Insights for hiring managers
Insights for hiring managers
Insights for hiring managers
So you’ve posted a job ad for your next AWS hire—time to kick back and relax, right?
As any hiring manager will know, it’s unfortunately rarely that simple. As AWS adoption continues to grow and skill gaps remain unbridged, competition is still fierce amongst organizations fishing in the same talent pools. As a result, hiring managers must turn to creative solutions to fill AWS roles long-term.
Of course, this requires longer term thinking. It’s no longer about finding immediate solutions, but rather building pipelines that ensure longevity in your hiring approach. To do this, hiring managers must gain a thorough understanding of what appeals to candidates, and just as importantly, what puts them off. Only then can you be confident that innovative compensation packages, purposeful retention strategies, and alternative methods of talent creation are well-informed.
Here, we’ll investigate the methods AWS customers commonly use to attract and retain talent, providing you with data-driven strategies you can adopt for greater success in the hiring market.
What strategies are employers using to stay competitive in attracting talent?
| Employee skills training | 50% |
| Employee wellbeing initiatives | 42% |
| Engaging employees around the mission, vision, and values of the organization | 30% |
| Increased benefits and perks | 27% |
| Equality, diversity, and inclusive hiring practices | 26% |
| Salary increases | 26% |
| New ways of working—including remote, hybrid, or flexible working | 25% |
| Developing a business case for more resources | 25% |
| Company profit sharing | 22% |
| Investment in training programs | 22% |
| Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policy | 21% |
| Increased leadership visibility | 18% |
| Introduction of a bonus (monthly/bi-annual/year-end bonus) | 17% |
| None of the above | 9% |
| Other | 1% |
Get the in-demand AWS skills to make
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Looking for mid-level AWS talent with the right skills and experience?
83%
Industry-leading first-time pass rates
Get the in-demand AWS skills to make
the most of your implementation
Looking for mid-level AWS talent with the right skills and experience?
83%
Industry-leading first-time pass rates
Hiring AWS professionals
Hiring managers tell us that, on average, it takes six months and three weeks to find a new AWS hire. And 59% of hiring managers told us they want to hire an AWS professional in the next 12 months. Of those planning to hire, two-fifths (41%) are confident they can find the right candidate on the first attempt, while 19% are not.
Hiring AWS professionals
Hiring managers tell us that, on average, it takes six months and three weeks to find a new AWS hire. And 59% of hiring managers told us they want to hire an AWS professional in the next 12 months. Of those planning to hire, two-fifths (41%) are confident they can find the right candidate on the first attempt, while 19% are not.
What are your top tech staffing challenges over the next 12 months?
What are your top tech staffing challenges over the next 12 months?
Are AWS professionals experiencing burnout?
Almost two-fifths (40%) of permanent AWS professionals say they have experienced burnout in their current role, compared to 35% of freelancers.
According to our respondents, what were the consequences of experiencing burnout?
- Increased turnover as employees pursued other opportunities
- Reduced efficiency, productivity and work output
- Diminished quality of work, including making more errors
- Procrastination
- Problems with sleeping
- Apathy and withdrawal from work
- Irritability and frustration
- Low team spirit and a demotivated team
- Hostility between colleagues
When it comes to the impacts on an organization, burnout can impact employees’ output; as an Architect from the United States explains, “my productivity decreased”. This was a sentiment echoed by a Backend Software Engineer also from the US: “I’m not in the zone at work, which is affecting my productivity”.
Furthermore, burnout may cause employees to withdraw from their employer. A Director from the United Kingdom mentioned, “it left me with a cynical outlook, and I disengaged from the strategy of my workplace”. Burnout and the resulting disengagement with work can even lead employees to seek new opportunities elsewhere, as happened with a DevSecOps Engineer from the US: “it caused me to seek a new employer”.
Respondents also mentioned that burnout can put added stress on working relationships, which happened to an Application Architect from the US: “I was irritated and annoyed by my team, and I suffered from high blood pressure”. While other professionals also experienced health issues, particularly related to sleep: “I was sleep deprived and lacked motivation” (Product Owner, US).
Respondents also mentioned that burnout can put added stress on working relationships, which happened to an Application Architect from the US: “I was irritated and annoyed by my team, and I suffered from high blood pressure”. While other professionals also experienced health issues, particularly related to sleep: “I was sleep deprived and lacked motivation” (Product Owner, US).
The future workplace
Are AWS professionals happy to work in the office five days a week?
| 2024 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, I'd be happy to work in the office full-time | 23% | 24% |
| No, I'd prefer to work fully remote | 42% | 36% |
| No, I'd prefer hybrid working (e.g., some of the time in the office and some at another remote location/home) | 33% | 38% |
| Not sure | 2% | 3% |
The preference of 42% of our respondents would be to work entirely remotely, marking a shift from our previous survey, which showed that most professionals preferred a hybrid working arrangement. Interestingly, the percentage of those favoring exclusive office-based work remained relatively stable.
We asked the hiring managers of those organizations that provide remote working whether they considered it provided them with a recruiting advantage:
An advantage in hiring new staff
- Yes
92%
- No
4%
- Not sure
4%
An advantage in retaining staff
- Yes
90%
- No
5%
- Not sure
5%
We asked the hiring managers of those organizations that provide remote working whether they considered it provided them with a recruiting advantage:
An advantage in hiring new staff
An advantage in retaining staff
Are other employers offering remote working opportunities?
The future of work
While the tech industry has long been ahead the curve with its progressive attitudes towards home working, the future of work has been a hot topic across every industry in recent years. Policies vary from workplace to workplace, but the consensus is the same: full-time office working is old news.
Unsurprisingly we’ve seen this attitude reflected across the AWS community, with less than a quarter (23%) of respondents stating they’d be happy to work in the office five days a week. What is surprising, however, is that this represents a decrease from last year despite less pandemic-related hesitancy remaining in 2024. Likewise, we’ve seen a sharp rise in the popularity of full-time remote working compared to the previous year (42%, compared with 36% in 2023), demonstrating just how much value candidates place on the added convenience and flexibility this grants them.
That’s not to say the office is dead and buried. One third (33%) of respondents said they’d prefer a hybrid working arrangement, with some time spent in an office and some at home or at another remote location. Although this suggests that AWS professionals still desire the collaborative and social environment of an office some of the time, it’s interesting to note that this preference is down 5% compared with 2023. With us all facing greater financial challenges this year, this is perhaps indicative of candidates’ desire to save money on commuting, lunches, and more.
Just how much professionals value this option of flexibility shouldn’t be understated; 9 in 10 hiring managers say that offering remote working helps them retain staff, while a mammoth 92% say it offers an advantage in attracting new hires. It’s therefore clear that not offering at least some flexibility in work models is a fast-track ticket to excluding a significant proportion of the candidate pool, with candidates no longer considering remote work as a perk, but rather a standard they expect to be met.
Insights from currently unemployed AWS professionals
Top factors that are important to unemployed professionals when seeking a role
Top factors that are important to unemployed professionals when seeking a role
How likely are unemployed professionals to accept a role that involves working in the office five days a week?
47%
19%
31%
47%
19%
31%
Takeaways for hiring managers
The AWS hiring landscape continues to present hurdles for hiring managers, with attraction, retention, and increased competition being reported as the top three challenges for another year. But with talent attraction (39%) overtaking increased competition for talent (34%) as the top challenge this year, it’s more important than ever for hiring managers to take the time to thoroughly comprehend what matters most to today’s AWS professionals.
Sure, a healthy compensation package can grab candidates’ attention, but our findings show that it’s no longer just about bettering your competitors’ offers—instead, it’s about creating a happier and healthier environment for employees new and old. The good news is that hiring managers appear to be catching on to this trend, with employee skills training (50%) replacing company profit sharing as the top strategy being used to stay competitive in attracting talent. We also saw a dramatic increase in hiring managers offering wellbeing initiatives (42%) and engaging employees around business values (30%), and observed a 9% drop in hiring managers offering salary increases (26%) as an attraction strategy.
While budget restrictions perhaps play a role in this, just 23% of respondents report struggling to pay what candidates demand, suggesting this is a purposeful shift from hiring managers to realign their approach. Ensure you’re embracing these methods too to avoid getting lost in the crowd when hiring.
Our key findings report contains highlights from this year’s Careers and Hiring Guide, plus our salary tables allow you to compare your salary or benchmark your teams’ salaries no matter their role in the AWS ecosystem.
Our key findings report contains highlights from this year’s Careers and Hiring Guide, plus our salary tables allow you to compare your salary or benchmark your teams’ salaries no matter their role in the AWS ecosystem.
Our key findings report contains highlights from this year’s Careers and Hiring Guide, plus our salary tables allow you to compare your salary or benchmark your teams’ salaries no matter their role in the AWS ecosystem.
