Senior Executives: How are skills changing in the age of digitalisation?
Interview with Wirz & Partners, trends in the recruitment market
1. Juli 2019 | By Mathias Steger
Executives and specialists - experienced and qualified employees - are in high demand on the job market. Which skills are particularly important, and can disruptive technologies such as chatbots be a suitable solution for recruitment? Erik Wirz of management consultancy Wirz & Partners in an interview.
Mathias Steger: What are the current trends in the Swiss labour market?
Erik Wirz: At the moment, it's clear that there is a shortage of qualified professionals. Demand is significantly higher than supply, which means that fewer candidates are actively looking for jobs. Direct sourcing (or active sourcing), i.e. direct contact with potential candidates, is becoming increasingly important. We've been seeing this trend for a number of years. In addition to the traditional direct approach, the informal exchange between headhunters and potential candidates is gaining in importance. It's not just about presenting a potential new role, it's about advising executives on their careers.
As a headhunter, you mainly recruit senior executives and specialists. What skills are most important?
In addition to hard skills, senior executives today need to be digitally savvy. New disruptive technologies are emerging all the time, and it's crucial to be familiar with them to ensure sustainable business operations. In addition, there are changes at the leadership level. Soft skills are also becoming more important across all industries.
How can managers move from being bosses to being leaders?
It's a question of personality and ethics. A leader is one who respects, engages with and takes people seriously, recognising each person's potential and strengths. These qualities can also be acquired through experience. It's also a matter of personality: do you put yourself first, or can you take pride in developing many people who go further than you? Charisma is also important. How do you interact with others and with clients? How well do you connect on a cultural level and internalise the company's values?
How can chatbots help with recruitment?
When the supply of candidates in the market exceeds the demand, a significant part of the pre-selection is done by automation. CVs are analysed using artificial intelligence and scored according to certain criteria. Prior to this process, many companies, especially large ones, use chatbots to ask standardised questions for pre-selection.
What kind of companies use chatbots for recruitment?
Companies with thousands of employees and highly structured application processes often use chatbots. In Switzerland, such chatbots are already in use, depending on the industry and market. When there are many applicants, it makes more sense to rely on such tools. However, there is a risk that candidates will be discouraged from applying because of these barriers.
"Often these barriers are intentional and designed to assess the motivation of candidates."
Do you see chatbots as an additional barrier?
Sometimes the use of chatbots is not sufficiently tailored to the company and the industry. However, often such barriers are intentional and designed to assess the motivation of candidates. In such a context, a chatbot can indeed make sense.
Will chatbots soon be used by SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises)?
Chatbots are expensive and often inaccurate. One of the biggest challenges for chatbots, or automated shortlisting in general, is the lack of structure in many job roles and requirements. For this reason, such automation-based bots are not yet suitable for recruitment, especially for smaller companies with a need for highly specialised professionals.
Erik Wirz has over 20 years of experience in IT, management and consulting and founded Wirz & Partners executive search in 2009. The company specialises in recruiting specialists and executives in the IT and life sciences sectors.
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