The future of the HR profession is being radically disrupted by the changing world of work itself and the need to respond to the candidate-driven market. That's why creating a candidate-driven recruitment strategy forms another pillar.
In today's world, employees' career paths may be far more peripatetic than they once were. For HR professionals, this poses challenges, such as: How do you recruit in a gig economy? How do you best focus on retention when employees tend to take a job-hopping, entrepreneurial approach to their careers?
"Careers no longer look the way they did," said Lucy Ford, Ph.D., director of managing human capital at Saint Joseph's University, who has also consulted for Comcast and Johnson & Johnson as an HR expert for decades. "[They] have shifted rapidly in the last decade as the last of the millennials have entered the workforce," she said.
"Careers are no longer strictly vertical or even singular," Ford said. "HR is now finding a need to ensure that their employees have learning opportunities that meet that individual's goals rather than following a prescribed career track."
While employers still value degrees, some are becoming more flexible on requiring them or a certain kind. That's in part due to the rapid changes in the nature of work and partly due to employees' wanting to avoid crippling student debt.
With the unemployment rate continuing to hover around historic lows, there aren't enough workers with the right skills to fill all of the jobs available. Todd WeneckVP, Modis
"With the unemployment rate continuing to hover around historic lows, there aren't enough workers with the right skills to fill all of the jobs available. This is pushing companies to loosen their requirements during the hiring process," said Todd Weneck, VP at Modis, an IT and engineering staffing agency. "For example, employers view online degrees more positively than they did 10 years ago. Some companies are putting less emphasis on education altogether and are more concerned with a job candidate's previous experience or potential to be trained."
"In fact, the term new collar is gaining momentum, a categorization for skilled jobs with the opportunity for growth that don't require a formal degree," Weneck said. He believes that many large employers are supportive of the new-collar concept and are partnering with nonprofits to create training programs for these in-demand workers.
Indeed, the changing nature of work is reshaping much about the HR profession.
Ford pointed to the disruption of the gig economy and the greater incorporation of technology into even factory jobs. He said that even many factory workers must have computer skills to operate the robots.
"There are technologies in use today that we perhaps could barely imagine 10 years ago," Ford said. "Have you interacted with artificial intelligence when enquiring about an open job? You may not even be aware that you have."