Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/131821
The Employment Report Eastward Ho! Talent is migrating, and recruitment strategizing better catch up. By Michael Beygelman The U.S. State Department estimates that 6.3 million Americans are working outside the U.S. or studying abroad, which is the highest number on record. The percentage of Americans ages 25 to 34 that are planning to move overseas has gone up five-fold to 5.1 percent. Younger workers, specifically ages 18 to 24, represent the largest demographic of the employable population interested moving abroad, with nearly 40 percent expressing willingness versus 12 percent only five years ago. This is about more than adventure or cultural advancement. The main driver of this trend is that Americans can find better jobs east of the prime meridian. Companies are also migrating their operations east. For example, Aviation Valley is neither in Northern California nor in the United Kingdom. Aviation Valley is located in the southeastern part of Poland, with most head offices located in the vicinity of Rzeszów. There you will find companies such as Pratt&Whitney, B/A Aerospace, Goodrich, and Siemens. Aviation Valley was conceived by a group of leading aeronautic producers, suppliers, and businessmen as a way to further the economic development and growth of the aerospace industry in this region. In all, the Aviation Valley currently represents nearly 100 companies, employing more than 20,000 engineers, designers and technicians, and this is just one small town area in Eastern Europe. This trend carries ramifications for U.S. employers, and also for companies that are looking to set up operations in Eastern Europe (including Russia) or in Asia and Oceania. Some regions' lack of skilled labor is one cause of talented U.S. workers seeking employment abroad or taking on extensive international assignments. This is just one piece of the puzzle as to why companies are struggling to fill their vacancies, while U.S. unemployment still hovers around 7.6 percent. The March 2013 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated that the number of long-term unemployed (individuals jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.6 million. This segment of our workforce accounted for 39.6 percent of the unemployed in the March report—a staggering number—which suggests one entire demographic of Americans might be on the verge of being deemed "unemployable," while on the other hand there is a very real shortage of workers with relevant skills to fill vacancies created as a result of growth or attrition. Companies looking to staff up operations in the eastern hemisphere face an entirely different set of reasons behind their recruitment challenges. Primarily, recruitment departments in these emerging markets have never been tasked with finding several hundred or even thousands of employees (and across a multitude of skill sets); they have historically done a great job hiring, but for a few skills sets in low numbers. Recruitment scalability is clearly lacking, and some cultural nuances complicate matters. For example, unlike in the U.S., people are less likely to commute several hours or long distances on a daily basis in order to work—for several reasons, not the least of which is wages—so people would opt for employment that is closer to their residence. Another reason is that certain towns or provinces have traditional skill sets associated with them because for years specific kinds of work were done there. Take Plzen (or Pilsen for non-Czech speakers), the fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic, located in the western region of Bohemia and. It is located nearly 60 miles west of Prague. The combination of pale color from their malts, Pilsen's remarkably soft water, Saaz noble hops from a nearby town called Žatec, and Bavarian-style lagering techniques produces a clear, golden libation that has become a staple in most societies—Pilsner beer! Now imagine a Japanese air conditioning company or an Italian car manufacturer deciding to set up operations nearby, and the challenges of finding skill sets that barely exist in town, complicated further by a geographic diversity that makes commuting next to impossible. Many considerations are necessary for HR departments when analyzing the general trend of work and workers moving east, and how they can respond to the talent shortages, lack of recruitment scalability, and cultural nuances. At the same time, multinational companies with presence in the U.S. need to come to terms with the real gap of skilled workers and that the current challenges are not merely temporary. Talent recruitment has changed for good, so organizations need to evolve their talent strategies. Michael Beygelman is RPO president at Pontoon. He can be reached at michael.beygelman@pontoonsolutions.com APRIL 2013 | www.hrotoday.com [57]