It’s no simple task hiring talent — tech talent even more so. According to a Gartner survey, it’s one of the main reasons why so many companies struggle to adopt emerging technologies and maintain a competitive edge; they simply can’t find quality talent.

This labor shortage is at least partly due to the talent market, which has gotten tighter in recent years. But the barrier to finding talent also has something to do with technology itself.

Getting Ahead of the Curve

The rapid pace of digital change means that what an employee learns today may be outdated tomorrow, or the tech may be updated to a new version or language, making teachability a skill to prize above all.

Take a student who is currently studying code. That individual may be learning a version of a language that will be outdated by the time they graduate from the course. Education teams should be updating course content strategically; knowing that new versions of languages have bugs that have not yet been discovered, they should work to ensure that the version is applicable to learning the latest iteration.

Even then, however, it can still be challenging to find talent. New digital options emerge almost daily. The onus is often on employees to find creative and strategic ways to apply technologies that enable companies to continue doing what they do well.

Working in a State of Constant Learning

While companies will obviously want to hire based on whatever skills are necessary for the role, soft skills in tech are just as important. To continue to thrive in the technology field, candidates must demonstrate an ability to think critically.

They must exhibit the ability and desire to seek solutions to problems they can’t yet anticipate and search for opportunities in which they can continually sharpen their skills. In other words, teachability is a critical skill for new tech hires.

The Ability to Be Taught

Teachability is essentially a quick learning ability that allows talent to remain agile and flexible in an ever-changing business landscape. Teach...