Employers are rethinking their approach to the workforce and work itself as they face ongoing challenges in recruiting, hiring and employee retention.
Nearly three-quarters of HR professionals, 73%, expect hiring to become more challenging over the next 12 months, according to “Workforce and Learning Trends,” a yearly report from the technology trade association CompTIA.
As they face new workforce-related challenges, employers are rethinking their approach to recruiting, hiring and retention. #HR #HRTech @CompTIA Click To Tweet“Hiring and talent development practices that worked a decade ago are no longer adequate in an era of digital transformation and rapid innovation,” said CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux. Companies need to examine how they’re preparing, recruiting and retaining employees, he said. That includes making sure educational models keep pace with new skills requirements, modernizing outdated evaluation and hiring criteria, recruiting from the full talent pool and putting people in a position to make the best use of their skills and talents.
What’s Shaping Workforce Needs
CompTIA identified five movements that are shaping the workforce and learning landscape:
- Employers and workers are negotiating a resetting of expectations on both sides
- Talent pipeline deficiencies highlight the need for human infrastructure investment
- More employers drop four-year degree requirement in favor of skills-based hiring
- The need to crack the code of soft skills with new approaches
- HR is working to balance data-driven and people-driven approaches to talent management
Given these trends, HR executives expect to give close attention to reskilling and upskilling their current employees. More than six in 10 believe increasing the skills of existing workers will offset the need for outside hiring and aid the organization’s retention strategy.
And, indeed, the adoption of skills-based hiring practices continues to trend upward. Support for eliminating or relaxing four-year degree requirements increased from 76% in 2021 to 85% this year, for example. CompTIA said this could contribute to less “overspecing,” or specifying more skills and credentials than are necessary to fill a particular job. When that happens, employers produce job descriptions that few, if any, candidates are qualified for.
For IT hiring, 76% of respondents say professional certifications are a factor in their decision-making. Some 47% expect the importance of certifications as a candidate evaluation tool to increase. And, 45% of organizations say they use a skills framework to provide structure to the recruitment and development of tech workers. Another 36% are exploring the idea.
Finally, two-thirds of HR professionals expect to place greater emphasis on soft skills in the future. Among the reasons: a desire to develop well-rounded employees with more growth potential, create an environment of innovation and collaborative problem-solving, and build a healthy corporate culture.
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