Global Recruiting

Wow! That is a title that evokes fear and perhaps a chuckle at the same time. For anything to keep the attention of the media or perhaps even maintain the interest of our information overloaded minds, it needs a catchy moniker. The Beatles started the “British Invasion” that “Baby Boomers” all know. The Boomers have moved onto “Reality TV” and “hashtagging.” Lots to be said for a well-crafted handle!

The “Silver Tsunami” is the title associated with the aging workforce demographic that threatens to overwhelm employers. While it is a global issue, this issue is most alarming in the U.S. and in Western Europe. Global talent will be more difficult to find and retain as the older employees retire in record numbers. Employers will be looking to recruitment professionals to locate the unique skill sets that will be lost in the decades ahead.

Every day in the U.S., 10,000 people turn 65 years of age. This has been the case since 2011. Many older workers have extended their careers and continued their employment as they waited for their retirement portfolios to recover from the Global Financial Crisis. During the GFC, many that were not prepared to retire were laid off or were forced into early retirement. With portfolios recovering, more baby boomers are making a conscious choice to retire now.

Some facts from the U.S. Census to consider:

• In 2012, 21.3% of U.S. men over the age of 65 remain in the labor force.
• In 1990, only 17.6% of men over 65 were working.
• In 2012, 13.4% of women over 65 remain working.
• In 1990, only 8.4% of women over 65 were continuing to work.
• People over 65 represent 13.7% of the total U.S. population
• In 2010, 19% of the total workforce was made up of employees over 55.
• It is expected to rise to 24% of the workforce by 2050.

What is interesting is that the Silver Tsunami is working both sides of the same issue. Older worker are leaving in high numbers which is one challenge and on the other hand, older workers will make up more of the workforce moving forward…a different but related issue.

As a recruiter, HR professional, or employer do you have a strategy to find, keep and value older workers as a part of your work force plan?

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Exciting times are reportedly ahead for independent recruiting firms as the REC Jobs Outlook Survey recently reported a 9% growth in the next two years. For firms, this is a good time of the year to focus on a sector that is rapidly growing, or try to change their focus to include those industries that have hit the top of the list. For students and job seekers, a new survey from Michigan State University has reported that hiring for new graduates is expected to jump by 16% next year. This increase is due to cautious hiring demand the past couple of years that is now taking off. While most of these will not surprise you, it is a good way to stay on top of the year ahead.

1. IT. A healthy 24% of the respondents to Computerworld’s 2015 Forecast survey said that their companies plan to add more IT employees in the year ahead. These were listed as the top 10 IT skills that would be in high demand in 2015:

• Programming/application development
• Project management
• Help desk/technical support
• Security/compliance governance
• Web development
• Database administration
• Business intelligence/analytics
• Mobile applications and device management
• Networking
• Big data

2. Engineering. This is an industry that will be seeking experienced candidates with more needed year after year. Highly experienced candidates are leaving due to retirement and the next generation needs to be able to fill in those gaps. Graduate recruitment for engineers will definitely experience a big drive in 2015.

3. Finance and Accounting. Clients in the financial services sectors are projecting huge increase in demand for staff. Financial analysts, area sales managers and relationship people, risk specialists and analysts as well as all of the associated IT, marketing, accounting, HR and other back-office people will all add to this sector growing in 2015.

4. Oil, Gas, and Energy. As oil becomes an even greater commodity, other forms of energy supplies will also start to develop, so specialists within the market will be at high demand with industries such as fracking and shale coming to front of the industry.

5. Life Sciences. Any industries that involve healthcare, pharmaceutical or sciences are going to also continue to see growth for years ahead because of the way the world is developing. Increases in the life span of the human race are causing more positions and more specializations to constantly pop up.

If you are looking to start expanding your recruitment firm in to another industry, a good way to do so is through help from other firms and recruiters that you can work with in a network organization.

Manpower Group’s annual Talent Shortage Survey shows that 36% of employers worldwide are reporting talent shortages in 2014 – this is the highest level in seven years. Globally, Japan reports the most dire news, with more than 80% of employers saying they are having difficulty filling open jobs. Significant talent shortages are reported throughout Latin America, with 67% of Peruvian employers indicating talent shortages.

Other survey highlights include:

The global talent shortage is impacting employers in almost every part of the world. The five countries reporting the most difficulty filling open jobs are:

• Japan – 81%
• Peru – 67%
• India – 64%
• Argentina – 63%
• Brazil – 63%

Other notable countries above the average (36%) are:

• New Zealand – 59%
• Australia – 41%
• USA – 40%

Interestingly, Spain (3%) and Ireland (2%) are reporting little difficulty filling open jobs, despite being among the hardest-hit areas of the Eurozone recession. These two countries have also suffered from sustained weak job markets.

Once again, the worst shortages exist in the skilled trades. Engineers are the second-hardest candidates to find. Among the remaining top ten hardest-to-fill jobs are accounting & finance professionals as well as IT staff.

Over half of all employers participating in the global talent shortage survey indicate that the talent shortage is impacting their business. Negative impacts include a reduced ability to serve customers, reduction in competitiveness, lower productivity, and reduced employee engagement.

The survey also asked employers to indicate steps they are taking to combat the pervasive global talent shortage. Fewer than half have implemented strategies such as providing additional training or development. Only 25% of respondents have started to change their hiring process to include candidates who may not currently have the exact technical skills, but DO have the potential to learn and grow.

The Manpower survey puts the onus on human resource professionals to adopt three new critical roles in order to help companies develop a flexible and agile workforce. These new roles are:

Supply-and-Demand Experts: Understanding how the demand for their companies’ products and services impacts the demand for talent.

Marketers: Developing branding, messaging, and corporate image to focus on attracting and retaining talent, much as traditional marketing efforts have helped position a company’s products and services.

Designers: Adopting a focus on the outcomes of work as opposed to the traditional focus on jobs.

The recruitment market is sending signs to us all the time. Here are some of the signs that have been in front of the global recruitment industry for nearly a year. Have you followed the traffic patterns?

Markets are ready to boom. There are growth opportunities all around the world for global recruiters. Places like Asia and South America have been sending signals that they are ready to heat up. North America remains strong and there are varying levels of opportunity that are niche dependent. IT and manufacturing are hot in North America and show little sign of slowing. Read the rest of this entry »

Our guest blogger is Judy Tilmont, owner of JST Search Group in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA) and a member of the NPAworldwide Board of Directors. JST Search Group places professionals in a wide range of manufacturing, engineering, operations, and finance roles.

About 10 years ago I was asked by an associate to write an article for his company newsletter on my experience with global recruitment. We had recently worked cooperatively to fill an offshore role in the finance industry. The placement, and article, was regarded by a lot of our peers as interesting. It had a nice fee, but in the overall scheme, not of much interest to the majority. International activity was not something that was a part of their business model. At that time, sourcing, qualifying and placing individuals outside of your own country was a scary thought. There were too many hurdles, too much uncertainty. Read the rest of this entry »

Twice each year, we survey our members regarding recruitment business conditions in order to document past results and also get a sense of what the future might hold. Some of the notable results:

• NPAworldwide members are located in 32 countries, on 6 continents
• The majority of survey respondents (76%) serve both clients and candidates
• 77% indicated that recruitment business conditions over the past 180 days are the same or better than they were a year ago
• Among survey respondents, the strongest vertical was manufacturing / mining / construction / supply chain.

I was recently asked some interesting questions by a global recruiter. They were interested to know about the numbers of executive and professionals leaving Brazil each year to take assignments outside the country and overseas. As you might guess, this is not easy info to find. If you have insights on where it is available please let me know.

Here is how I tried to answer the question that was posed… Read the rest of this entry »