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\n\tBack in 1997, <\/span>research published by The McKinsey Group<\/a> coined the phrase <\/span>\u2018the War for Talent\u2019<\/a> to describe the increasingly competitive landscape for recruiting talented employees.<\/span><\/p>\n Back in 1997, research published by The McKinsey Group coined the phrase \u2018the War for Talent\u2019 to describe the increasingly competitive landscape for recruiting talented employees. Today the war is over. Talent has won. In the UK, the widely reported skills gap in cyber security and digital IT is growing, and despite efforts to attract… Read More »Talent Won the War for Talent. What should IT employers do next?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversity-inclusion"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/14278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\tToday the war is over. Talent has won.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tIn the UK, the widely reported skills gap in cyber security and digital IT is growing,<\/a> and despite efforts to attract people to the industry, there still exists a massive <\/div>\n\n\tdisparity between the number of vacant skilled roles and professionals capable of filling them. By 2019, PwC estimates the number of cyber security vacancies will hit 1.5 million \u2013 up from 1 million in 2018.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tYou may like:<\/strong> Can AI destroy bias and improve diversity in recruitment?<\/a><\/div>\n\n\tThe solution for businesses to find and retain top talent in the sector is deceptively simple: learn what the new generation of skilled digital professionals wants, and deliver it to them.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tWhat else can employers learn from the War for Talent in their battle to build the best teams?<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tWar is over<\/h2>\n
\n\tFocused on the US and European employment market, McKinsey\u2019s seminal report from the late 90s highlighted a growing gap between supply and demand, driven <\/div>\n\n\tby demographic shifts that saw baby boomer workforces retiring en masse, without fresh blood to take their place.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tIn response, employers were forced to recognise that the most valuable parts of their businesses were not their products, services and intellectual property; but instead their staff. As Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay explained of his own business in 1997:<\/a> \u201cThe only thing that differentiates Enron from our competitors is our people, our talent.\u201d<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tIn response, companies were driven to offer better remuneration and benefits packages than they would have considered previously. This shift reached its peak in Silicon Valley, where \u2013 at the height of the dotcom boom \u2013 skilled professionals were offered huge salaries and eye watering sign-on bonuses.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\t“Today, opportunities for learning and development rank among the most important considerations for job hunters.”<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tParadoxically, while many businesses woke up to the importance of talent management at the end of the 90s, many more helped drive the War by reducing their investment in learning and development for employees \u2013 thereby encouraging staff to look elsewhere for work. Today, opportunities for learning and development rank among the most important considerations for job hunters.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tThe War raged on, slowing down when the US and European economies struggled \u2013 as they did following the bursting of the dotcom bubble in 2000 \u2013 and then recovering in line with market growth. In better performing economies, employees are more likely to think about tak<\/div>\n\n\ting up a new role. Commentators have seen an uptick in this type of employee confidence in recent years, following the 2008 crash<\/a>.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tThe ongoing battle<\/h2>\n
\n\tThe vicissitudes of the 1990s and 2000s have put skilled employees firmly in the driving seat, particularly when it comes to the IT sector. Talent has won the war, and businesses must accept that where in-demand candidates go, employers must follow. As Biswajeet Pattanayak writes in Human Resource Management:<\/em><\/a> \u201cIn today\u2019s knowledge economy, the calibre of a company\u2019s talent increasingly det<\/div>\n\n\termines success in the marketplace.\u201d<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tThis new business reality is widely recognised. McKinsey\u2019s report found that 72% of managers believed that winning the War on Talent was critical to organisational success.<\/a> Yet their confidence in achieving victory was lacking. The same poll indicated that only 9% of employers thought their current actions would lead to a stronger talent pool.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tThis belief in the importance of talent management persists, but confidence remains low. In January, members of executive organisation Vistage cited talent recruitment as one of the five issues most important to their organisation.<\/a> Meanwhile, the most recent ManpowerGroup Talent Shortage Survey found that 36% of employers have difficulty filling jobs.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tField strategies<\/h2>\n
\n\tWhat must business owners do to win the War, once more?<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tFirst, recognise that today\u2019s skilled professionals belong to a new generation<\/a> and, accordingly, have different expectations. Second, serve those new expectations.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tToday, \u2018Millennials\u2019 \u2013 those aged 22\u201337 in 2018 \u2013 constitute the largest minority of working professionals, making up 35% of the workforce in both the UK<\/a> and the US. Globally in 2017, 56 million Millennials sought a new role, outnumbering 53 million Gen Xers and 41 million Baby Boomers.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\t“It is important for employers to better understand those outside their own age group using workplace reports and surveys.”<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tAccording to ManPowerGroup, young people are working harder and longer than previous generations \u2013 clocking, on average, 45 hours of work each week.<\/a> 21% have a second job. Given the number and diversity of individuals covered by the term \u2018Millennials\u2019, it\u2019s important to not rely too heavily on generalisations like these to inform business decisions. However, it is important for employers to better understand those outside their own age group using workplace reports and surveys. Deloitte\u2019s annual Millennial Survey <\/a>and ManPowerGroup\u2019s Millennial Careers report<\/a> are good starting points.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tBoth reports paint a picture of a workforce that values long-term employment but is willing to consider leaving their employer in the near future. While Deloitte\u2019s 2017 survey found 70% of Millennials in developed economies favoured the stability offered by full-time employment, <\/a>the 2018 edition reports that 43% of millennials envisage leaving their employer within 2 years.<\/a> These results are significant, because they suggest that the War on Talent can be won \u2013 provided employers fulfil the needs of their skilled employees.<\/div>\n\n\tThese needs fall into three categories:<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\t– Flexibility<\/strong>. \u2018Digital natives\u2019 lack traditional assumptions that work must be performed in one location. Candidates offered a similar salary by two employers are more likely to choose the one which allows home working or flexible hours, as confirmed by the Deloitte 2018 Millennial survey. <\/a>Janet Levesque, CISO at RSA\/EMC is emphatic about the importance of cyber security businesses offering work-at-home options to strong candidates who don\u2019t want to relocate.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\t– Learning and Development<\/strong>. BlessingWhite research shows that employees favour personal development over career progression, being significantly more likely to stay in an organisation that provides opportunities for learning.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t– Engagement<\/strong>. According to LinkedIn, 45%<\/a> to 60%<\/a> of its 400 million users feel \u2018dissatisfied\u2019 with their current jobs. Less-engaged employees are four times more likely to leave their role than their more highly-engaged peers.<\/a> The Deloitte 2018 Millennial survey finds employees increasingly attracted to employers that act with a sense of social and environmental purpose<\/a>, and who recognise the importance of work-life balance \u2013 findings corroborated by PwC <\/a>and the Corporate Executive Board.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tFinally, employers must also focus on offering a better recruitment experience. First, by marketing roles accurately and attractively, as the likes of Google are exceptional at doing. Second, by making the candidate experience smooth and rewarding. 60% of candidates withdraw their job application when an application process takes too long.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tA focus on candidate experience pays its own rewards, while a failure to focus on it can badly damage a business\u2019 employer brand \u2013 and therefore its chances of winning the War for Talent. The Talent Board\u2019s 2014 Candidate Experience Report showed that 64.3% of applicants would share negative application experiences with friends and family; 27% would go as far as actively discouraging others from applyin<\/a><\/div>\n\n\tg<\/a>. And thanks to forums like Glassdoor, it\u2019s easier than ever for candidates to find honest and trusted reviews of potential employers online.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tTo date, employers have failed to understand their employees\u2019 needs and expectations \u2013 leading some commentators to characterise their efforts to attract and retain top staff less a War for Talent, and more a War on<\/em> Talent.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tToday, employers have no excuse not to work harder to win the hearts and minds of skilled candidates. First, they must recognise that the War on Talent is in full-swing, and that employees are winning. Then they need to react \u2013 offering more flexible, supportive and social workplaces.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tTalent is what makes a business. Failing to win it may even cost the business itself.<\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\t <\/div>\n\n\tImprove the way you interview for talent, with our guide to interview questions for your next vacancy.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n\n\t <\/h2>\n
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