Strategic Talent Management
The Ubiquity of Skills Demand
by Taleo Research
New principles of human capital have emerged from the combination of technology and the new economy. To lead in any economic environment, both HR executives and corporate executive management should appreciate the ramifications of these new developments. In a previous article we looked at how a skilled workforce is a cash multiplier. In this article we discuss another new principle of human capital: The Ubiquity of Skills Demand.
The best way to understand this principle and its implications is to describe the dynamic between supply and demand in the workforce arena. If we look at the demand side, we see organizations in demand of skills or talents to perform the tasks to deliver value to the marketplace.
The economic theory of supply and demand in economics has been widely publicized. It can be summarized as: in any market there is equilibrium between demand and supply that will set a specific price point.
However, every economist knows the limitation of this theory. For instance, if I am a corporation looking for a specific skill to perform a task, I demand it using traditional recruiting methods such as advertising and a referral system. The limited reach of the demand broadcast creates its own limitation: i.e. limited supply. The reason for limited access to supply is called friction, or a lack of perfect communication between the suppliers and the buyers, in this case between the employers and the jobseekers.
Digital communication has been a great tool to reduce friction and enable better equilibrium. Today’s online marketing techniques enable jobseekers and corporations to bridge the gap between supply and demand, and reduce friction.
Let’s consider some data and online tactics. As reported in the 2001 Taleo Research Global 500 Web Site Recruiting Survey, jobseekers could access job opportunities of 88 percent of Global 500 companies online at any time from anywhere - an increase from 29 percent in 1998. This contrasts well with the traditional unique source of employment opportunities available quasi-exclusively through newspapers as it was only a few years ago. This first shift in availability or ubiquity of data is called by Taleo ubiquity of demand, i.e. every job opportunity is available any where at any time.
Other techniques are available for corporations to timely market their opportunities to candidates. One is “job agents”, an extension of the permission marketing concept. The candidate can leave a personal email address at the corporate Careers Web site to receive automated notification of future matching positions. Job Agents build ongoing relationships with jobseekers, stretch marketing budgets further and require no resource allotment from recruiting staff. In 2000, only six percent of Fortune500 companies benefited from this powerful functionality1, perhaps because their hiring management systems did not provide the necessary profiling and automation. In 2001, the adoption of job agent functionality climbed to 13 percent or a 120 percent growth, year to year2.
jobseekers could access job opportunities of 88 percent of Global 500 companies online at any time from anywhere - an increase from 29 percent in 1998. This contrasts well with the traditional unique source of employment opportunities available quasi-exclusively through newspapers as it was only a few years ago. This first shift in availability or ubiquity of data is called by Taleo , i.e. every job opportunity is available any where at any time.Consequences
The consequences of this new principle of ubiquity of skills demand are multiple. The first one is to give the jobseeker the ability to shop more for opportunity and be more in a decision maker role: “I know what is available out there and what I am worth.” Today many salary surveys are available online and give the jobseeker evermore control over his or her own career.
The second consequence of this principle is an increased flow of supply for the corporation. This simply translates to an increased volume of applications and consequently raises the issue of quality.
The ubiquity of skills demand provides the jobseeker with a wider wealth of opportunities to choose from. Concurrently, it affords the corporation a larger pool of candidates from which to select. This development presents both an opportunity and a challenge for corporations to contemplate as they evaluate their recruiting processes.
[1] Best Practices for Fortune 500 Career Web Site Recruiting. Taleo Research, 2000.
[2] Trends in Fortune 500 Careers Web Site Recruiting. Taleo Research, 2001.