60% candidates in technical sectors lack right balance of hard and soft skills: report
Hiring managers, across all professional/technical (PT) sectors say 60% candidates globally lack the right combination of hard and soft skills, says a recent survey by Kelly Services. PT hiring managers most frequently cite the ability to listen (81%) and teamwork (72%) as key soft skills that they look for in potential candidates. Teamwork is even more critical for engineering talent, at 85%.
The latest Kelly Global Workforce Insights (KGWI) survey on career resilience also found that across the globe, as many as 60% of millennials are concerned with keeping their skills updated, reflecting the uncertain economic times that they grew up in, their fascination with technology and disruptive business models, and their relatively high degree of comfort with change. Geographically, APAC workers (64%) are significantly more concerned with skills remaining current when compared to Americas (55%) and EMEA (56%).
PT workers represented over half of the workers surveyed in APAC and several PT disciplines reported meaningfully higher than average concerns with skills obsolescence versus layoffs (74% of finance and accounting, 73% of IT and 70% of engineering). The findings reiterate the impending IT skill shortages in APAC, and the potentially negative impact on the region’s competitiveness.
“This is the age of do-it-yourself (DIY) career development. It is up to candidates to manage and invest in their own career— taking advantage of every learning and training experience, and building a personal brand that is separate from their employer. Career resilience will be defined by one’s acceptance of freelance assignments, temporary or contract opportunities,” says Thammaiah BN, managing director, Kelly Services India.
RISE OF THE PERSONAL BRAND
The KGWI survey shows that relationships play the most important role in personal branding and it is changing the way people network. This is true not just for hiring managers but also freelancers as the survey shows that 57 %of freelancers tap their personal and professional networks to find jobs via word-of-mouth and referrals. More importantly, 24% of global workers secured their most recent job via word of mouth or employee referral and another 29% directly from an employer or head-hunter. The survey also brings to the fore the importance of skills to back up positive reputation.
“Candidates should be open to interning or taking a temporary position to build experience, whether at the beginning or middle of their career. Starting as a temporary employee or completing an internship gives talent an edge with PT hiring managers, especially for engineering candidates,” adds Thammaiah.
MOST IMPORTANT HARD SKILLS
The career resilience survey established five universal hard skills most often mentioned by PT hiring managers as important. Ranked one to five were analytical thinking (80%), communication (61%), evaluation, analysis, accuracy and trouble shooting (58%), technical including systems, computers, software (57%) and complex problem solving skills (56%) respectively.
The important takeaway from the survey was that fewer than 40% of global workers take advantage of career discussions with their employer. And only one-third (32%) of the respondents seek training and pay for it while 46% take advantage of employer-provided training.
Candidates must remember that do-it-yourself training can provide an edge, the report adds.
TECHNICAL HIRING MANAGERS MOST FREQUENTLY CITE THE ABILITY TO LISTEN (81%) AND TEAMWORK (72%) AS KEY SOFT SKILLS THAT THEY LOOK FOR IN POTENTIAL CANDIDATES