Dive Brief:
- Tech Crunch reports that companies like Amazon, McDonald's and Caterpillar are all preparing for the digital disruption that will impact recruitment, with training programs designed to develop talent to manage new technology.
- At the same time, by the year 2020, the World Economic Forum predicts that around 5 million jobs in manufacturing and customer service will be obsolete, replaced by technology. However, demand for technical skills will keep increasing, such as those in coding that are growing 50% faster than other jobs. It takes 100 days to fill a technical job, on average.
- Technical companies are using retraining programs to bring in talent from other industries, rather than continue to spend so much of their HR budgets on recruitment. Flexport, a shipping logistics software company, focused on training its teams to learn new skills in order to compete with larger firms.
Dive Insight:
Tech organizations see the writing on the wall. For the last several years, there have been increasing shortages of skilled talent. Simultaneously, there are new technologies emerging that are rapidly replacing older skill sets. Instead of spending massive amounts of time and money trying to race against the odds, smart companies are turning their efforts towards hiring candidates who have the potential and willingness to be trained for tech roles.
It makes sense that tech firms would lead the way with agile training programs that teach skills on the job, as things change; after all, the environment and culture of any technology company requires adaptability. As more employees are outmoded by automation and machine learning, training programs may be the key to ensuring less upheaval in the job market. It's one reason why the Trump administration has so vocally supported apprenticeship programs.
