Article: Bridging the talent gap to create the workforce of the future

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Bridging the talent gap to create the workforce of the future

As talent shortage continues to scale, organisations are actively seeking niche channels to hire highly skilled professionals, who can deploy the right skills to solve business challenges and accelerate organisational growth in an increasingly dynamic business environment.
Bridging the talent gap to create the workforce of the future

The latest findings of the Aon Survey reveals that the climbing pace of attrition rates, recorded at 21% last year, is only set to increase this year. Moreover, with trends like the ‘Great Resignation’ at play, we can safely say that talent acquisition & retention continues to be a critical challenge for industries across the world. Making hiring challenges more severe, the demand for netgen specialised skills is becoming increasingly difficult to address. Mercer’s Total Remuneration Survey reports that Data Analytics, Internet Engineering, and sales and Marketing job portfolios are the most difficult roles to fill when it comes to recruitment or even retention. As is evident, the current talent market is marked by a mismatch between job demand and supply for highly skilled and specialised professionals who can  address unique business needs. 

While global organisations have invested time and effort in fostering the right kind of work culture that job seekers desire and gravitate towards, that has not proved enough to solve the accompanying hiring challenges like   inflated hiring costs. With high attrition rates job  roles are being filled and soon enough vacated, which is symptomatic of the Great Resignation and the incoming Great Reshuffle, which has led to a severe talent shortage. . 

How can companies align hiring priorities for the present? 

The agenda at hand is to build a future ready organisation that is empowered to maintain competitive advantage in the face of rapidly changing market dynamics . While increased  digitisation of the workplace has ushered in a lot of opportunities for progress it is  also becoming  a challenge for businesses to hire and retain a workforce  equipped to embrace newer trends and techniques to operate, through hands-on skills. This is leading businesses to focus on sourcing best-in-class specialised talent from talent pools that embrace LifeLongLearning as a key growth driver for both personal development and professional success . This is where the need for lateral hiring arises and the need for highly skilled professionals who are equipped to meet evolving business requirements, becomes a top priority.

Additionally, the need for round the year hiring at low costs is at an all time high due to the exponential rise in demand for nextgen skills. The need for recruitment doesn’t simply stem from high attrition levels, but also arises as a result of the growth plans of organisations. As businesses chart growth strategies to expand their presence across the world and be at the forefront of innovation, this cannot be achieved without a future ready workforce that can address business challenges thereby, contributing to the larger organisational goals.  In this pursuit, recruitment agencies and placement platforms have been aiding businesses  by expanding access to talent pools. However, the only constraint in such cases is that this process often tends to be time-bound. 

Along with expanding the employee base with a focus on skilled talent, sustaining the current workforce becomes equally important and is often a challenging task. Multiple strategies have been devised to retain talent, as they join an organisation but, what would be especially beneficial is to upskill the entire workforce to enable them to contribute to the company’s vision. Optimising the attrition rates  depends on the fundamentals of reducing  hiring costs, upskilling the workforce, and investing more in the growth of the business and its people. 

How can companies achieve this set of hiring priorities?

upGrad Career Trends Report 2021 reveals that last year, upGrad learners had received significant career hikes amidst the pandemic in the range of 180% - 450%. Moreover, they were hired by a number of top recruiters including the likes of Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft, Tata Consultancy Services, Accenture and Deloitte among others. This points to the rising demand for  learners with specialised skills that companies across industries are on the lookout for.

This highly skilled talent pool is a result of the dynamic nature of upGrad’s courses and certifications, which ensures a mix of theoretical knowledge along with hands-on capstone projects which ensures that the learners  are not simply market ready but also future ready. upGrad learners invest time and effort  to acquire industry relevant skills  to gear up for the future of work. At upGrad Placements the rate of career hikes and career progressions stood at 57% in the second quarter and increased another 12% in the third, which serves as a testament to the success of its learners in becoming believers of LifeLongLearning. .

What businesses need now is to champion professionals, who will drive the growth of their company and they need support from partners who can offer them such niche talent pools at zero cost. They need opportunities to scale, throughout the year with the best of talent, attuned to the specialised needs of the organisation and are able to withstand any market disruption through superior skill sets. A one stop talent solution is the need of the hour, that can help businesses achieve their growth plans by offering free of cost hiring solutions round the year, for specialised talent especially during these turbulent times. 

Sustainability and the push to innovate are critical factors that will determine the longevity  and competitiveness of the business. This largely depends on the people you recruit and retain. Since hiring a future-ready workforce is the need of the hour, upGrad Placements is that one-stop talent solution that will aid organisations to overcome the critical challenges that prevent them from strengthening the foundation of their workforce. 

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Topics: Recruitment, Talent Acquisition, #Hiring, #Hire Future Ready# Workforce

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