The last year was a wild ride for employers and employees. What started with The Great Resignation led to soaring inflation and fears of a recession. The traditional workplace is gone. Attracting and retaining talent remains a priority, but the market has changed.
In 2022, the pendulum swung from an employee-driven market during The Great Resignation to an employer-driven market in the face of economic uncertainty.
What is in store for 2023? We’re going to share seven predictions that will likely impact digital businesses in the months ahead.
Prediction: Artificial Intelligence Only Goes So Far
In 2022, big tech laid off significant amounts of its workforce. At Amazon and Facebook, many recruiters were offered buyouts or let go.
It was recently revealed that Amazon created AI technology to support talent acquisition efforts, “that aims to predict which job applicants across certain corporate and warehouse jobs will be successful in a given role and fast-track them to an interview — without a human recruiter’s involvement.”
At its core, recruitment is about people. AI can match experience that easily translates to a job description. Sometimes an applicant’s background may not be an exact fit, but their soft skills make them a tremendous candidate. Sourcing talent is an art and science.
We predict AI will learn the science aspect but miss out on the artful piece of identifying strong talent. Cultural fit, ambition, passion, communication, and other soft skills must be assessed by a human.
Prediction: AI Aids Diverse Hiring
The demand for diverse candidates and talent remains so strong that some AI recruitment tools specialize in it.
Rolebot describes itself as an AI job board for passive and diverse talent, “Rolebot ensures at least 33 percent of candidates surfaced to customers are diverse across every role.”
For companies that prioritize diverse hiring, AI will present a new way to identify these candidates. It’s important for organizations to remember that AI is not a fail-safe solution for diversifying teams.
Resumes and LinkedIn profiles do not necessarily give a candidate’s complete picture.
Prediction: SEO Hiring Increase
Marketing budgets will not escape scrutiny as organizations asses 2023 spend. At many organizations, marketers will most likely need to do more with fewer dollars. Advertising spend may be one of the biggest expenditures that face cost cutting.
Search Engine Optimization, compared to advertising, is significantly less expensive, and an area where marketers will look to make an impact. In a survey of more than 8000 marketers, 68% said they will increase SEO spend 2023.
Hiring SEO talent, whether through an agency, freelancers, or full-time employees, will rise because the investment is less costly than advertising, and can drive significant revenue.
Prediction: Booming Streaming Analytics Needs Talent
In 2021, the global streaming market was estimated at $375 billion and its growth trajectory continues to rise. This digital transformation means new jobs and new opportunities for professional services.
Enter streaming analytics, “According to a study by Verified Market Research, streaming analytics will see rapid growth within the next few years (Verified Market Research, 2021). The industry, which was worth $9.7 billion in 2020, is expected to reach around $99 billion by 2028.”
These business intelligence companies will need tech, sales, and marketing talent to build the tools and sell them.
Prediction: Healthcare Trends Digital
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that hiring in healthcare is on the rise.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, this is one of the fastest-growing industries. “The healthcare and social assistance sector is projected to add about 2.6 million jobs from 2021 to 2031, the most of any sector… Individual and family services industry is projected to add the most employment over the projections period–approximately 850,000 jobs.”
We predict HealthTech will grow alongside healthcare and social assistance, in order to deliver services, increase productivity and efficiencies in these booming industries. These organizations will need tech experts to build products, and sales and marketing executives to bring those products to market.
Prediction: Tech Teams Up With AI
For many, AI causes some anxiety. Will new technology replace my job? For technologists, artificial technology hits extremely close to home.
According to Forrester, “TuringBots will write 10% of worldwide code and tests. The age of the AI-empowered developer is here. It’s not low-code. It’s not no-code. TuringBots are AIs that write code. Reinforcement learning and large language models (LLM) have accelerated the development, accuracy, and deployment of products that can automatically generate clean code from requirements expressed in natural language.”
Executives with AI experience will appeal to hiring teams – especially those that can effectively communicate topics to leaders. From Forrester, “One in four tech execs will report to their board on AI governance. AI is now an enterprise essential, and as such, AI governance will join cybersecurity and compliance as a board-level topic. Forrester’s data shows that 46% of data and analytics business and technology decision-makers seek out partners to implement AI critical to the business.”
Understanding, implementing, and communicating AI usage is soon to become a critical role for technical leadership. Companies should begin looking for those hard skills as they hire tech executives.
Prediction: Soft Skills Still Shine
In a world that’s increasingly reliant on technology, soft skills have become an even more critical component of success in any business setting. This is especially true when looking forward to 2023 and beyond – honing essential talents such as communication, problem-solving, creative thinking, empathy, and leadership will serve executives well now and further into the future.
In an analysis of 5000 job descriptions for the C-Suite, the Harvard Business Review found companies are seeking executives with strong social skills. Empathetic, open, and authentic leadership is especially important when a company faces unsteady economic waters.
Talent In The New Year
As the job market continues to change, so too must the way we think about recruiting and hiring. These seven predictions for 2023 should give you a starting point for rethinking your talent strategy. At Talentfoot, we are always keeping an eye on the latest industry trends so that we can help you attract top talent.
Are you hiring in 2023? Let us know how we can help you find the best candidates for your open positions.
