Companies struggle to find right talent

Before the economic crisis shook the world there was an acute shortage of skilled professionals across the globe with experts warning that companies wanting to hire would not be able to find people to replace retiring workers 10 years down the line. Even though the present crisis has made it an employers market at the moment, and given the world a temporary reprieve, the factors that were causing the talent shortage are still there and once things normalise the world will again face the same issue of talent shortage. The annual Manpower Talent Shortage Survey polled nearly 43,000 employers from 32 countries and territories across the globe in an effort to determine which positions employers identified as the most difficult to fill in 2008 due to lack of available talent. The survey results indicated that 31 per cent of employers worldwide were having difficulty filling positions due to lack of available talent in their markets. Employers reporting the most difficulty finding the right people to fill jobs were those in Romania (73 per cent), Japan (63 per cent), Hong Kong (61 per cent), Singapore (57 per cent), Australia (52 per cent) and Taiwan (51 per cent). Notably, more than 50 per cent of the employers in five of the eight countries in the Asia Pacific region reported difficulty in finding suitable talent for available positions. The talent shortage appeared to be least problematic in India (12 per cent), the United Kingdom (12 per cent), Ireland (14 per cent), China (15 per cent) and the Netherlands (15 per cent). Emirates Business spoke to some experts to find out the reasons that caused the talent shortage, what the scenario is in the GCC and what are the top jobs in demand right now in the region. According to the White Paper by Manpower, demographic shifts (ageing populations, declining birthrates, economic migration), social evolution, inadequate educational programs, globalisation and entrepreneurial practices (outsourcing, cross-border recruiting, on-demand employment) were between them caused shortages, not only in the overall availability of talent but also – and more significantly – in the specific skills and competency required in industrialised, emerging and developing economies. Furthermore, as a result of technological advances and productivity gains, many low-skill, routine jobs were being eliminated and once in-demand skills were rapidly becoming obsolete. While this reduced demand for some jobs and, thus, tended to minimise the perceived impact of the talent shortage, it also left employees potentially jobless. The talent crunch created structural changes in the workforce, and employers who are not paying attention could find their businesses healthy one year and in trouble the next. There is a need to focus not just on the top 10 per cent of talent categories, but rather on the entire talent spectrum. According to a recent article in The Economist, the 500 biggest companies in the United States will lose half of their senior managers to retirement in the next five years. Most US companies will have a difficult time replacing the knowledge and the skills these workers bring to the job. And in Japan, where employers will suffer through a similar generational employee loss, Japanese companies were required to raise the mandatory retirement from age 60. Talking about the reason for the talent shortage the market saw in 2008 and that will affect the world once again after the present economic crisis is over Patrick Luby, Managing Director, Manpower Middle East said: "Talent shortage is due to an increase in demand without available supply. If school and university students are not studying a broad enough range of subjects, and if workers are not sufficiently experienced in specific or specialised areas, then companies who need engineering staff or accounting staff just cannot find them. However, not all talent shortages relate to highly technical or specialised roles; it is simply that not enough people have the experience or are prepared to work in these positions to cover the necessary demand." Talking about the situation in the GCC market after the economic crisis hit the region as well Bharti Jatti, general manager, Careertunity said: "At the initial stage, it was easy to source professionals as they were exploring the market. "However, due to visa regulations, over a period of time the pipeline has dried up. At this point, skilled professionals either prefer to continue with their existing job or they have moved out of the country. In the long run, it would be difficult to find specialised professionals." Luby said: "Talent shortage is not as acute as 12 months ago in the GCC due to the redundancies that have happened recently, but countries that are still actively hiring, such as Saudi Arabia, are still finding difficulty in sourcing the right level of talent for the right price with the right workplace fit. "There has not been the same level of redundancies in the Middle East as el