Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/169755
HRO Today Forum APAC Where does talent scarcity exist? The question of where there is a talent drought produced interesting answers. Almost all respondents identified the existence of a talent drought, particularly at the executive and middle management levels. This scarcity was considered particularly acute in fields like healthcare, medical, technical, engineering, and research and development. Respondents from Asia Pacific also mentioned a shortage of sales talent. What are businesses doing to handle this talent scarcity? Whilst most respondents agreed that there was a talent drought, opinions on the impacts of that drought varied. "Not a whole lot [of companies] think that this [talent drought] will influence their market share," said Kaistha. Conversely, the study cited delayed product launches and lower productivity as by-products of the talent scarcity. Randstad Sourceright's Roop Kaistha spoke on talent scarity. "I don't think we can do it with a standard recruitment model where we're in our country using our local channels," said Cerullo. "We need to leverage where we have colleagues globally, we need to restructure the teams to work in the relevant time zones, and we need to think different about our techniques." The Value of Talent – And the Danger of Lacking It The third speaker of the panel was Roop Kaistha, solutions design director of APAC for Randstad Sourceright. Like Cerullo, she spoke on talent scarcity, although her presentation used broader strokes to illustrate the general effects businesses will experience if they are unable to locate and hire the best people. According to Kaistha, the joint Randstad Sourceright/HRO Today Institute study stemmed from the question, "What are the issues that are being faced by talent acquisition leaders across the world?" That line of thinking resulted in a study that yielded answers to four main questions: What is the value of talent to business? The value of talent to business, according to Kaistha, comes from the business agility and competitiveness that grows out of employing talented personnel. In the survey, 84 per cent of respondents identified talent as a vitally important element to business. That number was even higher (92 per cent) amongst companies in the Asia Pacific region. What is the value to businesses of outsourcing their talent acquisition functions? Of those companies surveyed, 81 per cent said they outsource some or all parts of their talent acquisition function. Openings at the executive level or contingent contractor deals were most often outsourced, whilst support level and graduate positions saw the least use of outsourcing. With this high usage of outsourcing services, Kaistha said, "There is definitely a lot of pressure on talent acquisition to be a strategic partner with businesses and to help to look after this talent scarcity." And this problem doesn't exist only in the present. "Talent acquisition strategies don't just need to be tackling the talent scarcity today," Kaistha said, "but need to be planning ahead." Kaistha's time concluded with a video presentation filled with startling facts about the shifting demographics of the workforce: • One in four employees have been with their current company for less than a year • An average student today will hold 10 to 14 jobs by the time they are 38 • The top 10 in demand jobs in 2011 did not exist in 2004 • Mobile devices will be the world's primary communication source by 2020 As Kaistha said to open her speech, "All our clients today are talking about how demographics across the world are changing." If businesses hope to succeed in this new landscape, they must be willing to change as well. SUMMER 2013 | www.hroglobal.com [33]