Article: Strategic Approach to employing a Future Ready workforce

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Strategic Approach to employing a Future Ready workforce

In a rapidly growing ‘linear’ world, organisations are reexamining business strategies to maintain competitive advantage in the future. To do so, the journey to hire a future ready workforce is a critical strategic move where organisations need to be directed towards a highly skilled talent pool that includes specialised professionals to meet their evolving business needs
Strategic Approach to employing a Future Ready workforce

It is wise to first understand the evolving organisational needs when it comes to hiring a Future-Ready workforce and this can be unearthed through current hiring trends. In this regard, the upGrad  Career Report 2021 reveals that the rise in hiring across the Indian labour market is being dominated by  the technology vertical which is up by 30% - 42% in the second quarter of 2021, followed closely on the heels by  Data Analytics which has increased by 22% - 37%.. This incline reveals that nextgen tech skills make for the top contenders in the hiring domain of the country. But this talent hunt is not as simple as it appears..

Against the backdrop of accelerated digitisation of business operations and strong demand for skills like Cloud Architecture, Cybersecurity, Full Stack Development and AI/ML; it is only natural to assume that the tech giants are the ones with the access to a significant majority of the best Tech talent available in the market. But this doesn’t mean that other non-tech businesses, startups, and unicorns are not on the lookout for skilled tech talent. When it comes to analytics, the top sectors hiring include Banking and Financial services, Energy and Utilities followed by Media and Entertainment. Now, this begs the question: How will these sectors compete with tech giants in the talent market to hire a future ready workforce and where do they find such a talent pool?  

The challenges that continue to remain in the Tech and Digital talent hunt 

As we all know, the war for talent is raging and competitiveness is at an all time high. Businesses across the country are looking for best-in-class talent that will meet the evolving needs unique to their organisation and accelerate growth in the future of work. They are heavily reliant on recruitment firms and placement agencies to source talent ranging from freshers to experienced professionals.

However, lateral hiring continues to be a challenge owing to the  mismatch between the current/emerging job roles and the availability of highly trained professionals. Finding specialised talent is where most companies could falter as the expertise they seek may differ from organisation to organisation. This is evident through the BFSI and Media sectors  where both seek Tech and Digital talent. While, the former looks for experts in AI/ML, Cybersecurity, Analytics and Risk Management, the latter looks for Video Editing, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing. Both of these buckets fall under Tech and digital skills except the industry and sector demand varies.

Along with this is the  climbing rates of attrition which were as high as 21% in 2021, according to the latest Aon Survey. Attrition in itself is a challenge because it leads to loss of specialised talent, all the while impacting compensation trends as well. The AON survey also points out that salaries in India may rise by as much as 9.9% which is inflating hiring costs for companies thereby making it difficult to attract and retain highly skilled talent. 

One thing that we have learnt in the past year is the disruptive nature of business transformations. Which means that although hiring is at an all time high with companies releasing statements on the numbers of freshers they intend to hire over the next two to three months, it is not a time-bound process. The talent market tends to be most active during a certain period of time, with experienced professionals entering the companies right at the start of the new financial year or a little year. But as the skill demands and business contexts change in the face of disruption, businesses are now on the lookout for round the year hiring, so they can bring in the right professionals as and when the need arises.

What are some of the solutions that can be implemented? 

The talent demand in the market is what drives the plan of action for any hiring strategy. But, the question that defines the strategy is whether businesses are looking for market ready talent or future ready talent? Future ready professionals are the ones who embrace LifeLongLearning, not only to stay sharp in their own field or profession, but also to remain on the frontlines of innovation and maintain competitive advantage in the future of work. They are the ones who will keep your businesses intact and growing even when the market changes. These professionals come with specialised skill-sets that add value to the business, in the face of rapid transformation of job roles, opportunities and most importantly business landscapes. 

To find these highly skilled and growth oriented professionals, organisations have deployed numerous strategies ranging from AI-driven recruitment platforms to employer branding initiatives. And while they have succeeded in hiring skilled professionals through such avenues, having a one stop shop for skilled talent is the need of the hour, owing to the fact that the demand for Tech and Digital roles is scaling up exponentially every day.  

This is where upGrad Placements has created a consolidated platform to support businesses in building their future ready workforce while overcoming all the challenges that come in the way of round-the-year hiring of skilled professionals. With the proven expertise in upskilling talent across disciplines that are the need of the hour, upGrad trains professionals through a blended learning approach to ensure that learners are equipped with theoretical and hands on knowledge, thereby driving up their employability quotient. upGrad Placements offers this agility and this is evident through the sheer number of placements they have driven for Indian and global entities. They have addressed the demand across roles like Data Scientists, Big Data Engineers, Product Engineers and Digital Marketers for companies, thereby enabling organisations to build their Future Ready workforce. Furthermore, they have enabled career transitions for upGrad learners which jumped up 57% in the second quarter of 2021 and another 12% in the third quarter. With this one stop solution of skilled nextgen talent pool, organisations may not need to tweak their hiring strategies to fit it within specified timelines, or even consider multiple channels to hire from. 

With the world of work evolving, it is crucial to create talent pools based on future skills to ensure that both employers and employees get the right opportunities. Professionals should be enabled to work in good organisations using their evolved skills, to solve real life business problems, and organisations should be enabled to create a future ready workforce to ensure that their employees can find innovative solutions to problems for continued business success. 

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

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