Technology changes rapidly, affecting consumer expectations, market dynamics, and workplace skill requirements. Evolving technology requires a company to focus on future-proofing their business by identifying and recruiting for tomorrow’s critical skills (behaviours, abilities, competencies, etc.) and building an agile and resilient workforce.
Identifying And Sourcing Future Critical Skills
The following are steps to assist in identifying and sourcing future critical skills.
- Gain an understanding of emerging trends and the skills required: Stay informed regarding trends reshaping your industry (AI, renewable energy, blockchain, etc.). Review relevant forecasts/publications and attempt to remain updated with methodologies and technologies.
- Embrace skills-based hiring, emphasizing abilities/skills required for success instead of experience or education. Determine the soft skills/abilities and technical skills necessary for each role. Create a dynamic talent pipeline of those with skills that meet future needs. Use data to drive hiring strategies.
- Adopt an agile talent strategy, focusing on upskilling, flexibility, and reskilling your current employees by investing in training, offering employee career advancement, and leveraging AI tools.
- Create a diverse team: Companies that embrace inclusion and diversity create resilient, innovative groups able to solve complex problems and meet future challenges.
- Foster an environment of collaboration between employees and technology.
The Role of Strategic Workforce Planning
Strategic workforce planning involves aligning a company’s talent needs with its goals. It requires a business to assess current workforce capability, pinpoint the skills needed to remain competitive, identify gaps between projected and current needs, and develop a long-term hiring/training strategy. Strategic planning ensures the corporation has the right employees with the appropriate skills to support future success. The goal is to have a workforce with the right skills, people, size, and costs to meet current and future needs.
The Role of Proactive Recruitment
Proactive recruitment entails identifying and drawing top candidates before they are needed. Companies remain ahead of the hiring demand by assessing skills gaps, determining possible future positions, building an external/internal talent pool, nurturing quality candidates, and utilizing the talent pipeline when positions become available. Engaging talent in advance of need ensures high-quality employees, reduces the time to fill positions, results in better hires, and avoids staff shortages.
Does your company need help futureproofing your workforce? Are you interested in nurturing a talent pipeline that ensures quick, quality hires? Contact Equation Staffing Solutions. We assist businesses with skills-based hiring that meets current and future needs.