Virtually there: Global tech recruitment trends for 2024

We can expect more tech recruitment on a global basis, modest pay increases, and it appears the worst of the tech layoffs are behind us according to data from HR and payroll firm Deel.

Deel’s State of Global Hiring Report 2024 also shows that while tech roles are still top for employers casting the net globally for talent, sales and content roles now feature in the top five categories on the Deel platform for the first time, suggesting that businesses are diversifying the roles they are filling internationally.

When it comes to New Zealand, it's IT roles that employers are still mainly going internationally for in their search for candidates. We are recruiting heavily from the Philippines and India, while our traditional trading partners, the US, UK, and Australia are the countries predominantly hiring talent from New Zealand, according to Deel, which analysed 300,000 contracts and 20,000 customers on its platform.

Source: Deel

The top 5 jobs that NZ-based companies are hiring for globally are:

1. Software Developers/Engineer

2. Business Development (sales)

3. 3D Artists

4. Graphic Designer

5. Web Developer

The top sources of talent for NZ employers

1. Philippines

2. India

3. USA

The countries hiring talent from NZ are, in order

1. USA

2. UK

3. Australia

Deel, a San Francisco-based company, which specialises in helping firms recruit and manage international staff and contractors, teamed up with the Technology Investment Network last year to produce research showing that New Zealand’s top 200 tech firms will recruit over half their staff offshore by 2028.

Source: Deel

“Global hiring is increasingly popular among employers and workers, and expanding beyond technical roles to include sales, content creation, teaching and other services.  New Zealand tech firms in particular are increasingly global employers, hiring skills from around the world to support their growth into new international markets,” says Shannon Karaka, Deel’s country leader, Australia and New Zealand.

A sluggish economy and the general election put a dampener on tech recruitment last year, with fewer job listings and more applications for each tech role advertised. But Deel’s global data suggests the belt-tightening of 2022 and early 2023 appears to be behind us.  

Where people are seeking to work.  Source: Deel

Deel identified 52% fewer involuntary terminations in November 2023 than in January 2023. On the flip side, the high growth in tech salary and contracting rates is also a thing of the past - for now. Software engineering saw a 4% increase in salaries globally in 2023, and in the Asia Pacific region, average salaries rose just 1%. Non-tech roles in teaching and sales had much bigger increases, 24% and 8% respectively.