What Are the Hottest Employment Trends of 2019?
We are over a month into 2019 and this year’s hottest employment trends are starting to take shape. We discussed the impact of new HR laws, recent OSHA updates, and new technology in the workplace this year. Now we’ll look at other high-level areas of significance for companies looking to hire employees and candidates seeking new jobs.
One count done by Glassdoor shows that 43 percent of job openings at tech companies are not related to developing technology. Let’s look at some traditional roles that growing companies need to fill to build out their operations as they scale up.
Account Executives – work on the front-line role in business development. In the context of a tech company, they are usually responsible for managing the interests of clients who purchase access or services from a brand. In many companies, account executives close leads and marketing prospects, turning them into clients and customers that generate revenue. After onboarding, someone in an account manager role might then take over, coordinating account activities, campaigns, and farming up business. Both roles are closely related to that of a sales representative, a difference in nomenclature applied when a company sells products rather than services.
Operations Managers - orchestrate the supporting functions of a company. Depending on the scope of the company, an operations manager role can imply several different duties. In logistics, they might manage a warehouse for an e-commerce company. In construction, operations managers are typically engineers with technical backgrounds, and well-versed in Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). A technical operations manager works with IT in a systems engineering role and is tasked with keeping technology infrastructure up and running for development teams.
Product Marketing Managers - communicate the value proposition of new products and services to the marketplace. Their counterpart product managers drive the ‘how’ and ‘what’ questions of production; product marketing managers deal with the ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions asked by the target market. A product marketing role facilitates complementary two-way communication between people that buy the product or service and the company developers building out solutions. Product marketing owns the strategy and positioning of the products and services the company designs.
As Boomers leave, companies will have a greater expectation to offer flexibility in the workplace. This is something companies have done to appeal to Millennials, who are now represent the largest generation in the workforce. For example, a study by Bentley University found that 77 percent of Millennials believe that a flexible schedule makes them more productive.
In terms of technology, companies should be looking at implementing a smart office to attract and retain millennials. Studies show that if office tech does not accommodate a BYOD culture and remote work, Millennials cite that as a deal breaker.
As the workforce gets younger, it’s important that companies should not stop catering to the needs of the aging workforce altogether. For younger Boomers born in 1960 or later, Social Security benefits aren’t available until age 67. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the employment-population ratio for workers ages 65 and older is up six percentage points over the course of a decade, measuring 18% in 2015 and 2016.
Machine learning stands to make hiring more efficient by leveraging data. Career sites are getting smarter in how applicants are paired with jobs. Algorithms seek to democratize the playing field for candidates by focusing on skills-based data rather than the prestige of a university, or of a previous employer, or more insidiously, race or gender.
The search process as it is now, which for the most part relies on keywords entered by candidates, works well for employers. Machine learning improves this process for candidates. By cross-referencing search history with data stored in a candidate’s profile, algorithms are able to suggest jobs better catered to their skill set and filtering the most relevant results to the top of the list.
There is good news for job seekers that feel underpaid in their current role. Artificial intelligence hopes to strike a fair balance by analyzing and sourcing salary data tied to skills, experience, and location. This helps candidates better understand their market value, and gives companies a clearer route for making a suitable offer for salary.
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