Why Recruiters Are Seeking Tech Savvy Leaders?

Pairing tech savvy with exceptional foresight and key leadership skills makes a great leader. Today, companies seek leaders that possess more than simply a long list of business accomplishments – they seek business leaders who know how to marry business foresight with strategic IT decisions. Essentially, a tech savvy leader is not expected to know how to build an app but have the business acumen to turn an app into a lucrative money-making opportunity.

A common trait shared by many founders of the world’s most successful tech companies is that they possess the key tech know-hows. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg started writing software programs even before entering high school. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom was a self-taught programme. Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Apple’s Steve Jobs… the list goes on. These business leaders posses an in-depth understanding of the technology that their business was build upon.

Having the technical skills as a C-leader certainly poses more advantages as opposed to a CEO with a business-only background. Together with critical leadership traits, it creates the perfect skills set to lead a tech-driven company, and even other non-tech companies as well. Of course, it would come as no surprise that these skills are prized by recruiters who actively pursue candidates with such talents.

However, the challenge lies in looking for these creative thinkers who possess these highly sought- after technical skills. While the chances of finding someone who is C-suite worthy is high, a combination of these in a single candidate is a rarity.

Fortunately, being IT savvy is a skill in which business leaders can learn albeit it is a long journey that requires a lot of hard work and effort. The first step is recognising the need to embrace strategic IT management within the organisation. For some leaders, whose mindsets are strongly embedded in traditional management, identifying the need for strategic IT leadership is already a challenge in itself. Nonetheless, leaders who are keen to step up to meet challenges of the upcoming digital workplace will ultimately reap the benefits for their organisation in the long run.

Similarly, from a recruiter’s point of view, simply offering lucrative compensation packages and a slew of otherworldly benefits might not necessary have hundreds of applicant beating down the door. Instead, recruiters can reposition their point of view to expand their potential candidate pool. Rather than scouring through LinkedIn profiles, they can look for candidates who possess an insatiable curiosity for what’s next, an innovator’s point of view and the daring to incorporate these two things together.

That being said, finding that elusive tech savvy leader to lead the business organisation is not difficult. Essentially, top leaders can in fact, groom and improve themselves to be the tech savvy leader which the digitally-evolving workplace needs today.