand for tech workers is not slowing down, though how and where those workers get hired is changing.

Wahlquist says that tech companies are paying more attention to certain skills, especially as innovations like artificial intelligence and cloud computing continue to disrupt the industry.

“As the demand for tech workers continues, companies are changing their job descriptions to focus more on skills and less on degrees. Someone looking to enter the tech field must be ready to become a lifelong learner because the programs and processes they learn today may soon be out of date,” he says.

He says that along with upskilling in AI, tech job seekers should focus on honing their soft skills to be more competitive in the job hunt.

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