Five Essential Steps Businesses Need To Take In Order To Be Talent-ReadyBoth job seekers and employers are increasingly concerned with skills which they deem necessary for success.

With technology advancing so quickly, the future will introduce new skill requirements for companies around the world. This makes it essential for organizations to constantly adapt to new market trends to make sure they are talent-ready. What this essentially means is adopting a future-oriented strategy when it comes todealing with talentand answering essential questions, such as: what is the projected headcount growth? Does the company currently have the type of talent that is needed? Does it need a different skillset in the future? What is likely to be transformed in the existing job roles, and how does the company equip existing talent to handle such changes?

With growth in mind, businesses of all sizes are more than likely to have pondered such questions already, but may have been challenged to process them and to find the sought-after solutions. Bayt.com, the largest job site in the Middle East, conducted a recent study among thousands of participants from across the MENA region to depict whatthe future of workis going to look like. Among the findings, it was commonly confirmed that artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and technology in general will take over in the future, and will change how things are done, including how the hiring process is carried out.

Given the reported changes that will take place regarding the future of work, here are five essential steps businesses need to take in order to be talent-ready.

1. KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR TOP SKILLS
The paradigm has shifted for the skills required for work in the future. Both job seekers and employers are increasingly concerned with skills which they deem necessary for success.

According to our research, the top skills that will sky rocket in the next 10 years are those relating to team management, teamwork, as well as communication. Interestingly, the priority of skills in the future will also expand to technical competence and computer skills. More than 50% of the respondents believe that technical skills will be more important than soft skills in 10 years. On top of that, 85% of the respondents believe that the demand for software engineers is likely to increase. Such sentiments are of great insight to businesses who adopt a forward-thinking talent management approach.

Employers will need to gradually begin to hire using system analysis of the job requirements, meaning that the alignment betweenthe competencies of the job seekerand the assigned role will become of upmost importance. This is especially true as the majority of employers point out that relevant work experience will be the most important factor in the hiring decision.

Another major skill that is likely to flood future job descriptions and requirements is creative thinking abilities, along with the adaptive skills (flexibility, change management, etc.) And so, this is what businesses need to be keeping an eye out for, and to perhaps even develop effective assessments tools to measure such elements. With the rate of how businesses are changing and how advancements in technology like artificial intelligence and machine learning are infiltrating essential business functions, it is paramount for employers to secure their talent needs through an equally technology-centric and highly efficient approach.

For instance, Bayt.com offers a comprehensive solution with significant reduction on time, effort, and cost needed to source candidates. Bayt.com's CV search allows employers to access a database of more than 37 million CVs and apply advanced filters, boolean search, and AIpowered algorithms for picking the ideal candidates.

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2. FILL UP THE TALENT POOL
The focus on skillset is only one aspect that will change in the coming years. In the next 10 years, changes to the nature and types of jobs will also become significant. For instance, Bayt.com's study revealed that demand for software engineers is likely to increase, along with demand for directors, project managers, system administrators, and designers.

While job titles and requirements will progressively change in the forthcoming years, nearly half of the respondents state that transferring from less demanded job varies in difficulty. This points out to another critical step that business must take in identifying key processes to allow for such transformations, perhaps through restarting the job design process, and identifying training and transition requirements. All industries are quickly coming to understand the impact that technology will embed in the workplace. For example, they are starting to acknowledge the fact that customers need to have positive experiences across all touch points not just relating to the point of purchase.

Therefore, many industries are adopting roles and titles such as chief experience officer. Emphasis will also be placed onemployee's well-beingin the coming years, and so, positions such as a "Chief Happiness Officer" and a "Chief People Officer" are going to be prevalent. Attracting young talent will be the cornerstone of many organizations, and future job titles will need to be more intriguing.

3. TAKE THE LEAD BY EMBRACING DIGITAL
The recruitment process can be hectic, and it may take a very long process if not done correctly. However, with ongoing innovation in recruitment methods, more and more companies are moving away from traditional to more comprehensive digital systems. According to Bayt.com's report, four out of five recruiters state that the hiring process is likely to change. Additionally, three in five respondents say that in the future, online recruitment will greatly facilitate the recruiting process.

At Bayt.com, we see this every day as more and more companies around the world use our AI-powered products like Talentera and Evalufy. It is exciting to see our products being increasingly utilized by hiring companies to manage their entire recruitment and assessment methodology. Talentera givesa full applicant tracking systems, allowing them to digitally carry out a full A-Z recruiting process. Evalufy is a comprehensive assessment tool that helps make better and faster decisions on candidates by evaluating them via video and text messages, along with AI-supported features such as emotions and tone tracking.

On top of this, data and people analytics will be one of the most common factors that companies will work with in the future. With an increased influx of data, companies will need to be able to deal with it, and analyze it efficiently as well to improve talent acquisition processes. By using a centralized recruitment system, data management and sharing can be centrally and efficiently handled. Almost all (93%) respondents agree that online job sites as well as professional platforms will be the most popular sources of recruitment in the future.

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4. EMBRACE DIVERSITY WITH OPEN ARMS
In most cases, applying a rigid and narrow filter on the type of candidates wanted does more harm than good. Diversifying talent is being seen as one of the most effective methods to build stronger, more creative, and more globally-oriented teams. Thus nowadays, companies hiring executives make it their top priorityto diversify their pool of talentwithin the workplace. In the next coming years, more and more companies will follow suit, and allow for more representation of various demographics (age groups, gender, etc.) in their teams, creating an overall diverse and healthy pipeline of talent. In order to achieve this, companies will need to constantly and rigorously track their progress using a comprehensive platform with a complete applicant tracking system. This way, employers can monitor and measure the talent segments they are able to attract, hire, and retain.

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