Sf the development and Big Data professions have been on the rise in recent years, trends are constantly changing in terms of IT recruitment. With the very latest technologies, new needs are emerging and, with them, the need to quickly find ever more specialized talent. In Morocco, the IT sector recorded a growth of 190% in terms of recruitment advertisements broadcast compared to the same period in 2021, reveals the latest Rekrute survey.
This figure corresponds to one-third of the overall resource demand. “Having recorded only an 11% increase in April 2021, the volume of ads in this sector tripled in April 2022, reflecting its increased dynamism”, confirms the recruitment specialist. Thus, IT resource requirements are distributed relatively evenly between microenterprises or very small enterprises (TPE) (26.06%), SMEs (27.11%), large enterprises (GE) (16.90%) and Very large companies (TGE) in the Kingdom (29.93%), with the majority of positions as study and development engineers (14.08%), IT managers (13.03%) and system technicians (8. 8%).
Difficulties in retaining IT talent
It’s an open secret: Moroccan IT skills are leaving the country for Europe, and in particular France. The shortage of IT profiles and the brain drain (engineers) are among the obstacles that companies are facing today. A problem from which the sector has suffered for a few years now, and which unfortunately continues. The decline in the competitiveness of companies, the erosion of the attractiveness of investments are, among other things, the direct consequences.
Here are some figures to illustrate the scope: 600 engineers leave the country every year to work in other places. Three foreign companies come every two weeks to recruit a dozen engineers, reports the Moroccan Federation of Information Technologies, Telecommunications and Offshoring (APEBI). Despite the health crisis and the current economic situation, Moroccan IT profiles are still as coveted as before by foreign companies.
60% of Moroccan IT specialists have already been approached by recruiters abroad (this figure rises to 85% for Bac+4). Also, 48.88% have been approached at least once during the last 6 months and 8.44% of them more than 5 times. In 2019, APEBI announced that the IT sector in Morocco is losing 50 engineers every month. Alarming findings, while Morocco, in the midst of technological change, needs its skills more than ever. The reasons why Moroccan IT engineers go abroad are related to salary and career prospects.
“IT engineers are looking for a whole package, which includes salary, the psychological side and the evolution in a healthy climate where they can be happy”, indicates the survey. If the diagnosis is clear, remedying the lack is not easy. Depending on the profession, two solutions are possible: recruiting foreign skills and training Moroccan skills. For the first alternative, the procedure for recruiting foreigners has been simplified. Moreover, in recent years, processing times for work contract visas and fees have been reduced.
For the second solution, a training program for the retraining of BAC+3 scientific graduates, through a certificate of professional qualification (CQP) has also been set up. This program allows professional federations with trades under pressure to produce skills to meet their markets. Measures considered a lifeline for companies looking for IT skills. But will they be enough to stop this bleeding? To be continued … !