By Chelsea Babin

Every year, certain trends emerge in the IT industry and the same is true for their hiring practices. If you want to attract top technical talent to your organization in 2017, it’s important to be aware of these 6 trends that are expected to be prevalent throughout 2017.

1. An Increase in Transparency: Top technical employees have requested greater transparency for years and it looks like they’re finally getting what they want. More employers are expected to be up front about compensation and benefits this year so that IT candidates can have all of the information before they decide to apply to a position, which will prevent wasted interviews and save both companies and potential employees some valuable time.

2. Security Skills are a Must-Have: If your organization needs to hire specialized cyber security professionals next year, you’ll have a hard time finding what you’re looking for. Demand for security skills is increasing and the pool of security talent isn’t growing quickly enough to meet it.

3. The Importance of Online Profiles and Code Examples Increases: More hiring managers are paying attention to potential employees LinkedIn pages, GitHub accounts, or other coding examples. IT professionals are aware of this and a lot of them are stepping up their online profile game to give employers further insights into their talents and abilities beyond what a resume can convey.

4. The Gender Pay Gap Will Continue to Shrink: PayScale reports that the gender pay gap narrowed by 0.3 percent in the last year which means it’s down to just 2.4 percent. And, while they also found that over 50 percent of the employees they polled cited gender inequality as a problem in their workplace, it’s clear that companies are making strides to correct this thanks to changing attitudes and increased awareness. The gender pay gap is expected to continue to shrink in the IT industry next year.

5. Status Updates: Many companies have done away with the tradition of rejection letters and have experienced backlash from potential employees. According to Gerry Crispin, the founder and principal of CareerXroads, that’s about to change thanks to, “improved sensitivity to the candidate experience and acknowledgement that treating candidates poorly can impact the ability to attract top talent and earnings” He anticipates that regular status and progress updates will be delivered to candidates throughout the hiring process—either through their recruiters or through direct phone calls—and that it will become a major IT industry hiring trend throughout the year.

6. Fewer Traditional Full-Time Jobs: Companies are expected to increasingly rely on freelancers and contractors in the coming year, especially for positions with specialized expertise according to a recent survey by KPMG. This means that many IT professionals may switch from full time to contract roles when looking for new work and that a good, experienced contractor may be more difficult to find in 2017.

Ample job opportunities and a lack of qualified candidates defined the IT market in 2016 and it’s expected to do the same next year. But these 6 IT hiring trends are emerging to help attract top technical talent and deal with yet another competitive year for companies who need to hire IT professionals.