In the process, companies that embrace innovation can succeed at the expense of businesses that fail to embrace change. Yet, innovation also creates challenges, including the growing need to recruit employees from a labor force that may be struggling to keep up with change.
The history of business in the U.S. is highlighted by disruption. Sears, Roebuck, & Company became one of the country’s largest retailers by using its iconic mail order catalogue to displace general stores, which had higher prices. More recently, Sears and the company’s Kmart brand are suffering from loss of market share due to the rapid growth of online retailing.
The digital advertising and media industry, meanwhile, is growing rapidly at the expenses of traditional print and television outlets. As it grows, the industry faces the challenge of finding talented workers at a time when unemployment is declining and has reached just 4.1%.
Even though the unemployment rate implies that the nation is facing a worker shortage, it doesn’t illustrate the complete challenge that the digital marketing industry faces. Indeed, among workers seeking employment, there are limited numbers of individuals with technology skills at a time when many firms are seeking to expand their ranks. Over the last five years, for example, the number of job postings for digital marketing careers has doubled, reports HRDive.
The publication reports that approximately 40% of marketing job openings require candidates to have digital skills and digital marketing jobs take 16% longer to fill than traditional marketing jobs. Firms are responding to the staffing challenge by developing new strategies to broaden the talent pool.
General Assembly, which teaches digital marketing skills, for examples, has teamed up with various employers including Google, L’Oreal, and Priceline to form the Digital Marketing Standards Board. According to HRDive, the new organization seeks to make digital marketing jobs more transparent and accessible.
In the process, it will publish skills maps and seek to illustrate career paths within the industry. Facebook is also taking action to improve the digital marketing workforce. It recently announced its “community Boost” initiative, which involves training unemployed individuals on digital marketing skills, according to an announcement from Facebook.
As part of the program, Facebook representatives will conduct the training in 30 locations in the U.S. in 2018. Facebook will also provide entrepreneurs with advice and help firms that aren’t online develop a digital presence. For Facebook, Community Boost is an extension of existing education programs. The company has already spent more than $1 billion on its “Boost Your Business” platform that supports small businesses, reports TechWire Asia.
Facebook has also created a curriculum for studying digital marketing that is being offered in Michigan. New technology is also being deployed to assist in recruiting workers. Chatbots that use machine learning and natural language processing, for example, can handle up to 80% of top-of-funnel recruiting functions, reports business2community.
Some companies can potentially damage their reputation as an employer by not responding to inquiries from job seekers. In a Workopolis survey, 42% of job seekers said they never heard back from companies after their initial touchpoint. Companies with weak brands as employers may have a hard time recruiting employees because job seekers may tell their friends or other acquaintances that they never received follow up communications.
Chatbots can also be used with numerous communication formats, including email, social media, and various messaging platforms.
