July 15th is celebrated as World Youth Skills Day.  In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared July 15th as World Youth Skills Day to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship.  There is a diverse set of skills that the UN is trying to impart to Global youth.   In addition to technical skills, skills like Media Literacy are becoming important across enterprises.  This portfolio of skills is not just critical for Digital Marketing but also crucial in representing the individual brand of the employee on social media.  These skills are required across generations.  Let us look at some critical Global Labor trends for this week

• Britain’s Hays group (staffing and Recruiting company) reported a 23% rise in fees for the April to June Quarter.  The timing of this report is significant and can provide a significance and importance of hiring critical talent for the initiatives
• A critical difference around this economic slowdown is that many companies have invested significantly in the cloud.  As a result, leaders will push through critical digital and corporate initiatives.  The cost of innovation will be optimal, and as Jeff Bezos says, One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out. We are seeing significant evidence of this.  Using drone-captured image data, LIDAR mapping, and point graphs, a digital twin of the Old Course at St. Andrews was developed, where fans can follow the action in real-time. Another example is Netflix partnering with Microsoft to introduce a lower-cost subscription.  These examples are the reason why Recruitment and Workforce Planning are essential to remaining in high gear
• The demand for tech talent continues to grow, and consulting companies are ramping up in tech talent.  McKinsey plans to grow its Atlanta hub in the US with more tech talent.  McKinsey is hoping to tap into the diverse and talented tech ecosystem of Atlanta
• Goldman Sachs has recruited the founder of Google’s technology incubator (Jared Cohen) to lead an innovation group focused on applying tech to new business opportunities.  More companies are setting up what is called innovation groups
• Significant investments in Manufacturing and Distribution centers in Europe and North America. 
• Experian is planning to expand its Global Innovation Center in Hyderabad- India, significantly
• There are also significant efforts underway across the Globe to redesign workspaces into collaborative workspaces

 The World Intellectual Property Organization has published interesting datasets on Global Innovation.  I am sure Workforce Planners will find this dataset very helpful.  WIPO has identified countries that are outperforming in the areas of innovation.  Places like Rwanda provides attractive Technical hub option for global companies.

I had the privilege of running a short workshop with a few recruiters.  Many recruiters communicated that their challenge is converting the pipeline into candidates.  In some ways, the problem has become a bit more complicated.  As a result, we have created some guidelines based on Henry Ford’s supply chain principles.  Henry Ford, the godfather of mass production, was tormented by the possibility of running out of parts and raw materials.  One of Henry Ford’s foundational contributions to the supply chain is the art and science of de-risking every step.  Using this principle, we have come up with a few guidelines.

1.0  Explain the critical Industry Trends to Candidates:  

Significant transformations are happening across industries.  Having a concrete point of view on these aspects will be very useful.  For example, retail has a revolution around Omni channel merchandising.  Digital Experience Management is becoming very critical in Banking and so on.

2.0  Employee Value Proposition: 

In addition, to articulating the Employee Value proposition, it is also essential to understand the strengths and weaknesses of immediate competitors.  We can help you build this, or you can also develop this yourself.  We will be automating this for you shortly.

3.0  Opportunities:

Candidates expect granular opportunities for growth.  For example, if you are hiring for Digital Marketing, this is an example taxonomy of roles.  The taxonomy means that there are rich development opportunities for someone joining the team (So it is not always a longer-term transition). 

• Digital Marketing Media Strategy Roles
• Programmatic Media Activation Roles
• Social Media Activation Roles
• Search Activation Roles – E-commerce, and / or Retail
• Media Activation Roles – For example, E-commerce and Retail
• Media Analytics, Reporting, and Insights Roles
• Digital Financial Operations and Investment Roles
• Web Analytics / Technical SEO Roles
• Creative Director / Brand Master Roles
• Data Analytics and Insights Roles (Global)

4.0  GOAL (Going Online as Leaders)

It will be necessary to let candidates know how the firm will help them in Digital Leadership.  These may be opportunities around presentations, events, and conferences that the company supports and sponsors.  This aspect is becoming critical for candidates