PeopleScout is featured in HRO Today Global’s Winter 2017 issue in the article China: Skill Shortage Meets Talent Surplus. The article, featuring Nicole Cook, managing director of Australia and New Zealand for PeopleScout in APAC, focuses on keys to recruiting success in the APAC region, including retention strategies and hiring for future potential.
A critical challenge to recruitment in APAC is shifting demographics, especially in East Asia. According to the article, “many developed countries including Japan and South Korea continue to experience declining birth rates, which means that a population crash and depleted workforce is most likely on the horizon.”
“The populations of East Asia and Pacific are aging faster and on a larger scale than any other region in history, which could lead to a steep drop in the size of its workforce,” said Nicole Cook. “The aging population is primarily a concern for the more developed economies. For example, Japan’s population shrunk by almost one million people in the five years ending in 2015, and China’s working-age population shrank by 4.87 million people last year.”
This means that the skills shortages and talent deficit in APAC will worsen in the future. Employers must be proactive in their response to these trends.
“With 26.2 percent passive sourcing across all of our APAC clients in all industries — from retail to construction — we are doing a lot of direct sourcing to tackle this challenge head on,” Nicole Cook says. She also recommends companies turn to RPOs for help in attracting new talent and developing solid retention strategies and suggests direct sourcing whenever possible and leveraging social media in recruiting.
Read the full article at hrotoday.com.
