For a few years now, businesses across the world are facing unprecedent talent shortage that impacts the ability for business to grow and innovate. This talent shortage is a result of combination of different factors including demographic shifts, skill mismatches and the evolving pace of work. Every business owner wants the most talented and skilled personal to be on their team so, it is crucial to understand the whole picture and implement needed strategies to overcome upcoming challenges.
Understanding the whole picture
The worldwide talent shortage can be characterized as a slit between the needed skills of the employer and available experts in the field. But, what else?
- Demographic Downturn: a lot of developed countries experience the peak of aging workforce. Which means that a lot of experts are retiring, and not enough new skilled experts are entering the job market. The demographics are clearly in a recession so the competition for skilled professionals has intensified.
- Evolution of technology: businesses are entering the new technology era of data analysis, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, so the need for specialised workforce has insurged. But unfortunately, educational system cannot keep up with the pace of the change.
- Impact of pandemic: Covid-19 pandemic has made people reevaluate their choice of work field and industry. Working remotely and a desire for work-life balance has set up different expectations and therefor talent availability.
Starting with strategical thinking: address the talent shortage
To be able to steer through the worldwide talent shortage and deliver you projects effectively, you must adopt innovative approaches and ideas. We combined some of them for you to get started:
- Be open minded about the workforce flexibility
Flexible work options are not applicable for everyone, but in most cases including remote work and flexible hours can help attract new batch of skilled professionals to your company. Thinking of this as a modern way of working helps to enhance employee satisfaction and retention rates.
- Invest in your employee
It doesn’t matter if you have office or field workers – they all need pampering from time to time. Investing in them shows your interest in their wellbeing and future development. Which at the same time is a plus for your company!
So:
- Offer training programs: help to grow your employee skills in the field and help them to adapt to new technologies and trends. In fast pacing world, they cannot stop.
- Set a clear picture for future growth: be clear in your message of their future in the company. Career growth is an important part of retaining top talent and reduce turnover.
- Use different sources of talent recruitment
It is time to dive into the pool of talent strategically:
- Remote Hiring: be brave and seek the talent you need outside the country bubble. You can find exquisite talent in emerging markets.
- Go beyond the usual candidates: take a moment to consider a candidate from different industry who is on a mission to change their career path or, who can bring valuable insight, perspective and skills to your needed position.
- Put some work into your own brand
Employer brand that is strong, attractive and making an impact in society can significantly increase the ability to attract new talent.
- Show your company’s vision and values: use social media, webpage, forums … to show and highlight your workplace culture and employee experience.
- Use your current employee experience: invite your employees to share their positive experience by doing testimonials and referrals, enhancing your brands visibility and credibility.
- Don’t be afraid to use technology in the recruitment process
Development in technology is your opportunity to enhance your recruitment process:
- The future of AI: use artificial intelligence to do the candidate matching, resume screening and overall hiring process.
- Know your data: look at the recruitment data and identify the trends and areas of improvement. That will help you to do more informed decision-making.
The worldwide talent shortage is both: a challenge and opportunity for company. Knowing the cause and having a proactive solution can put your company on the market for a successful talent attraction. Be flexible, invest in your employees, diversify the recruitment processes and strengthen your brand to navigate the complex landscape that is today’s world.
The world is evolving by the minute and to be in the loop of it, you need to prioritize your workforce and adapt to change to thrive in the competitiveness that is called “work industry”.
