The current job market is so incredibly challenging that companies are forced to “compromise” on the quality of candidates just to get the help. To compound the problem, by bringing aboard people who don’t possess all of the needed skills and experiences, it holds business back, according to a new survey conducted by AI-powered, talent management platform Beamery.
Beamery’s goal is to place talent transformation at the heart of every business. The fast-growing startup leverages an AI-powered talent graph. Beamery’s talent operating system aggregates billions of relevant data points from across the internet, along with an enterprises’ existing technology, to assist organizations in quickly identifying and prioritizing potential candidates that are likely to thrive at their organization. It also helps with diversity, offers career pathways for existing internal employees and understands the skills and capabilities they need to build their workforce of the future.
The company’s Talent Trap Report surveyed business leaders and C-suite executives to learn their thoughts about the job market. The findings indicate the need for big changes to be enacted.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Intense competition for talent is forcing organizations to compromise on their new hire choices.
- One third of U.S. business leaders feel their current employee base is holding their organization back due to a lack of skills or appropriate mindset.
- Eighty-one percent of respondents named talent, not technology, as the No. 1 priority for business transformation.
- Three quarters (77%) of U.S. respondents say, today, talent planning is disconnected from business objectives.
The Great Resignation movement and unrelenting battle over finding, attracting, recruiting and retaining workers has created chaos for businesses. The dilemma places hiring personnel in a bind. Brutal competition over talent leaves leadership with a difficult choice: wait and hope to find the perfect candidate or act quickly, scoop up a person who may lack critically needed skills and hope for the best.
This situation results in settling for less than desirable applicants. Consider a sports team— if you have the best athletes, you’ll win games. Fielding athletes with lesser talent isn’t a recipe for success. The only time this works out is in the movies, when the Bad News Bears, Mighty Ducks and Rocky (in later films) win.
Organizations need to manage staff that are not exactly what they need, while wrestling with keeping employees from walking out the door. The survey shows that around 83% of respondents fear losing talent, which could lead to corporate stagnation.
Abakar Saidov, Beamery cofounder and CEO, said, “Most organizations are feeling the frenzy to lock candidates in, but poor hiring decisions have the potential to seriously hold the business back in the long run.”
He added, “Today’s competitive climate demands that businesses are more deliberate and strategic in their approach to talent management. The expectations of top talent have changed on everything from flexible work to speed of decision making. Businesses need to become more agile and make changes using decisions informed by real-time talent data and insights.”
Talent, Not Technology Is The Top Priority
You’d think that most leaders would rank technology as mission-critical to success. Surprisingly, over 81% of the participating senior-level executives from mid-to-large enterprises in the U.S. and U.K. said talent, not technology, is the No. 1 priority for business transformation.
More than three quarters (77%) of U.S. respondents said that talent planning is disconnected from business objectives, and it’s one of the biggest “talent traps” tripping them up.
Business Leaders Say It Will Take Years to Make Change And Become Talent-First
Business leaders say they plan to act slowly—even amid today’s workforce mass movement—when it comes to becoming a “talent-first” organization.
A third of respondents report their transition will happen one to two years from now and another 29% say they have two to three years to go, despite also acknowledging that an inability to handle talent challenges carries implications, including increased talent loss (48%), competitive vulnerability (39%), damage to brand reputation (38%) and failure to achieve growth plans (37%).
HR Feels The Brunt
About 91% of business leaders want human resources to do more to support the business strategically. Half of respondents are looking to HR to focus more on building a future-fit workforce and find more effective ways to identify and fill skills gaps. That same 91%, with their overreliance on HR, is very confident in their organization’s ability to adapt to changing working models and workforce requirements.
Skills Gaps Impede Growth, Yet Retention Strategies Get Overlooked
Skills gaps and compromises around recruitment can have dramatic business consequences. A third of U.S. respondents feel that 25% to 49% of their current employee base is holding their organization back, due to a lack of skills or appropriate mindset.
Although this issue exists, there’s a disproportionately heavy focus on recruitment versus retention and development, according to 81% of those in the U.S. surveyed. It seems counterproductive to lose focus on building retention strategies, in light of the fact that half of employees are currently job hunting, with high confidence in their ability to make a successful jump. When it comes to fear of talent loss, more than half (57%) are most concerned with the potential for middle management to leave.
“All too often, talent planning is disconnected from business objectives,” said Saidov. “Success requires letting go of false confidence in the ability to adapt to continually evolving workforce demands, and instead, taking meaningful action. Create cohesion between talent initiatives and the business, and drop the siloes because talent is a shared leadership responsibility—not HR’s alone,” he added.
Source: Forbes
