Employees in IT are looking to move abroad by Liam Stafford

As with many recruitment agencies, here at Quantica Technology we are inundated with magazines, both on-line and on-our-desks. Some of these we ask for, some just get sent anyway. They range from Computer Weekly (who we update our website with daily) to give us our technology fix, to ‘Recruiter’ where we keep up with, surprisingly, the recruitment industry goings on. It is an online article this week (20 April) of the latter that caught my eye, and has caused quite a debate in the office. The headline read; ‘Two in Three workers seek roles abroad’.

The crux of the article is a claim by the IT Job Board that 68% of IT workers are considering, or have already applied for, international based IT-related jobs.

Though the article somewhat descends into a rallying cry from Alex Farrell (managing director of the IT Job Board) for better salaries and quality of roles within the UK, it is the idea of why moving internationally appeals to these employees that got our office chatting.

The 68% that made the claim was broken down further, with 7/10 citing the quality of jobs internationally, 68% identified the higher earning potential and 69% wanted to experience a new culture. What these statistics tell us, is that a high proportion of those saying yes to the idea of a job abroad gave multiple reasons for doing so, all with similar percentages. So what is the real reason? Is it that the qualities of jobs here at home are not up to scratch? That the salaries in the UK are lagging behind our international cousins? Or is it that the idea of doing the same job, but on the beach under a Palm tree, is something that people are beginning to consider a logical career choice (okay maybe not the palm tree, save that for weekends).

This claim by the IT Job Board seems to pose more questions than answers. Are there certain areas abroad that appeal more than others? Have these professionals considered language barriers, let alone cultural differences? Or is this fundamentally what prevents them from moving?

It’s also worth noting that this inclination to travel while working in IT works inversely to this article, as our newest recruit Liesbeth Williams can prove. Liesbeth has come to us from Belgium and so I thought it appropriate to ask her why she decided to move internationally? Originally she said that she moved toLondon‘because it is an amazing place. It is a culturally diverse, vibrant and dynamic city. It is fast-paced, exciting and is Europe’s biggest city!’ With a bit more pressing it turned out it wasn’t just for work or forLondon’s culture, but for a blossoming relationship too. So maybe, using this theory, two thirds of IT workers are looking abroad because they are looking for love. In my opinion, it is probably the higher salary.