When presented with a range of recruitment strategies, IT decision makers said they are likely to try them all in order to land the best talent for their teams, according to research released today by Robert Half Technology. These strategies include using recruiters, offering job flexibility and offering more pay.

Technology leaders were asked, “Which of the following are you willing to do when you face challenges filling an open full-time role?” The top responses include:

• Work with a specialized recruiter: 46%
• Be more flexible on skills requirements and provide training to new hires: 45%
• Divide responsibilities among existing team: 45%
• Increase the salary/compensation package: 43%
• Reach out to my network for referrals: 41%
• Hire a freelancer/contractor until I’m able to staff the role: 37%
• Reduce education requirements: 26%

“In a tight labor market, technology leaders must be as agile with their recruiting efforts as they are with project management,” said Ryan Sutton, a district president for Robert Half Technology. “If you’re adaptable with your hiring tactics and offering competitive compensation packages, your candidate pool will expand.”

When asked which technology roles generally take the longest to staff, IT leaders ranked the specialties as follows:

1. Security
2. Software development
3. Data analytics
4. Networking
5. Project management
6. Help desk/support
7. Mobile

The online survey was developed by Robert Half Technology and conducted by an independent research firm. The report is based on responses from more than 2,500 senior managers in 26 major US markets who have hiring authority for the information systems or IT department of a company.