The business ecosystem is undergoing rapid transformation-digitally, economically and socially. However, the impact of digital is huge and has greatly influenced the workplace and people. The disruption caused by digital has led to the elimination of job categories and have led to a talent crisis. Consequently, recruitment professionals are expected to meet new demands. Their responsibility to fill a job with the right person at the right time requires a shift from traditional models which is a shift from talent acquisition to talent supply.

Today at the People Matters Talent Acquisition Conference at Mumbai, Aon launched its annual Talent Acquisition Study 2019-Don’t just add, augment. The study brings insights on key demands that are being raised on Talent Acquisition professionals from over 650 organizations across Asia Pacific and Middle East. This session emphasizes the need for changing TA leaders’ mindset from “Add” (quantitative) to “Augment” (qualitative), and will additionally share perspective on learning opportunities for those who want a seat at the CEO’s table.

The study captured three main themes:

The democratization of talent:

Employees are demanding more transparency when it comes to their career growth. Organizations are adopting tools which allow employees to assess their personal choices, skills, and competencies and sharing data with them to better control their career trajectories.

Currently, organizations are leveraging technologies for talent assessment, candidate experience, and employer branding.

The hiring of digital mindsets:

The half-life of job skills keeps shrinking, which means organizations need to focus on hiring people with the willingness and ability to continuously acquire new skills and knowledge.

One reason for this gap does not know which skills and competencies are required by a digital worker. The study identified three behaviors for bridging the skills gap and prepares a digital-ready workforce which includes:

Learnability: It is about seeking continual self-improvement

Agility: It is about adapting to changing situations

Curiosity: It is about being open to change and novelty

Engaging new talent pools:

Given the increased digitization, job roles are evolving some are getting automated while others are getting augmented. The roles that remain will be expected to perform even more as they will have access to more information and data.

To build an adaptive and skilled workforce, it will not be enough to simply provide a good candidate experience. Companies will increasingly need to target candidates through outbound hiring.

Tarandeep Singh, Partner and APAC & ME Assessment Practice Leader at Aon shared that businesses and workers are facing massive disruption brought on by emerging technologies and demographic changes, but also creating new opportunities for talent augmenters. From playing a contributory role in a linear talent supply model, they can take talent supply to the heart of creating a new ecosystem.

To get more insights, you can access the full report here.