Economic turbulence ahead

Paul O’Loughlin

As world markets begin to adjust to the fallout from rising fuel costs, the effects of the economic sanctions against Russia, and the follow-on effects of this through global supply chains, we will need to adjust our expectations regarding talent acquisition in the medium term.

What does this mean? Well, the uncertainty created by these economic head winds invariable impacts organisation’s medium term hiring intentions. In our current situation, employers are facing financial uncertainty, and this will ultimately impact the “sourcing strategies” of hiring managers.

As I have always maintained, one of the great predictors of economic prosperity is the recruitment industry. When things get tough hiring decisions are put on the back burner. Not so yet however!

We are currently in a period of unprecedented demand for talent, right across the globe. The global skills shortage is affecting almost every market we operate in, making it challenging to secure talent as skills are being widely competed for. Normally you would think that this is a positive thing as it drives salaries up. Not so currently, as there is an abundance of vacancies with many of these roles are going unfilled.

As the impact of covid recedes and global boarders return to normal we will begin to see the transference of skills across international boarders on mass. At Ubidy we are already seeing evidence of this. When the world closed for two years this stalled. It now appears to be returning. One of our clients is currently hiring more than 500 expatriates, and most of our current sourcing requirements are open to international candidates.

The overall feeling I get from our agency partners around the world is they are “flat-out” hiring. Full job order books auger well for the future. It just means that collectively “sourcing strategies” are having to be even more innovative. Untraditional methods of securing talent are being embraced with Ai becoming ever present as a tool for securing good people. The adoption of technology to identify and secure talent is becoming common place. The number of job and talent platforms are growing exponentially, and it is now unusual for instance that large enterprise does not have this as part of their suite of “attraction” resources.

What does this all mean for the near future? Well, we are yet to see a softening of global hiring intentions and ultimately, we may not! The appetite for talent is growing, so make hay whilst the sun shines!

The jobs market may experience a period of being unsettled, but if covid has provided us with anything, it is a desire to rationalise global supply lines thus averting the impact that global catastrophes like what we are experiencing with Russia might otherwise have. I believe we are set for a period of sustained demand for talent right across the globe as world economies roar out of the epidemic hiatus!

Ubidy | Global Talent on Demand