META TREND 1 – THE SHARING ECONOMY HAS TAKEN OVER

What is the sharing/gig economy?

“The gig economy, also known as the sharing economy or on-demand economy, refers to

the trend of companies relying on independent contractors or freelancers rather than full-

time employees. This model has grown significantly in recent years, with many people

participating in the gig economy either as a primary or secondary source of income.”

OpenAI/ ChatGPT -In developed, emerging and frontier economies alike, and across every

job sector and all skill profiles – freelancers, contractors, and gig workers are projected to

increase 3X to an estimated 80% of the global workforce by 2030.

The traditional way of working (for the individual) and resourcing (for the company), is dying

fast, and professionals and companies are moving quickly to make sure they are fully

prepared. Genuine global communities will shape the delivery of service. Those that get this

correct, will be your market leaders, in every industry, in every country - 100% guaranteed.

We are increasingly living in a world where ownership enables saving, by way of sharing.

Almost anything can be monetised these days, from our empty homes, unused cars, shared

workspaces, and even job sharing - we are increasingly relying on monetising usage, over

selling ownership.

The very foundation of the gig economy is sharing resources to drive out unnecessary costs

and avoiding paying for downtime or low-usage periods. The traditional merry-go-round of

hiring on an uptick, and redundancies in a downturn, year after year, has worn thin. The

power is now in the hands of those with the skills and companies are having to come to

terms with the fact that they don’t hold all the aces.

The “Great Resignation” was actually real - the people have shown, in many cases, that

enough is enough. The knowledge economy is prioritising resource efficiency, reduced

climate change, and workplace streamlining which is driving major shifts away from large

workforces.

This is done to achieve the advantage of cost, quality, and flexibility with an estimated 70%

of employers finding efficiency and profitability benefits according to a report by mckinsey.

The rate at which some jobs and industries are threatened by redundancy while others are

being newly created and/or are seeing rapid expansion poses a threat to the ability to

anticipate and prepare for the skills needed in the coming weeks, months and years. For HR

departments, talent pipelining is becoming increasingly difficult, and it’s only going to get

harder. Predicting the skills and experience that will be needed in your organisation and

internal training programme design could be a “thumb-sucking” exercise that could deeply

harm your business.

By 2030, GRm predicts that more than a third of the desired core skill sets of most

occupations will comprise skills that are not yet considered crucial to the job today. Not to be

underestimated, or ignored, is that the future will necessitate greater collaboration between

all parties, as opposed to competition for talent, to ensure high-priority talent needs are met

when and where you need them. And this immediately available, skilled and verified

workforce that firms use to meet their needs, will be a global workforce.

The sharing economy will radically transform the way work is organized and regulated in

certain job families. As scarce skills become increasingly difficult and extremely expensive to

secure, crowd-sourcing skills offer a solution by pooling resources and reducing redundancy.

So what are some of the things driving the global gig economy?

• Skills are scarce. As skills become increasingly technical sharing scarce skills can reduce

the high cost of rare and hard-to-find skills.

• Training is now in the hands of the individual. Rather than traditionally relying on your

employer to pay for training, individuals are now very used to taking it upon themselves to

complete short courses, through youTube, Udemy, Getsmarter and many other excellent

platforms. According to Devskiller, the lack of skilled and high-quality candidates is the

biggest challenge in hiring for 67% of recruiters. And people are taking control of their own skills destiny.

• Increased connectivity means that even within the third world, you don’t need a job, you

just need an internet connection. employment and work are becoming increasingly

distinctive constructs with different benefits and drawbacks. Telecommuting, co-working

spaces, virtual teams, and online talent platforms, amongst a host of other automation and

technological advancements, are allowing work to transcend the physical boundaries of the

‘office’ and ‘workplace’.

• Everyone benefits. The gig economy is built upon a mutually beneficial arrangement

offering immediate short-term and on- demand talent for business and work opportunities for

talent.

• Flexibility is pertinent. new generations are demanding a redefining of the relationship

between career/work and private life. According to LinkedIn Global Recruiting Trends, way

back in 2019, LinkedIn saw a 78% increase in job posts mentioning work flexibility since

2016. This has grown even further after Covid - Talented professionals are opting away from

permanent employment structures that are rigid, bureaucratic, lack any control and are

impersonal.

• Independence & control over work. The gig economy provides freedom to the worker, a

non- committal opportunity to make an extra income or as a career choice, offering talent the

freedom to choose their gigs with less oversight and move on once the defined

task is completed. Working on projects for multiple companies simultaneously can help to

grow skillsets and expose workers to more opportunities.

• Financial benefit. many gig workers can make more money while working fewer hours than

permanent employees.

• Availability, Verification and Connectivity are the keywords of future work and resourcing.

The last decade was driven by the company agenda - the next decade will be driven by the

individual/the holder of the skillset. As more people around the world take control of their

training & development and become skilled in more areas of work, and use the gig economy

to gain experience...tie this into the fact that people don’t need to be physically present in

your office - this presents a fantastic opportunity to utilise people, from all over the world -

therefore increasing the talent pool and possibly reducing your costs. The absolute

verification of one’s skills and experience (that they can actually do what they say they can

do) is a cornerstone of the gig economy’s success.

While the downsides of the non- permanent and less regulated gig economy are well

documented, it undeniably creates a sustainable workforce and workplace solution for both

organisations and job seekers, that allows maximum flexibility and can take skills and time

usage towards 100%.

most economists estimate that around 80% of the workforce will be a part of the gig

economy by 2030. Just think about that for a second.

The future of crowdsourcing talent.

What 2030+ looks like:

Technology, computing, and digital talent platforms can be utilised by firms of all sizes and

sectors using affordable software, processing power, and tools without expert knowledge.

While peer-to-peer platforms and online communication tools enable companies and

individuals to tap into

better talent and resources through crowdsourcing instead of internal in- house capabilities

and resources.

Companies or professionals that can get people who don’t want to be employed and connect

them to firms that need talent will dismantle the permanent recruitment market. Businesses

and freelancers can connect and come to agreed terms faster than the average 5-8 week

hiring cycle. Blockchain protects parties from fraudulent activity and mitigates the risks of a

distributed talent pool. Unions, regulators, and market regulations for the gig economy exist

in most jurisdictions. Partnerships and collaboration within and between sectors will become

essential to fostering wider talent pools that are global. Those who refuse to participate will

not be able to tap into shared resources

META TREND 2 – THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

The new talent space is connected, distributed and resource-efficient

As skills deficits impact businesses of all sizes, the global skills landscape offer an

opportunity for talent and firms to mutually benefit. While the protection and creation of local

employment exist in most countries and often fall into the hands of local governments, who

often fail, the increasingly technological and online shifts discussed in meta trends one and

two are expediting the rate at that talent is moving online and global. Distributed talent

strategies can be seen across nations and industries. spurred on by talent shortages,

relative cost savings, resource efficiency and accelerated need to reduce hiring lifecycles.

New technological advancements such as mobile connectivity, cheap cloud computing, user-

friendly big data and analytics tools are engendering remote working, co-working,

teleconferencing and similar tools. Organisations are expected to continue to rely on an

ever-smaller pool of core permanent talent opting rather than supplement in-house talent

shortages with external freelancers/consultants over outsourcing to established businesses.

Companies such as AIRInC are already emerging offering services and solutions to support

global talent mobility, managing international work assignments, facilitating international

payments, and labour regulations, advising on relative local pay scales and more. It is likely

that platforms will drive innovation in the space and make the global workforce easy to tap

into.The necessity for developing global talent pools. Tapping into global talent pools offers a

solution to addressing labour supply and demand disparities in different markets. Looking

across the talent side, the trend is clear - people aren’t getting employed permanently

anymore and they also don’t necessarily want to be employed, they want flexibility and

control over their work and how they structure and spend their time. People are also getting

savvier to the idea that “full-time” and “permanent” employment, does not exactly mean what

they say.

The office is dying and it’s not attractive anymore, particularly after pandemic regulations

kept millions of people at home, many working more productively. A decade ago one of the

selling points of a company might have been its office, location, amenities, parking, on-site

gym and restaurant - not anymore. Several global and national hiring freezes, pay freezes

and mass reductions over the last 10 years have discouraged professionals from joining the

large stalwart firms traditionally in high demand and offering job security are now perceived

with increasing scepticism. Countries experience varying inflows and outflows of talent within

the local market over time. Outflows and inflows of talent often do not have the same skills

compositions, resulting in a correlation between talent mobility and changing skills gaps

across countries and over time.

Over the next 10 years, first-world economies will feel the impacts of an ageing population –

most are feeling it already. The age of retirement is increasing year on year as seniors

attempt to secure adequate retirement resources. Emerging economies, with larger and

younger populations, are changing the global picture with millennials making up an

estimated 75% of the global workforce according to Deloitte. Diversity goals are also

stimulating ex-pat hiring. hiring professionals, talent advisors, and talent acquisition

platforms will need to ensure anti- discrimination, anti-modern slavery, and fair selection

processes.

Platforms like Umbiie.com that prioritise no bias, protect candidate confidentiality, promote a

global workforce and ensure fair peer-to-peer reviewed work, will likely be favoured.

Competition for these previously disadvantaged individuals is further placing pressure on

firms to improve offers, forgo restraint of trade, and extend non-financial benefits to

compensate for affordability shortfalls.

According to research, women ask for flexibility 25% more often than men in the workplace

and their increasing economic participation is changing workplace dynamics.

The future of global talent pools:

With more and more on- demand platforms like Umbiie and stiint.it is emerging to support

agile, responsive, cross-geography work models, it’s a given that the future workforce will

not only embrace it but expect it. Companies are strategically locating different job functions

and work tasks in other geographic locations to take advantage of the specific strengths of

particular local labour markets.

Both in terms of cheap outsourced mass employment as well as highly specialised jobs,

functions, or services. This results in a global redistribution of opportunities and a widening

opportunity gap between skilled and unskilled labour. As low-cost-of-living countries can

attract highly skilled and typically younger professionals into new economies there is a

greater transfer of wealth into economies that couldn’t typically offer local employment to

attract nomads. now they just have to

focus on the quality of life - not creating jobs as well. examples in recent years have been

mexico, el salvador, Costa Rica, south Africa, and many more.

The global workforce will show significant movement between job families and functions,

with talent making frequent career changes as they adapt and upskill to meet evolving

requirements. These changes will happen frequently and rapidly posing issues to data

integrity on talent. Companies that support talent mobility with company policies, tools, and

systems to support online remote working, and design agile offices or workspaces will be

better positioned to tap into global talent pools and attract leading talent. Online platforms

such as Umbiie.com will allow them to pipeline talent for projects and have people ready to

work when they need them. Professionals who continuously train themselves through online

platforms and garner experience and projects through online platforms will positively impact

the global workforce environment.

META TREND 3 – THE FUTURE IS GOING TO BE CANDIDATE LED

The new ways of creating value through tech driven reap recruitment

We are living through a fundamental transformation in the way we work. Much of the

transformation in the global workforce is geared towards firms’ attempts to mitigate skills

shortages, skills gaps, talent mobility and productivity and talents attempts to meet changing

working arrangement expectations, job displacement, and the rapid creation of new

opportunities in different regions, markets, or sectors.

Companies can no longer afford the time and financial investment of permanent hiring.

meeting on-demand talent needs and avoiding the risk of a permanent hire is forcing

companies to shift power to the talent. The future is predicted to have a highly volatile labour

market characterised by urgent hiring requirements. Korn Ferry predicts that as many as 85

million positions will likely go unfilled in 2030 as global skills deficits reach an all-time high,

likely to cost businesses over Us$8 trillion in lost economic opportunity.

Traditional human tasks and jobs are being displaced at an alarming rate. Dell Technologies

and the Institute for the Future predict that as much as 85% of jobs that will exist in 2030

have not even been created yet. This means talent acquisition experts can’t prepare to find

these people nor can institutions adequately train them for future work. With changing skills

that organisations are looking for in their people, recruitment will become more about

findings skills than fulling roles. These momentous changes raise huge organisational, talent

and HR challenges. People like the flexibility of gigs, and technology has made it easier to

connect them to jobs. Gig opportunities have been successfully implemented across white-

collar professions and labour-intensive sectors without discrimination. However, the future of

employment growth will derive disproportionately from high-skilled job families that cannot

absorb job losses coming from other parts of the labour market.

Studies show that successful crowd working is typically centred on highly educated

individuals with traditional work experience prior to entering the gig economy. As permanent

roles become increasingly scarce the foundational learning gained from traditional

employment will need to be substituted by online induction programs, continuous learning

and upskilling, and a very clear work culture that is translated well for digital and in- office

personnel.

As the ‘traditional linear career path ceases to exist, we are beginning to see shifting

perceptions regarding a ‘portfolio career’ with an increasing prioritisation of projects

completed and skills available over academic transcripts and previous employers.

Emerging solutions to a deepening skills crisis.

Digital talent platforms and globally-minded recruitment solutions are finding efficient ways of

securing a solid talent pipeline for virtually every industry. Organisations can be more

productive with fewer staff and can expand their operations by using on-demand gig workers

without having to invest significant capital or time. The pertinence of sourcing the best talent

will make skills matching a key USP for the recruitment industry worldwide.

Research suggests that talent acquisition professionals spend over 30% of their time

sourcing candidates for one position. One-third of these professionals spend over 20 hours

sourcing candidates for a single role. New business models and resource scarcity are

changing the face of recruitment. Talent is no longer a long-term issue that can be solved

with tried and tested approaches that were successful in the past or by instantly replacing

existing workers.

As digital platforms begin to offer outsized reach and influence for talent search and

acquisition, platforms that can promise high-quality talent quickly and affordably where the

skills of the worker are perfectly matched to the needs of the company will replace

contemporary practices. According to Jobvite Recruiter working with hiring managers is

currently the greatest impeder of recruitment progress. In speeding up recruitment lifecycles

there are likely to be fewer recruitment steps, the removal of unnecessary interviews, and

cutting out unnecessary executive oversight or hiring manager involvement.

The key value proposition of online labour platforms is matching skilled workers with clients

in need of their skills. specialised skills matching platforms such as Umbiie.com are ahead of

the curve offering kyC checks and verification services to offer clients assurance in the talent

acquired. Availability, verification and connectivity are the words that will drive the resourcing

solutions of 2030+.

To source such highly niched experience and highly specialised skills there is likely to be a

knock-on effect where specialist recruitment services become increasingly more successful

than generalist firms. Platforms that can provide stringent skill tests and/or develop ways to

validate external skill test results where tests are relevant, up-to-date, and related to the

project will become pivotal. work recently scrapped the majority of their testing due to

relevance and out-of-date questions and cheating. Platforms will need to have an easy- to-

use customer interface, available in a plethora of languages, tapping into global talent pools,

with easily searchable up-to-date profiles that a company can use to self-service their need

without any middleman is likely to become the future of recruitment. Data collection, data

analytics, and technology will be the differentiating factor. Larger organisations will be happy

to use multiple platforms and pay premiums to ensure they acquire talent and intellectual

property when they need it.

CLOSING REMARKS – DESIGNGING TALENT ACQUISITION FOR THE FUTURE

The company has historically always been in charge of the opportunity landscape. They

create employment, they control the selection process, and they decide when you’re

promoted and when you’re retrenched. The social and technological shifts outlined are

driving a major distribution of power. Increasingly the future will be candidate-led (or a

genuine, 50/50, symbiotic relationship at the very least) as the most skilled gig workers can

cherry-pick the best projects, from a plethora of firms (big and small) and negotiate

favourable terms in exchange for completing the work task/project.

The recruitment process and those in control will change. Until now,

this has all been one-way traffic, the company decides, you pay the job board like LinkedIn,

they decide how many profiles you get to see, you pay the agency and they send you what

they have, the company decides on what tests to do etc, all the while, the person doing the

job, the person with the skillset - is largely treated as an unimportant cog in the wheel. not

anymore. Platforms such as Umbiie.com have ensured this talent-centric approach becomes

a fundamental design priority and any revenue that is spent on a recruitment process, is

shared between all the parties involved - not just one- way traffic. Workers understand that

the scarcest skills will demand the highest pay. Workers select gigs that they want to work

on and move on quickly to new and other work as soon as a project is finished. Quick

contract terms and ownership of intellectual property are increasingly important.

Traditional strategies for attrition rates and talent scarcity are dead. It used to be recruiters

who added value as they had the Cvs and the data but new ways to capture talent are

already making this service redundant, there is no more perceived value in the ability to

capture and bring people in. Weforum asserts that across key job families, recruitment is

currently perceived as most difficult for traditional middle-skilled and skilled trade

occupations requiring new skills and capabilities to be a successful recruiter.

As a decade of demergers and ‘carve outs’ across the recruitment and talent acquisition

sector driven by global recession takes place we see a continual undercutting of prices for

ineffective traditional search services emerging without sufficient CRm, database, and

automation.

This market splintering is likely to continue as small innovation tech firms led by talent

specialists redefine how talent is recruited in the next decade. In the future, the data will be

online and publicly available with platforms enabling search, contact, and negotiations. If

recruiters do not find new ways to add value, they will become redundant – along with

millions of other career profiles that can be done better, faster, and more affordably using

different skills and digital tools.

Specialist talent strategists, AI, intelligent databases, and easy-to-use platforms will be at the

centre of all talent strategies. The ability to correctly assign searchable tags to skills or

experience will be paramount to the ability to source the right candidates. Facilitating easy

profile building and auto-updating profiles through information portability from other platforms

and profiles is likely to be key to ensuring a trustworthy and useable database. The way of

working has changed forever. Firms, talent, and deals need to be connected quickly and

seamlessly in one central space without time- consuming processes with unequal power

distribution.