AS local small and medium businesses (SMBs) embrace digitization, they are now looking to hire professionals with technology-related skills, a study reveals.
LinkedIn has found these attributes have the highest year-on-year increase among SMBs, indicating ongoing initiatives to enhance their products, services and operations.
The fastest-growing skills are graphic design, social media, spreadsheet, user experience design, e-mail management, virtual assistant, React Native, back-end Web development, data visualization, and transcription.
To help realize their goals, SMBs are hiring Gen Y, also known as millennials, that make up 77 percent of their employees; Gen Z, who have recently finished tertiary education and are entering the real world with their first jobs, at 4 percent; Gen X, 16 percent; and baby boomers, 3 percent.
New employees that SMBs want to absorb should have specific skills and qualities that would help create, or maintain, an efficient, professional and productive workplace. But the problem is they have a difficulty with lean teams and budgets, thus challenging them to recruit young and digitally savvy professionals who have access to diverse information and career options.
“While today’s young professionals have a variety of options when looking for a job, we have found that they are drawn to opportunities that align with their purpose and enable them to develop themselves,” said Olivier Legrand, managing director, Asia-Pacific, LinkedIn.
“Small and medium business owners interested in attracting them to be part of their teams can benefit from being open about their own aspirations, cultivating authentic connections, and sharing growth opportunities available to employees,” he added.
LinkedIn recommends that SMBs looking to build relationships with talent needed for their growth should consider both the hard and soft skills required for their business. The company, likewise, suggests that they ought to showcase and celebrate their own culture and purpose.
SMB employees in the Philippines follow 34 percent more company LinkedIn Pages compared to those working in large enterprises. Employers must leverage on this by publishing job openings, posts, photos, videos and articles about what it is like to work in their company, according to LinkedIn.
It added that they can also explore LinkedIn’s new Open for Business feature that enables business owners to highlight their services on their page, making it easier for future employees or customers to find them.
Offering learning and development opportunities to their future recruits should also be considered. Filipino SMBs are interested in developing themselves by taking online classes on LinkedIn Learning, with courses tagged “Personal Development” topping their interest. They need to incorporate learning and development programs for teammates through quick online courses that can be taken individually or as a group.
“Finding the right talent is one of the most important decisions SMBs can make in their journeys. While being more deliberate about hiring can take more time and effort, it can save them a lot of issues down the line, and open up more opportunities for business growth,” Legrand stressed.
A huge global professional network it is, LinkedIn has over 645 million members, including 7 million from the Philippines.