What happened
Korn Ferry has found that talent work inside organizations is set to consolidate, as reported by HRD Canada. Nearly seven in 10 leaders expect hiring, learning and workforce planning to come together as one function.
As that happens, new roles are appearing. One example named in the report is head of skills, a position that sits across recruiting, development and planning rather than inside any one of them.
The report ties the shift to changing skills needs. The detail behind the figure, including who was surveyed, which industries are furthest along and how fast the change is expected to happen, is not yet available to us, so we are not going to guess at it.
Why it matters if you are hiring
If hiring, learning and planning sit under one leader, the question changes from "who do we hire for this opening" to "which skills do we need, and do we buy them or build them". That affects how you write requisitions, who signs off on them and what you measure.
For Canadian employers, a few practical effects follow:
- Job descriptions will lean more on skills and less on titles. Expect to be asked what the work needs done, not only what the last person held.
- Internal moves and external hires will be weighed against each other more often. Recruiters will need to work closely with whoever runs training.
- New hybrid roles, such as a head of skills or a workforce planning lead, are hard to fill because few people have done all three jobs. Candidates with a mix of recruiting, HR analytics and learning experience will be in short supply.
- Smaller employers will feel this too. In a company of 150 people, one HR generalist may already be doing all three. Naming the work clearly helps you hire for it.
The report does not say how quickly this will happen, so treat it as a direction, not a deadline.
One thing to do this week
List your open and expected roles for the next 12 months. Beside each, write the three or four skills it truly requires, and mark whether you would hire, train or redeploy for each one. Share the sheet with whoever owns hiring and whoever owns training, and see where they disagree.
How Traverse can help
Traverse has placed operations, finance, sales and other professionals with employers across Canada since 1997, and we can help you define and fill roles that cut across recruiting, HR and workforce planning.