The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to re-think their digital strategies, leading to a sheer increase in the demand for digital talent, this is according to ecommerce & digital talent acquisition agency Beringer Tame, which has seen a 100% increase in organisations looking to fill roles in comparison to this time last year.
Businesses across all sectors have had to adapt with exceptional speed this year, as the way we work, socialise and shop has been turned on its head as a result of the pandemic. At the beginning of this year the Government had already outlined that the digital sector was worth more than £400million a day to the UK economy[1] – a figure that will no doubt have increased over the course of this year as more and more people have turned to digital services and online shopping when they couldn’t physically interact with people or visit bricks and mortar stores.
During the pandemic retailers of all shapes and sizes increased their ecommerce roles to cope with online demand, with a report form Barclays outlining that 15% of UK companies had created roles specifically to cater to an increase in digital sales[2].
Patrick Tame, CEO of Beringer Tame has also seen an explosion in the number of digital and ecommerce jobs being advertised, as well as an increase in client enquiries, as organisations are desperate to strengthen their digital teams in order to keep up with consumer demand and competition.
He says, “The user experience has become more important than ever before and shoppers are far less likely to forgive slow or unintuitive online services. Organisations have realised that if they are to stand out from the crowd they need to do more to satisfy consumer desire for speed and simplicity. The user experience was already seeing a heavy focus placed on digital prior to the pandemic, but this period has really caused all businesses to have a digital awakening.
“We’re therefore seeing a much higher demand for strong digital skills – which aren’t always easily available. When it comes to digital skills, it’s all in the detail and there’s a depth of understanding in exceptional individuals that can be hard to come by. Top digital talent is typically already in work or will certainly be snapped up very quickly over the coming months. It’s a great position for those with the right skillset because they’ll have their pick of bunch when it comes to which job to accept or which organisation to join.”
“One particular trend we are noticing is that demand for junior roles is considerably higher than demand for senior roles, which is very similar to what happened after the 2009 recession. Organisations that have been successful throughout the pandemic are those that have been agile to the changing situation. It is therefore no surprise organisations are making more junior hires whose job roles consist of executing tasks that ultimately drive sales. It is likely that around Easter next year we will see an increase in organisations looking to hire senior digital leadership roles so that they are able to capitalise on the digital improvements made this year and ensure it is part of an ongoing digital transformation strategy.”
Patrick also outlines that for those that don’t quite have the experience yet, there are plenty of courses available to enhance expertise: “A lot of individuals are now taking digital courses to upskill, which is fantastic, and shows a clear understanding that digital skills are both incredibly useful and in demand. However, digital takes time to learn and so it can be helpful for organisations to look at their digital teams as a whole to ensure that there is enough depth and breadth of knowledge within them to enable success.”
Patrick concludes, “With competition for digital skills at an all-time high, organisations looking to bolster their digital offering and hire the best talent should act fast before the competition snaps up all the great candidates.”