The changing demand for skills

Many factors can drive the demand for skills in the workplace; the landscape is ever-changing and this brings with it both challenges and opportunities for businesses of all sizes. Market-wide digital transformation and technology advancement are some of the biggest factors affecting businesses of all sizes at the moment.

Meanwhile, fluctuations in the economy, linked, in-part, to uncertainty over Brexit, are also significant drivers, particularly when we think about the potential skills gaps that could arise should the UK leave the EU as planned.

When combined, these factors serve to shape the key skills employers need to enable their businesses to grow, which we’ll explore in more detail here.

Skills challenges

The current skills challenges mainly derive from two main factors: the way consumer data is managed has changed, and how our reliance on artificial intelligence is now pivotal to the next-gen developments of many industries. Digital transformation has driven a tremendous uplift in demand for technical know-how, forcing organisations to confront their skills gaps. First, they need to follow these steps below to find out what those skills gaps are.

  • Perform a skills gap analysis by identifying the skills that each existing role requires and comparing that to the skill levels of existing employees
  • Calculate any costs, aligned with organisational requirements
  • Create a sustainable strategy to fill those gaps 

 

Once the gap has been identified, there are many ways to plug it. This can be done through training, mentoring, and even succession planning. With employees skilled in the right areas, businesses are much better placed to push ahead with their short and long-term aims and objectives.

What is driving the tech skills gap?

As we’ve already discussed, emerging technology is one key factor in driving the technical skills gap in the UK. Many organisations have been too slow to get to grips with certain developments, like automation, blockchain, and cloud computing. It may be that they may have the basis of automation in place, but their processes might not be refined. What if they are running a blockchain network? Are the computer systems robust enough for the complex blockchain protocols? Or do they have their data running through the cloud? Has a thorough risk assessment around their cloud security set-up been conducted? Getting the business ready in these areas is the first building block in creating an agile system. However, employing expertise with the right technical acumen to implement it on an organisational scale, has proved to be a challenge.

Advancements in technology continue to move at a fast pace and the ongoing and competitive war for talent can create an unhealthy skills gap. Businesses have accepted that they have to be bolder and react quicker to attain the right candidates. Meanwhile, a diversified approach to recruitment has seen the skills gap in the tech area shrink to some extent.

Getting the right balance

A keen mix of technical and soft skills provides the perfect balance in any industry.

Situational and emotional intelligence are soft skill growth areas that are now seen as an important component in the candidate recruitment process. However, people with high levels of learning quotient and critical thinking, now need to balance this with hard, technical skills. They need to be adaptable with an open personality that fits into their company strategy and culture.

Balancing the need for soft and technical skills is the challenge for every organisation and it is difficult to agree to compromise on either soft or hard skills. Yet, there are times when compromise will be necessary, depending on company constraints/needs. There is a fair argument to say that if implemented correctly, both opposing skills sets will complement each other. It is also crucial for employers to evaluate the work environment, the team and the open position, to understand the top-level behavioural skills required not just today, but in the future too.

How will skills evolve?

The smart thinking is that the demand for skills will be fairly fluid; in other words, employees will need to learn new skills quickly to increase their employability. With workforces adapting to automation, understanding and managing the overarching process, we’ll see it flipped on its side. Emotional empathy will be keyed into AI, increasing AI’s human thought patterns for customer interaction tools like chatbots. However, machines performing technical and routine tasks will require people to programme and monitor them. Adding to the complexity of recruiting, is the fact that candidates with high potential do not need to compromise their desire for meaningful and purposeful work. The focus needs to be on the potential mix of soft and hard skills growth, not a narrow focus on work experience and education.

Finally, employees and candidates want to understand the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ behind their role, while employers need an open view on the productivity and potential the candidate brings. That way, the company can ensure the position that needs to be filled, remains so for the long term, not just temporarily. Candidate lists should be diverse enough to reflect the real world. Recruiting should focus on personalities and behaviours with future potential, alongside the key technical skills you need today. This will create market flexibility, improve candidate mobility, and help make workplaces more representative.