​A variety of factors can contribute to the reasons why a professional may want to start looking for a new job. While many may argue that salary is the main reason why professionals leave their current employers, studies show that this is not the case. Network Recruitment's statistics indicate that although 90% of the IT social media community is currently seeking a new career opportunity, 53% named career growth as the main reason for leaving their current employer.

Well-known international job site, Glassdoor, recently released a study in which they sampled over 5 000 career moves from CV profiles that were shared by job seeking professionals on their site from 2016 – 2017, and revealed that career growth was among the top 10 reasons why professionals decided to leave their job.

It's apparent that organisations in the IT industry should start making succession planning a priority. In fact, companies need to address their current career progression strategies in order to provide a meaningful and challenging work environment that will lead to growth for their employees. Professionals are no longer only motivated by earning potential. Instead, they want to be identified by management and developed into leadership roles in order to further their career growth potential.

In an article titled "Career development of South African knowledge workers", Roelof van Staden and Adeline du Toit penned that IT professionals, and to be specific, software developers, desire challenging work, and learning opportunities.

In addition, many articles site that professionals, especially in the IT sector, remain with their organisation for a long period of time because they feel supported by their employers and are given the opportunity to grow significantly within the business.

Exposing your IT staff to different projects and allowing them to work with knowledgeable professionals will encourage growth and teach them valuable lessons, which they may not necessarily be exposed, to elsewhere. Keep this in mind to retain your tech team.

Are you looking for a challenging IT job or an IT Contracting Assignment? Contact Network Recruitment, your trusted partner in specialist IT, Finance and Engineering placements for 30 years.