Talent for various business activities is becoming scares in
most countries and marketing is no exception to this rule. By 2030, demand for
skilled professionals will outstrip supply and the world would be staring at a
talent shortage of over 85.2 million people, according to a study by US-based
global organisational consulting firm Korn Ferry.
But how does the
world, more specifically the countries that face talent crunch get over this
shortage?
This talent shortage is corroborated by other surveys
as well. Manpower Group’s Talent Shortage Report says that globally, 45% of
all the employers surveyed are struggling to scout for the right talent.
According to this very survey while 32% of US employers experienced talent
shortages in 2015 it rose to 46% in 2018.
A similar picture emerges for senior level professionals too,
with 40 per cent of the companies facing a shortage of talent at the senior
management level, according to Aon Talent Acquisition study.
The Gartner’s quarterly Emerging Risks Report published in
January 2019 puts talent shortage as the topmost risk faced by organisations
globally.
The root cause of this shortage is the rapid technological
advancement over the past few years and the imbalance it has created between the
talent available and needed to leverage these advances. It could lead to a huge
number of unfilled jobs.
The Korn Ferry study says that the United States, France, Japan,
Australia and Germany face the largest threat in the near term, with a combined
opportunity cost of $1.876 trillion by 2020.
In this scenario, the model
of sharing economy whereby talent is shared is the only way forward. It seems
to be the only realistic solution that can help mitigate the problem. But where will this talent come from?
Looking towards Africa
No doubt companies in the developed world can look towards Africa
to reduce this talent gap and at the same time lower their overall costs as the
cost of professionals there is lower than in the developed countries.
But the African continent itself is grappling with a talent
shortage. According to EY’s Attractiveness Survey Africa 2015
–Making Choices, approximately 70% of companies whose high-level manpower needs
were surveyed were taking longer to fill vacancies and employee turnover was
high.
This is due to the fact that while an increasing number of
Africans are entering universities, yet according to UNESCO estimates only 6
per cent of young people in Africa are enrolled in higher education
institutions, compared to the global average of 26 per cent and a large part of
these graduates lack the basic technical and transferable skills.
APAC region
Another region with a lower cost of talent is the Asia Pacific
region (APAC) but this region too, apart from India, is facing a shortage of
talent. The Korn Ferry study finds that the Asia Pacific region faces an
imminent talent shortage of 12.3 million professionals by 2020, with the
possibility of this shortage rising to 47 million by 2030.
According to the World Economic Forum, highly skilled
professionals account for only about 10 percent of total employment in
Indonesia. The main reasons for the scarcity of top talent are the dearth of
experience, lack of technical competencies and inadequate soft skills.
Another APAC country, Malaysia could lose US$93,458 of its
annual business revenue by 2030 owing to manpower shortfall. Singapore too
faces the spectra of talent shortage of more than 1 million professionals, says
the Korn Ferry report.
Resultantly the cost of talent in these countries would rise,
making this an unattractive proposition.
Silver lining
But there is a silver lining to this depressing scenario –
India. It is the only country not just in the APAC region but in the whole
world that would have a talent surplus in 2025 which would increase to 245.3
million surplus professionals by 2030, according to the Korn Ferry study named
'Global Talent Crunch'.
This makes India the ideal destination for talent sharing.
Indian professionals can be used by companies and institutes to tide over their
talent crunch. The fact that Indian professionals are confidently conversant with
English thanks to the widespread use of English as the medium of education in
large parts of India makes this solution
all the more beneficial as English is the most influential language of the business
across the world.
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