By 2030, it is estimated that 107 million workers may need to switch occupations – a trend that was already gaining traction before COVID-19 hit, but has accelerated significantly since the onset of the pandemic. The demand for basic cognitive and manual skills is expected to decrease over the next decade, while the need for technological, social, and emotional skills rises. With this in mind, recruiters need to look at new ways of managing and enabling talent. It will be critical to develop candidate and employee skills to give them the flexibility needed to evolve their occupation.
Adaptive Reskilling
Employers have traditionally used reskilling to adjust their workforces when the needs of a business or industry changed. But reskilling has reached a new level of importance during the past year. And, this pattern will continue as the pandemic landscape evolves into recovery and return to work mode, with a dawning realization that for many companies and for the global workforce as a whole, things may never look the same as they did before.
- According to one recent report, 38 percent of the workforce was upskilled or reskilled in 2020. This was double the percentage of the previous year.
Make it Happen for Candidates
Recruiters need to help talent think beyond their preconceived notions and urge them to be open to new career paths. This means segueing into skills they may never have imagined needing as they pursued their job search.
- Encourage the identification and development of transferable skills. From here, recruiters can then identify high achievers with adjacent aptitudes who can readily be retrained to meet a desired employer’s current needs. It’s a new way of viewing candidates: examining the person and their potential versus strictly matching their experience from job to job.
Make It Happen for Employers
Many employers will need to adjust their talent models and build workforces with stronger core capabilities and transferable skills. Recruiters need to help them define their requirements and restructure their job descriptions accordingly.
- Recruiters should educate and reassure employers that those willing to rethink hiring, training, and development will come out ahead.
- Employers should be encouraged to link reskilling to recruitment and make their company more attractive to candidates. Companies should advertise continuous growth and advancement as key aspects of their talent management process and culture. A helpful tool is a skill-based human resource information system (HRIS) that accurately reflects the capabilities needed to deliver on business objectives.
Search Wizards is Here to Help You
Do you need to rethink your talent acquisition strategy post-COVID? Search Wizards has a proven track record of helping clients pivot, evolve, and adjust, regardless of whatever unforeseen changes come down the pike. To tap into our resources, knowledge, and expertise, give us a shout today.