The role of women in the workplace has come a long way in just a few decades. Closing the pay gap and being considered for opportunities to move up the same as men have increased positively across the world. We are seeing a greater number of women-owned businesses flourish and large corporate giants governed by female CEOs.

Diversity: we’ve all heard how important it is in the workplace, how crucial it is in developing strategy, and how we all need to take extra steps to ensure that it’s a major factor in recruitment.

But despite how prolific the data is on the benefits of diversity, a lot of hiring managers still aren’t making diversity inclusion a priority in their hiring strategy. 

For example, a whopping 41% of hiring managers who didn’t enforce measures to ensure hiring diversity say they didn’t do so simply because they were “too busy.” Too busy? Perhaps that’s just another way to say, “we didn’t make it a priority.” 

If I say expansion into emerging markets is one of the most critical business strategies for life sciences companies, I’m confident all industry leaders would  agree with me. IMS Health predicts that by next year Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) will all be in the top 10 global pharmaceutical markets.

Within the sector, some companies have already firmly established a footprint in those booming markets; while others are just getting started. As business extends its global reach further into emerging markets, talent management strategies are also being reshaped. However, as we all know, no matter how well you prepare to immerse yourself in a new country, it’s almost inevitable to experience culture shock to some extent. The same can be said about talent management. 

Sheila Harvey, Vice President, IT industry, Global Client Solutions, RandstadOver the years, “cloud computing”, “the Internet of Things” and “big data” have proven to be more than just passing technology fads. These three emerging technologies are transforming businesses and industries, taking innovation to new heights. But to fully capitalize on the huge potential these technologies present, companies still have a long way to go. So what challenges do businesses face when it comes to widely deploying these three technologies?

“One potential roadblock for every employer is the shortage of relevant skills”, says Jochen Schoenmaeckers, Global Director of the IT industry at Randstad’s Global Client Solutions.

To have a good understanding of the impact these emerging technologies could potentially have on the labor market, we reached out to three industry experts for their perspective on how these technologies are redefining the skills required for the current and future IT workforce, and if the skills gap exists, what organizations can do to bridge the gap and stay ahead of the competition.

CEOs once again express concerns about access to skills as competition for talent heats up.

In our 2016 Talent Trends Survey, 72% of respondents said talent scarcity has negatively affected their business, with 53% of those saying they need additional talent acquisition resources. Disruption to leadership continuity and succession was the
second-most cited result of talent scarcity, mentioned by 45% of participants. In third place was disruption to existing business.

Our research suggests that the sector’s unfavorable image could be hampering its ability to attract and retain top talent.

Employers in all industries are feeling the pressure of an increasingly candidate-driven market, especially when it comes to managerial and professional hiring. Take the Logistics sector as an example: Material Handling Industry (MHI) predicts in the U.S. alone the sector will need to fill about 1.4 million jobs by 2018; however, demand for Logistics and Supply Chain professionals exceeds supply by a ratio of 6 to 1. These figures make worrying reading for Logistics HR and business leaders.

Talk to any business leader in the Logistics sector and they will tell you that as today’s customers increasingly seek to differentiate themselves. The key to success increasingly lies in identifying groups of customers with similar needs for whom you can develop a tailored logistics response – or in other words, a logistics segmentation strategy. In my opinion, the same can be said about your talent pooling. Enabling you to develop a deeper understanding of all types of candidates in your talent pool, discover what makes each of them tick, and well-attune your pooling activities to their interests, candidate segmentation is a great way for companies looking to unlock the full potential of the talent pool. 

For many, Logistics is as simple as the movement of goods from A to B. For business it is a trillion dollar industry. In this interview, Yvette Rogier, Global Director of Randstad’s Logistics sector, shares her perspective on what skills are critical to the future of the Logistics sector, what strategies companies can adopt to bridge the skills gap, and what challenges they will most likely be confronted with when putting these strategies into practice.