Are millions of people missing from the modern workforce? Hung Lee says yes, there is a talent shortage, although not every employer is thinking ahead to fill the gaps likely to appear in their workforce.

Lee is the editor and curator at Recruiting Brainfood, one of the HR industry’s most respected sources covering talent acquisition. This seasoned recruitment industry professional delivered a highly anticipated keynote at the inaugural HR Technology Europe Conference in Amsterdam in early May.

A global talent shortage

In his session, Talent Shortage 2024: The Myths and Realities for the Missing Millions, Lee shared five theories explaining why employers worldwide are experiencing significant challenges finding the people they need to fill their workforce.

These reasons include a “demographic crisis” arising from an aging society; a mismatch of skills that people hold compared to those that employers need; “elite overproduction” of university graduates that has depleted the labor force for essential jobs; a geographical imbalance leaving open roles in places where the bulk of people don’t live; and an increase in mental and physical disabilities that are removing people entirely from the workforce.

“We can’t recruit the nurses, the teachers, the social workers, the drivers, the sanitation people, the security guards and the people who serve in the restaurant,” said Lee, asking the audience to consider the long-term impact of these vacancies.

The recruiting expert says that, on the worldwide stage, these conditions lead society to a problem zone where the working population is significantly shrinking or mismatched with needed jobs. “Immigration may no longer be an obvious pathway for us to replace the people that we need,” said Lee.

To address these societal matters, Lee provided five “broad buckets” of action employers can take to equip themselves to find the employees they need to meet business objectives.

Talent acquisition

This strategy involves optimizing every part of the recruitment funnel to compete better for the existing talent pool. In this approach, HR leaders leverage technology to improve assessments, conduct well-ordered interviews and improve scheduling to “get efficient at every single stage in the system,” said Lee. “All the companies presenting today in the [HR Technology Europe] Expo are optimizing for that.”

This approach doesn’t address the fundamental problems layered below the talent shortage, according to Lee. However, it can empower organizations to compete better for the willing and available talent already in the pipeline.

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