No need to throw your hands up because we can help
There is undoubtedly an increase in the demand for data
scientists so we thought we would take a look at the factors that are affecting
the demand and also those factors impacting upon the lack of suitable
candidates.
Not only have companies been using data science to handle
their own data pre-Covid-19, but during the pandemic they have scaled up their
data usage to measure the effects of the pandemic on their businesses in order
to find solutions to newly-emerging problems.
The explosion within the sheer amount and complexity of data
that each and every person produces thanks to our interactions with technology,
has led to an urgent need for companies to mine, clean, sort and model that
information in order to make sense of it in relation to their business.
The actual global value of data science has increased from
around $4bn in 2019 to $64bn in 2021, which goes some way to demonstrate why
everyone is requiring data scientists, and that is not counting other
disciplines such as data analytics.
Before the pandemic, the role of data scientist was still
very much in demand, being considered cool and displaying huge growth. The
reason behind the heralding of data science to such a crazy height back then is
possibly down to the fact that there is much overlap and misunderstanding
between data science and the other newly emerging roles. When a hiring manager
does not understand the differences between these seemingly similar roles, the
job specs and hiring can draw in candidates who are then given more
responsibilities, some of which are outside their skillset. A lot of the time
the candidates just get on with it, tired of having to explain themselves and
their role to management who are not listening. This can ultimately lead to
projects falling behind because certain roles are stretching the data
scientists or because there is just too much work to do in the allotted time.
If ‘data scientist’ is considered a one-size-fits-all title, then of course
when polls are done, it will seem that the only jobs in that realm are those of
‘data scientist’.
With the ramping up of data projects, the market for data
scientist roles has bounced back from a lull during 2020 due to the pandemic
and lockdowns affecting the economy. There was, even then, a demand for data
scientists, even if the job boards didn’t reflect this, and there is even more
of a demand now for those skilled individuals.
And there is no sign of a slowdown. Data is expected to be
worth $103bn by 2027 and that is without taking into account those sectors
connected to it either, which could lead to an increase of jobs of over 15
percent within the USA alone, probably mirrored globally.
With advances in technology, human beings’ data creation
becomes more complex and increases constantly. As it improves, more businesses
use and harness its uses. Something like the Cloud, which did not exist in its
present form a decade ago, is becoming integral in how companies handle their
computing, storage and data, and with this comes the need for more workers who
can handle and control it.
A major factor in an even more increased demand is that
firms are seeking to improve efficiency and use their data to grow their
business beyond their traditional model. There has been an increase of data
science courses in order to fill the skills gap, which is still a huge problem
for companies filling the vacant or newly created roles.
Right now, the correctly qualified and experienced candidates are hard to find because they are already in roles where they are using those skills already. Only dedicated experts and partners know where to find them. It will take a while before the shortages can be corrected and until then, you either need to know where to look or you need to know someone who does.
Curious about how Zenshin Talent can help your organisation? Contact us today for a no-strings conversation about your needs and our experience.
I spy with my little eye, we can’t recruit but why?
You will have heard about the fact that there are hundreds
of thousands of job vacancies out there on the market. What you may not be so
aware of are the difficulties in recruiting.
Post-lockdown positivity has led to a boom for jobseekers
yet that boom may turn into a bust, as employers are finding it more and more
difficult to track down candidates for the vacant job roles.
The UK and Ireland are currently experiencing the strongest
growth in Europe.
After redundancies and job freezes last year, companies are
looking to bounce back. Yet, of the 61% of companies that were recruiting in
the 3rd quarter, 77% of them noted difficulties. There is enhanced
customer demand but on the flipside, there are not enough employees to fill
these roles.
The British Chamber of Commerce noticed that the number of
businesses struggling with recruitment has been rising. The impact is huge and
there is real fear that it will continue to rise for some time. The
ManpowerGroup also noted an increase of 13% in hiring intention.
Half of those who took part in the BCC survey revealed that
they had difficulty hiring skilled tech staff. We have highlighted this
previously.
The service industry and manufacturing were hit hardest and
both are on, or very near to, the highest number since the data started to be
recorded. Consumer services are the least affected. Unskilled roles are
affected too and it is this all-encompassing recruitment problem that makes it
so unique, as it is touching every sector.
Companies experiencing this are shocked and frightened by
this, not having experienced anything similar in recent memory. Full-time posts
are most affected and within this fact, lies the most damaging trend. A lot of
companies are raising the pay they offer but it makes no difference.
These shortages are having a serious impact on the economic
recovery. The longer a vacancy goes unfilled, the less a firm can operate as it
needs to.
Investment can help but things like apprenticeships take
time to come to fruition, time that these companies don’t have. Some have
criticised the government for this, and while they can certainly take some of
the blame, they also can’t fix it quickly, with any initiatives they may put
forth also taking time to come to fruition.
Rising rents, rising energy prices and pressure to increase
wages that have stagnated, are all contributing to problems for companies. If
the pressure continues unabated, those companies may fold in the near future.
So what is behind this. The main theory is that Brexit,
which made migrant workers return to their home countries, or at least to go to
another EU country where they still had a right to work, has contributed
significantly. This has also led to a skills shortage. The UK skills shortage
is also the largest in Europe.
Additionally, Covid-19 has had a two-fold impact, with an
estimated 160,000 deaths, many of whom were of working age, and the self-isolation/pingdemic
disrupting employees’ ability to go to work or commit to work. This has led
businesses to increase wages but to no avail. Haulage firms have increased
their pay by 20%, for example, just to get things moving.
Those businesses who had prepared for a shortage when Brexit came in have then been blindsided by the Covid-19-related perfect storm. It is going to be a tough winter and fingers crossed that visa problems can be solved, there are no more lockdowns, firms continue to employ specialist recruitment partners and we all have a very merry Christmas.
Curious about how Zenshin Talent can help your organisation? Contact us today for a no-strings conversation about your needs and our experience.
When your best employees are packing their boxes, you need to take action
One of the most interesting trends affecting recruitment recently has been the large wave of resignations so we thought it would be a good time to highlight and discuss this trend.
With resignation rates spiking, and the trend not looking to
slow down any time soon, companies are having to deal with recruiting problems
from multiple sources. Not only are there resignations, but candidates are
harder to find, seeing as the power balance has swung back to the candidates
and away from the employers, a fact a lot of businesses are still failing to
get to grips with.
Voluntary turnover, especially in industries like tech,
means replacements must be sourced from somewhere, somehow. This could indicate
that they are being poached but in a field such as Cloud computing, experts are
thin on the ground and can only be sourced by recruiters who know what they are
looking for.
Plans for returning to the office, which are always
up-in-the-air, have not yet happened fully to the degree that some businesses
need. Working from home seems to be returning and looks like it will not go
away any time soon. Burn out was a key reason for high turnover in the past 18
months but now it is about choice.
The brightest and best are leaving companies at a staggering
rate, leaving those companies desperately scrabbling for replacements that
match the calibre of ones who have just exited, and this impacts profits. Yes,
there is always going to be turnover, but as turnover accelerates, instability
within an organisation ensues.
A workforce empowered can make demands in a market that is bouncing back, so those who do not agree with the company’s ethos and no longer feel, or never have felt, valued will vote with their feet and walk. As we have said before, millennials and gen Z are looking for respect, meaningful work and good communication. Job satisfaction matters but why is it so difficult for businesses to comprehend this fact?
Research shows that trust is at the forefront of the new
employee experience and if an organisation cannot prove itself trustworthy,
then seasoned employees will leave and new ones will not join. WFH has
exacerbated an already strained relationship, with communication breaking down
and the company’s belief system being tested and found wanting on some
occasions.
Employees who have recently considered their own mortality
recently have now decided that life is too short to work in a job that makes
them miserable. Management who demand unrealistic workloads from their workers
or who undermine their employees’ authority on issues of which they are the
expert can grind away good will. To avoid this, managers must empathise with
their employees.
The expectation that, if an employee is working from home,
that they are available whenever they are needed, which leads to a workday with
no clearly-defined end-point, will inevitably lead to burn out and resentment.
With no workmates around to chat to and vent about the problem, it festers.
Productivity is also under the microscope these days, as the
past definition and measurements do not hold muster with the newer generations.
What is generally lacking is a result based culture with clearly defined
outcome measurements and a standardised assessment framework, rather than a
haphazard system based around how many hours have been worked.
By appreciating the old and new pressures their employees were under, managers can stem the flow of workers exiting the business and by building career development into each role, they can give some hope to those who are under their care.
Curious about how Zenshin Talent can help your organisation? Contact us today for a no-strings conversation about your needs and our experience.
Everyone is talking about DevOps. In the 2020 emerging roles
report compiled by Linkedin, DevOp engineer featured prominently which has
further boosted its reputation.
DevOps combines development and operations which are
commonly operated separately to create a new role. Originally a cultural thing,
it became a new set of skills that is now in demand. With DevOps within an
organisation, coding speeds up exponentially as well as offering increased
scalability.
A DevOps team is responsible for operations and development,
creating a bridge between IT and development departments, to update the
company’s own software or product, guaranteeing smooth sailing.
A DevOps engineer is a one-size-fits-all title that applies
to anyone who is working with development and operations, so they don’t
necessarily need to be an engineer. Collaborating across departments, the
DevOps engineer works alongside colleagues to make sure that releases of new
code happen in a timely fashion.
In order for Data Scientists and those working within
Machine Learning to do what they do, thye require DevOps engineers to make the
coding happen. DevOps build infrastructure for the company’s IT needs. They
also test and monitor to ensure that everything runs well. Systems always need
updating and DevOps develop what is needed.
A lot of what DevOps do would traditionally be considered by
businesses to be tasks for the IT department, but as knowledge grows and new
roles arrive to fit the need, that mindset is changing. This frees up IT to do
what they do best.
DevOps may maintain systems but they must be adept problem
solvers. With so much data flowing around companies, DevOps are tasked with
creating automation where it is necessary, to get that data flowing faster and
making life easier for Data Scientists. The developer will always know their
code better than anyone else.
With growth within DevOps engineers, progress in the tools
they use is speeding up, equipping them to develop full solutions for their
companies, which includes Cloud and security. The KPIs needed, such as
deployment time, are more understood within the business than they were
previously.
DevOps exists to make the processes quicker and the flow of
information shorter. Attempting to bring that into a top-down structure defeats
the point. Having management who are in charge of the team but have little or
no knowledge of the discipline slows down what needs to speed up. If in doubt, contact a specialist recruitment
partner who can advise on team structures.
DevOps engineers are needed but a company cannot scrimp on
the amount needed. Understandably, with a new role, managers are a little
confused. What we are encountering is ratios within companies where developers
and scientists severely outnumber DevOps engineers. If you desire speed,
weighing down DevOps engineers with more work than they can handle is not the
way to go about it.
With the Cloud emerging during the Covid-19 pandemic as an
essential for businesses dealing with large amounts of data, the bonus for
DevOps is the ability to cooperate and delegate so much more easily.
As with everything new, the mindset of DevOps must become part of the company’s culture. Success must not be viewed purely through traditional eyes, but in time, we have no doubt that DevOps will become another solid and intuitive part of every business dealing with data.
Curious about how Zenshin Talent can help your organisation? Contact us today for a no-strings conversation about your needs and our experience.
