Navigating post-pandemic realities, like remote work and employee fatigue, have placed extra pressures on HR, but there could be more stress to come. Analysts at Market Research predict specific industries could boom, and Goldman Sachs expects the global economy will outperform expectations in 2024. This raises a key question for HR recruiting teams — how ready are you for growth?
If organizations follow a traditional approach to talent acquisition then we could simply see some familiar issues accelerate with a vengeance – greater talent scarcity, salary inflation, and huge strains on recruiters.
Re-evaluating your recruiting strategy before growth happens is a wise move that could save you stress and deliver better results. Here are some important factors to consider.
Related content: Ready for a skills-based approach to talent acquisition, but confused about how talent intelligence helps you get there? Watch our webinar on how talent intelligence can power your HR and business to success.
The skills you need will change
When growth kicks in, it’s unlikely your business will need more of the same from your workforce. Growth tends to happen when new markets and fresh opportunities emerge. If you’re able to seize and maintain a competitive advantage, then you’ll want people who can give you something different than before — and you may need a lot of them.
It’s tricky to imagine the workforce you’ll require in two or three years. But using AI-powered talent intelligence can help. For example, AI can give you a deep understanding of the skill sets that are rising quickly in your industry. AI can help predict tomorrow’s in-demand skills in real time, based on billions of global talent data points.
Instead of having to sift through thousands of old specifications, AI can help you redesign the roles you’ll need based on real-time data. Perhaps core duties will remain intact for some jobs, but they may include additional digital skills, creative capabilities, or problem-solving talents. Additionally, some intriguing new hybrid roles could be the best fit for your future needs or you could design completely new positions.
Knowing what skills you’ll need for tomorrow – and finding the people today who can do them or learn new ones will save you from having to recruit again later. As your business grows, you won’t miss a beat.
Uncover scarce talent
When industries expand, the pool of available talent dwindles and HR teams often struggle to satisfy business demands. This can put the brakes on growth. But switching away from static job titles and résumés can give you the edge.
With a skills-based strategy, you can find candidates who aren’t on the radar of other employers. That’s because the AI looks beyond the historical record on someone’s résumé.
AI-powered talent intelligence can assess adjacent skills, likely abilities, and potential. Again, using anonymized industry data, it recognizes how skills and career trajectories develop over time. It sees patterns and opportunities. The candidate who isn’t suitable for one role may be the ideal person for another despite not having the traditional qualifications. AI can pinpoint candidates whose skills can be quickly developed.
So, instead of competing intensely for a few seasoned candidates, you might be the only organization talking to several people with plenty of promise.
Find the answers close to home
As a business grows, finding new hires can push HR teams’ bandwidth to a snapping point, but imagine if 90% of roles could be filled internally?
You can use talent intelligence to create an inventory of everyone in your team, reflecting their adjacent skills, aspirations, and potential. This huge talent pool can also include contingent workers and people you’ve previously interviewed. This can be your go-to first move when roles need filling.
Enabling valuable employees to progress through your organization in times of growth rather than leave is vital. Some jobs and skills will become obsolete, so opening up fresh opportunities is essential to keeping top talent engaged. Skills’ adjacencies and aspirations can lead employees into upskilling programs, so you retain their contributions. Developing your talent and establishing a culture of continuous learning, powered by AI, will help you build the skills needed and meet the challenges of growth.
Related content: Read our report, “Going beyond the résumé: Building a workforce with a skills-based approach.”
Do more without extra stress
In recent years, HR teams have been on the frontlines through persistent challenges and changes as highlighted in SAP’s HR meta-trends in 2023 report.
But talent intelligence can help. Rather than replacing HR, AI elevates the role of professionals. Teams can spend less time on labor-intensive work, like searching job boards and running keyword searches. Instead, you’ll get a holistic view of candidates in moments and see how they align with your needs with a match score generated by AI, easily recalibrating your searches and sharpening results.
Put simply, you can accelerate decision-making, reduce your time to hire dramatically, and keep building a workforce ready for anything. You won’t just cope with growth, you’ll use the opportunity to set the pace when it comes to skills and performance in your industry.
For more information about what Eightfold and SAP SuccessFactors can do for you, contact us.
About Eightfold AI and SAP SuccessFactors: Together, SAP SuccessFactors and Eightfold AI help customers drive more effective, forward-looking talent strategies. By connecting the comprehensive foundation of enterprise and employee data in SAP SuccessFactors with the Eightfold Talent Intelligence Platform, organizations can find and recruit the right talent faster, accelerate employee development and growth, promote internal mobility, and drive the organizational agility needed for future business success.