AN ANALYTICAL STUDY ON CHALLENGES IN HIRING NICHE SKILL PROFESSIONALS IN THE IT SECTOR

The rapid growth of the Information Technology (IT) industry has significantly increased the demand for niche skill professionals across various domains such as cloud computing, DevOps, automation testing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. Organizations are facing major challenges in identifying, attracting, and retaining professionals with specialized technical skills due to talent shortages, changing technology trends, and increasing market competition. This study focuses on analysing the major challenges involved in hiring niche skill professionals in the IT sector with special reference to Zaru Consultancy. The study examines recruitment challenges such as skill mismatch, shortage of qualified candidates, high salary expectations, recruitment delays, offer dropouts, and lack of practical experience among candidates. The research also analyses the effectiveness of sourcing methods, recruitment strategies, employer branding, and skill-based hiring approaches in improving recruitment outcomes. The study is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire from HR recruiters, HR interns, and IT employees. Secondary data was collected from books, journals, websites, company reports, and HR-related publications. Percentage analysis, tabular analysis, Chi-Square analysis, and correlation analysis were used for interpreting the collected data. The findings reveal that organizations face significant difficulties in hiring niche skill professionals due to increasing demand and limited availability of skilled talent. The study concludes that organizations should adopt advanced sourcing strategies, improve employer branding, invest in recruiter training, and focus on employee upskilling to overcome recruitment challenges effectively.