IDA members are in high demand

Headhunters are searching more actively than ever for candidates among IDA's members.

In a new survey, IDA has asked members whether they have been approached by a headhunter or other company in the past year with an offer to change jobs. To this, 70% responded “yes”. The survey was conducted by IDA among almost 17,000 private sector members. That is an increase from 2020 and 2021 where 57% and 65% had been contacted, respectively.

"These figures underline once again that there is a severe shortage of highly skilled people with technical and scientific insight in a wide range of industries in this country. The high demand means that companies must look towards each other for talent and skills. These are of course good times for the individual IT specialist, science graduate or engineer, but we also know that companies' recruitment challenges have dramatic consequences. Some simply have to turn down orders, drop expansion plans or outsource abroad, and that does not make us as a society more prosperous," says Malene Matthison-Hansen, chairman of the IDA Council of Employees.

Among members working in IT and telecommunications, eight in ten have been approached by a headhunter in the past 12 months, and among construction members, many have also have been headhunted or attempted recruited for another company.

"The shortage of knowledge workers in the STEM fields will not go away anytime soon. We have expressed concern for this issue in many years, but yet we find ourselves in a situation where we are failing to produce enough candidates from the universities. The political agreement to move study places out of the major cities will not make things any better. It will lead to fewer study places in these areas, just like the cap on international students will attract less international talent. By limiting the number of courses taught in English, the government forces universities to reject many international students who would otherwise continue their careers in Denmark," says Malene Matthison-Hansen. 

She hopes that the the government will take the problem seriously. 

"The new government must have a much greater focus on solving the lack of labor within the STEM subjects. And a good place to start is to remove this cap or at least put it on hold in the fields of education where there is high demand. It will be a wise education policy that aligns with the future needs of the business world for the benefit of growth and prosperity," says Malene Matthison-Hansen.

23 per cent of IDA's members in the private sector changed jobs in the past year - either within the same company or to another company.