Opinion

Demand for talent and supply at present

The demand for talent is greater than the supply, and talent shortages are at a 10-year high. By 2030, it’s predicted more than 85 million jobs could go unfilled because there aren’t enough skilled people to fill them.

At the same time, we’re dealing with a Great Resignation boom that’s seen 38 per cent of workers plan to look for a new job in the next 12 months, and a further 39 per cent open to new opportunities.

With a growing share of remote workers, certain soft skills will become crucial to maintaining quality and synchronisation within teams in the future. For example, assessing candidates for skills like communication, accountability, motivation, teamwork, flexibility, and collaboration will be more important than ever.

The global pandemic has given birth to many new and standout work economies, one of them being the ‘gig economy.’ It mainly focuses on freelancing or part-time work instead of full-time or permanent contact work. A gig worker is able to work from anywhere in the world within the Internet range, of course.

The gig economy offers absolute flexibility to both employers and workers. Considering the current talent acquisition trends, many businesses will certainly be looking for a specialist for a specific project that can be carried through remotely more often. This new kind of work economy will surely receive popularity in the near future.

In the future of talent acquisition, enlisting freelance talent will be even more strategic for businesses striving for speed and agility. Freelancers are used to working independently in a remote setting, and require much less onboarding than full-time workers. Furthermore, they understand the importance of being self-driven and motivated, as their ability to find work depends on it.

When it comes to global hiring trends amidst the unprecedented challenge, flexibility is now one of the main factors that attract new talents.

At the same time, it is also an important element in keeping the existing workforce satisfied with their jobs.

To candidates, a flexible workplace is one of the top considerations when they are looking for new jobs.

The talent shortage may be hard to see now, with daily headlines about how robots and artificial intelligence are making their way into a growing number of industries.

But by 2030, Russia could have a shortage of up to 6 million people, and China could be facing a shortage twice as large. The United States could also be facing a deficit of more than 6 million workers, and it is worse in Japan, Indonesia, and Brazil, each of which could have shortages of up to 18 million skilled workers.