There have been many changes during the past decade. Businesses have adopted new technology and implemented digital transformation initiatives. Their hiring needs have changed, which means they have had to eliminate jobs and add new positions that require different abilities. Applicants’ skills have not kept pace with these changes, resulting in a big skills gap.
Organizations are finding it challenging to recruit candidates who have the in-demand skills they need for these new jobs. In a LinkedIn survey, over 50% of HR professionals said that the lack of qualified talent is their biggest staffing obstacle, and 87% said they have open jobs they cannot fill.
Many business leaders have concluded that hiring has changed forever. So, they are thinking outside the box to recruit top talent. Some trends industry experts say will shape the future of hiring are strategic workforce planning, skill assessment tests, and upskilling/reskilling programs.
How Businesses Will Implement Strategic Workforce Planning
Strategic workforce planning solutions require HR leaders to analyze their workforce’s current abilities to determine future staffing needs. They help business leaders streamline employee management, take the guesswork out of hiring, and optimize staffing operations.
By implementing a strategic workforce planning solution, employers can answer questions such as, “How many people should we have on this project team?” and “Which projects should we work on next?” Business leaders can ensure the right people are in the right positions so work gets done correctly and ensure they meet business goals and objectives.
Strategic workforce planning solutions provide managers with established and tested formulas they can use to create realistic hiring scenarios. When they define their needs, they can plan and design hiring and training programs to meet short- and long-term goals.
How Skills Assessment Tests Improve Hiring
Top talent makes a difference in organizational performance and productivity. A McKinsey study shows that hiring top talent increases productivity by around eight times. Business leaders understand that it is important to build an agile, future-ready workforce and help employees proactively manage their own career development.
Skills assessment testing solutions enable them to achieve this because they can measure current team members’ abilities, aptitudes, and interests and identify skills gaps. With this information, they can create personalized training programs that focus on areas where staff members need more instruction.
HR and employee development professionals also use skills assessment tests to identify star performers who are ready for new challenges, or diamonds in the rough they can groom for future roles. This helps HR and business leaders align talent with jobs they need to fill now and build a talent pool they can draw on to fill future jobs.
How Upskilling Helps Employers Address Hiring Challenges
Employers are having trouble finding top talent by recruiting externally, so they are looking for ways to upskill existing employees. Upskilling means providing training opportunities to help employees acquire skills they will need to take on new challenges. For example, a customer service representative who works for an online retailer could complete management and leadership training to become a customer service supervisor or manager.
Google, Walmart, Verizon, McDonald’s, and Marriott International are some of the many companies that have invested billions in upskilling programs to enable employees to improve existing skills, pursue a college degree, and learn new skills.
How Businesses Use Reskilling to Retrain and Retain
Business leaders hate losing good employees, but they do not have a choice if the person’s job is eliminated. Reskilling helps them retain good employees they would otherwise lose through layoffs.
Reskilling means providing training opportunities that prepare employees to move into a different job. For example, a retailer that plans to close its brick-and-mortar locations could retrain its sales associates as online customer service representatives who answer customer inquiries, take orders online, and help resolve ordering and shipping problems.
When AT&T conducted a company-wide skills analysis, managers saw that only half the employees had the STEM skills they would need in future jobs. Business leaders had to decide whether it made sense to hire new software and engineering talent or reskill existing staff. It chose the latter and invested $1 billion in platforms where employees could access online learning opportunities and personalized learning experiences. It also included a career portal to help employees map their careers and identify skills they would need.
Get Started with Skills Assessment Tests
Talent shortages and skills gaps are the new normal for the foreseeable future. Since businesses want qualified talent to fill critical roles, they need to use tools like strategic workforce planning, skills assessment tests, upskilling, and reskilling to future-proof their workforce and build a ready talent pool.
Do you want to see how strategic workforce planning, skills assessment tests, upskilling, and reskilling can help you build a talent strategy for the future? Contact eSkill to request a demo.