By Chelsea Babin

Are you looking for talented technical professionals in 2015? So is every other hiring manager. Because the IT industry is in the position to have a fantastic year for growth and business expansion, the available pool of talent is growing shallower by the minute.

In order to stay competitive in the marketplace, IT organizations are scrambling for certain types of talent this year. The problem is that when everyone is looking for the same thing in the same areas, there is increased competition that makes it more difficult for organizations to attract the best talent to their team. Which areas are the most competitive in 2015?

> Third Platform Skills: Many companies are moving into Big Data and the cloud, which means IT professionals with third platform skills are in high demand. The IDC predicts that the third platform will drive almost 50% of IT spending by 2020. Because of this, 33% of employers are already finding it difficult to locate the third platform talent that they need.

> Collaboration and Problem-Solving Skills: Whatever technologies your company uses, chances are you’re looking for stellar problem solving skills and the ability to collaborate. This mix of analytics and social ability would not necessarily have been hard to find in the IT market of a few years ago, when the focus was more on innovation and flexibility, but now that hiring managers everywhere are looking for team players who can problem solve, these skills are becoming harder to find in the available talent pool.

> Leadership and Middle Management: A few years ago you would have thought that middle managers were becoming extinct but, as IT company sizes continue to grow, there’s an increased need for effective leaders. The ideal combination for these kinds of positions is emotionally intelligent, highly technical workers who can communicate effectively. Finding these diamonds in the rough is proving to be increasingly difficult in 2015 because they are once again seen as an asset in most information technology situations.

> Diversity: Last year was the year that many large tech firms released their diversity statistics and watched the world cringe. It started with Google admitting that only 17% of its technical workforce was female and just 5% of its technical workforce was Black or Hispanic. Other large companies followed suit with equally abysmal diversity statistics and, suddenly, diversity initiatives were launched in almost every IT company. The current pool of talent is less-than diverse but, as STEM initiatives and diversity outreach programs continue to grow, many hiring managers are making diversity a priority in hiring throughout 2015 and beyond.

If the available talent pool seems thin to you, it may be because your organization is looking for the same talented technical professionals that other companies are after. This is why now, more than ever, competitive salaries, flexible benefits and on-the-job learning opportunities are essential ways your company can stay attractive to top technical talent.