There is no doubt that labor shortages dominate the dynamics of the labor market today. Nearly 30,000 apprenticeships offer various training programs, such as on-the-job learning, that have grown by 70 percent in the last decade. Due to these shortages, employees need to be adaptable and learn quickly, which means they must be willing to learn new skills as well.
Labor shortages are also mounting in the technology sector. As digitization accelerates and tech penetrates retail and commerce, tech shortages have become more severe. The same tech workers are being pursued by employers across industries as a result of these dynamics. A key contributor to the tech talent shortage is the ability of skills to transfer and adapt.
Soft Where?
In HR and talent acquisition, the term ‘soft where’ refers to the search for qualified software engineers and developers. Approximately 1.4 million software development job openings are expected to exist in the U.S. by 2020, with only 400,000 computer science graduates. The difficulty of hiring developers has been cited as a greater challenge than gaining access to growth capital by many executives.
A lack of talent is met by a lack of skills.
According to a survey of US CIOs, 77% plan to hire, with more than half having trouble finding qualified candidates. Software developers will be in high demand as digital technologies and digital transformation receive the most investment dollars. Hiring tech talent takes 50 percent longer than other roles, which translates into eight weeks more time. In addition to talent scarcity, there may also be a scarcity of skills that are in demand. Technologies are causing new skills to be needed to develop related software, resulting in a skills shortage. Several hard-to-fill roles are created as a result of transformational technologies, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.
Some companies have a high number of applicants for their software job openings, but their target skills are not being met. HR professionals should develop tools for mapping skills that can be used to screen candidates. You can identify those skills that are of “high importance” by using skills as a metric. A “skills similarity index” has also been suggested by talent acquisition teams. This helps HR teams determine which software coding methods meet their structure and coding requirements, especially for new technologies that require a close examination of a candidate’s skills.
Stay in touch with your customers.
With the advancement of technology, the expectations and behaviors of customers also evolve. Therefore, businesses need to adapt to the changing needs of their clients by adopting the latest technologies. As a result, existing tech products need to be reconfigured to meet changing requirements. Tech companies can make changes to their core systems as a result of changes to their product configurations.
The lack of appropriate skills among applicants has prevented AI firms from filling at least one vacancy over the past two years.
HR paradigm revolution
A skillset index can be constructed for a given job opening, and applicants’ skills can then be compared. Applying for jobs and blasting out resumes has proven to be ineffective. It is because they don’t capture and display a person’s skill set and knowledge adequately.
Finding and hiring the right talent will be more challenging in a tightening labor market where skills are more scarce than jobs.
