SKILLS
The skills hardest to find in the global jobs market
An ambitious and tactically minded executive writing an application letter to secure a position with a global company could do worse than write this: “I am an experienced professional with extensive technical and business expertise. I have valuable global experience, strong leadership capabilities, am innovative, creative and able to manage risk. I have the courage to challenge and am able to adjust quickly to internal and external change.”
It is people with these qualities that the 1,150 bosses from around the world, polled in the annual CEO survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers , are collectively finding it most difficult to recruit, and in that order.
%ADVERT%
The skills hardest to find point to a potential increase in international demand for senior executives from mature economies such as the UK where challenging others, innovation and leadership are established traits among top personnel.
Key results
Combined technical and business expertise are hardest to find globally with 67% of CEOs reporting shortages.
Some 56% report difficulties in finding people with the courage to challenge decisions, while those with the ability to collaborate, or with language skills, are easier to find.
Creativity and innovation, combined technical and business experience, the ability to change and the courage to challenge are most sought after in Asia Pacific.
Latin American CEOs hanker after employees with global experience.
The ability to manage and anticipate risk is most sought by bosses in Central and Eastern Europe.
Respondents from the UK are more likely to agree that competitive advantage is likely to come from improved customer service (84%), the ability to change (83%) and access and retention of key talent (81%).
Almost nine in ten CEOs globally say that that people management issues are one of their top priorities and two-thirds believe their time is best spent on the people agenda.
Sadly, only 43% believe their HR department is equipped to deal with changes needed to compete for talent – this is as low as 34% in the UK.
Bosses worldwide cited lack of middle management motivation or engagement and lack of senior change management experience as critical barriers to change.
A final word
“Many of the world’s rapidly emerging markets are coming out of a manufacturing based model into one where services are more prominent. This will mean a higher demand for management skills common in the mature economies of Western Europe and the US. Executives here will have multiple employment options internationally and their current employers may find they have to work increasingly hard to retain them.
Right now, this situation is being compounded by volatile stock market performance which will lead some executives in larger UK organisations to question the value of their reward packages if they are substantially dependent share price performance.” - Michael Rendell, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Want to know more?
Title: Global CEO Survey, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Availability: To view full results of PwC’s 11th annual Global CEO survey go to www.pwc.co.uk/mindoftheceo.
The member firms of the PricewaterhouseCoopers network provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to “build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders”. More than 146,000 people in 150 countries across its network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice. To find out more go to www.pwc.com/uk.