Struggling to fill customer service roles? Study offers tips on how to proceed

As the labor shortage rages on, many companies are looking for creative ways to fill job vacancies. One option: changing job postings to accommodate potential hires’ skill sets. According to the 2022 Global In-Demand Skills Report by Randstad Sourceright, a recruiting and talent management company, some skill clusters are more in demand than others. If companies are willing to recruit candidates with adjacent experience, or are willing to offer better perks to individuals with in-demand skills, they may be able to improve their hiring stats, the report suggests.

Pulling data from companies in a wide range of industries and countries, the analysis shows customer service was one of the most in-demand skill sets on the market. In order to find qualified candidates for these roles, the report suggests looking for workers with experience in similar positions, like sales, whose background may allow them to excel in customer service.

Likewise, there was a high demand for workers in data-heavy roles in 2022, including cloud engineers, data scientists, and app developers. These workers are particularly likely to be successfully recruited by tech companies, and the report suggests that offering more perks to tech workers could help non-tech companies with recruiting.

But that doesn’t mean soft skills aren’t important, too. To many hiring managers, they’re as essential as technical know-how, with communication and teamwork, critical thinking, planning, research, and creativity being particularly desired, according to the report.

“Business and talent leaders will need to consider how they are cultivating workplaces that attract and retain individuals with these highly coveted soft skills — whether that’s offering greater autonomy and flexibility, using technology to facilitate greater collaboration, or transforming office spaces to think tanks,” the report says. “They will also need to understand how these shifts, and the demands that they put on their people, impact stress levels and wellbeing to ensure ongoing engagement, personal wellbeing and, ultimately, retention.”

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It adds, “Skills gaps and scarcity will always be a challenge for most organizations, but equipped with the right insights and a well-crafted talent strategy, you can build a resilient and adaptive workforce for any contingency in the year ahead.”