Report: Half of job postings target only 39 roles

Dive Brief:

Demand for talent focuses sharply on only a handful of critical roles in the U.S. and U.K., an analysis of millions of job postings by Gartner TalentNeuron found. The most in-demand roles were in IT, marketing, sales, research and development, and customer service.
Among Gartner's key findings, 49% of all 2018 job postings by S&P 100 companies focused on only 39 roles, with the remaining 51% encompassing 872 other roles.
Gartner said that with technology advancing and business models, skills and roles evolving, employers might not know what kind of talent they'll need going forward. Gartner added that recruiters will have positions to fill that are more specialized, requiring skills beyond core competencies.

Dive Insight:

That the majority of job postings focused on so relatively few categories may demonstrate the seriousness of the competition for talent, especially in the current labor market. Gartner pointed out that recruiters face additional challenges, including the rising cost of hiring, made more acute by longer time-to-hire. Recruiters looking for those prized roles may need to streamline practices, which could involve tapping into new talent pools, lowering candidate qualification standards and shortening time-to-hire.

As hiring managers expand their searches, some are reaching out to non-profits that help veterans, individuals with disabilities or job seekers with criminal records seek employment. Other non-traditional talent pools include gig workers, those in apprenticeship programs, customers and former employees. And as recruiters cast wider nets, they also may want to reassess job listing requirements. Some employers have moved away from relying on GPA as an indicator for a candidate's potential, for example.

Throughout the hiring process, it's important that recruiters provide a positive candidate experience, a report from Phenom People found. A bad candidate experience — typified by employers neglecting to explain their employee value propositions or failing to communicate application status to job seekers — correlates with employers falling behind in attraction, engagement and conversion, the study showed. Candidates generally appreciate a timely recruiting experience that reveals the genuine qualities of a company, according to recent research. Employers also can discard archaic recruiting methods that no longer work and replace them with tech-assisted strategies.

But with so much uncertainty about sourcing candidates with specialized skills, employers also might need to invest in the training, development and upskilling of current staff and new hires to fill roles.