CEOs struggle with pressure of global skills gaps

They're the words that put pressure on recruitment managers all over the world, but now their influence has reached even further up the chain of command in most businesses. Skills gaps transfer a lot of the power in the recruitment process to the candidate.

As employees are now in demand, companies are forced to compete for their attention. This can result in a stressful job market for businesses looking to secure top talent, especially as the problem appears to be showing no signs of slowing down.

Global CEOs react to pressure

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) conducted research into the issue, and found the problem is significantly more concerning for CEOs now than it was six years ago. In 2009, less than half (46 per cent) of those surveyed thought that skills gaps were a threat to their business, a figure that has climbed to 75 per cent for 2015. 

This is forcing businesses to think outside the box when it comes to solving recruitment issues, with many looking beyond what full-time employees can offer them and instead focussing on contractors or part-time staff. 

Some companies have even been forced to increase their mergers and acquisitions activity as they don't believe they can access the same level of talent without these processes.

Jon Andrews, leader of PwC's global people and organisation practice noted that these concerns will continue to define business activity despite other prevailing trends. 

"Organisations can no longer continue to recruit people as they've always done – they need to be looking in new places, geographies and from new pools of talent," he said. 

"Businesses also need to make use of data to understand exactly what skills they need, and where they will need them, to focus their future hiring efforts."

Companies that don't observe and react to these trends risk compromising productivity due to a reduced workforce.