Knowing where to find best-in-class talent - especially from untapped and emerging markets for in-demand roles - will be the difference between organizational stagnation and success in 2023 and beyond.
The benefits of hiring international employees or foreign workers are obvious - improved access to a much wider talent pool, greater diversity and inclusion, fresh perspectives from different cultures, the chance to learn from new experiences, and more.
In the era of Big Data, it's never been easier to predict where talent markets are developing. And, in theory, it's easier than ever to connect with prospective candidates and future star employees from new, emerging talent pools.
But finding talent is one thing. Isolating, sourcing and engaging that in-demand talent - especially in sector-critical niches - is another thing entirely.
The challenge is two-fold:
- Knowing how to identify areas of niche talent concentration and where emerging talent pools (or what we like to call the 'global talent hub') are developing;
- Once identified, knowing how to hyper-focus your talent search down to one area or city in the search for your star hire, based on actionable talent intel.
To that end, we’ve identified 5 key in-demand skills sectors and where to find the talent to fill those roles
IT and Tech
A recent study from Hays Recruitment found that 95% of employers surveyed have encountered a tech skills shortage in the past year. With this lack of supply, but imminent demand, the need to expand search parameters has never been more necessary than ever. This means searching for in-demand tech talent from an international and diverse pool of qualified candidates.
According to Coursera's Global Skills Report, prominent emerging tech talent markets include places such as Columbia, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan, with already established but yet-to-be realized competitive tech talent pools in Spain, South Korea, Austria, Israel, and Brazil.
There has also been a huge increase in near-shoring of Software Engineering and other in-demand tech roles, including Cloud Computing, App building and Data Analysis, from the USA and Western Europe to untapped talent pool countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Poland and Ukraine, leading these countries to be another great source of quality talent.
Hardware engineers
“The global computer-aided engineering (CAE) market is expected to grow by 2.4x during the forecast period (2019-2029)”. According to Global News Wire, both the primary beneficiaries and providers of talent and skills of this Hardware Engineering boom will be Europe, specifically from places like Germany, Romania and the wider Eastern European region.
However, over the next few years, there will be a considerable pivot to talent from South Asia and Oceana (echoing the flow of hardware manufacturing to these heavily populated and fast-growing areas), meaning there will be an increased focus on talent markets in India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and more.
Healthcare
Some of the world's most prestigious healthcare employers - such as the NHS in the UK, who have sourced 16% of their workforce from abroad, and the United States healthcare workforce, who source 18% of their workers from abroad - rely on emerging and fast-growing talent markets to keep their massive operations running.
However, there are considerable differences in talent access across specialties and niche Healthcare careers. For example, Germany, France and India rate the highest in the development of Doctors. While the highest number of Nurse registeree's on the UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council over the past 4 years have been from Nigeria (3010 joiners in 2022, alone).
Construction
Migrant construction talent pools are one of the foundations of this critical employment and infrastructure sector. In fact, 26% of all global migrant workers are in Industrial employment - construction, building and site work - meaning that international talent is essential to providing local construction businesses with the skills and people necessary for growth.
For the most part, these skilled migrant workers can be sourced from Malaysia, Nepal, some countries in the Gulf, Bangladesh, and some African countries such as Kenya and Uganda. However, Poland, Mexico and the Philippines are also proving to be a major source of migrant construction workers.
Hospitality
As the most globalized of all industries, hospitality and tourism benefits from fresh talent and customer service-focused stars from around the world. In fact, in the UK, 30% of hospitality workers are born abroad.
With large investments into European hospitality schools, the rise of international hospitality talent is expected to receive exponential growth. France and Switzerland are just two examples of countries who have heavily invested into their hospitality schools; as well as recently independent UK countries such as England, who are now seeing a surge in post pandemic applicants for hospitality and culinary arts courses.
As such, when it comes to searching for global talent hubs in the hospitality sector, Europe and the UK currently reign supreme.
Hyper-Focus Your Talent Attraction Strategy
As the world economy becomes more global, countries are starting to become known for developing certain skill sets.
Once you identify an area to focus on, consider investing in talent intelligence for that region. This includes finding the best job boards, media outlets, universities and industry networks in the target area to help you connect with the right talent for your organization. You may also want to understand their salary, corporate benefit, and professional development desires to ensure that you’re able to attract and retain your ideal candidate.
With the right talent intel in hand, and by taking key steps such as these, businesses can successfully tap into the benefits of foreign workers while attracting the best people for your organization.
If you are ready to reap the benefits of international employees, contact Localyze today. Our platform and experienced advisers are dedicated to easing the immigration burden with hiring foreign workers and helping you stay up-to-date on their visa and relocation processes.
Together, we can help you unlock the power of global talent hubs to build a better future for your business.
