Digital talents mean the successful execution of a digital transformation, which has been accelerated by the pandemic. Without any doubt, companies will invest in their business to transform them into digital ones, and digital talents will be in great demand. According to McKinsey report – in the next five years, we expect the demand for talent to deliver on new capabilities to significantly outstrip supply: for agile skills, for example, demand could be four times supply; for big-data talent, it could be 50 to 60 percent greater than projected supply.
How to deal with a scarcity of digital talents, which skills are in demand in the financial sector, and which IT talent-acquisition strategy financial companies should apply to win digital transformation? These were the questions Olena Gryniuk (SME Banking Club) discussed with Klaudia Archimowicz (Verita HR & Magazyn Rekruter), Katarzyna Stachowiak (ITDS Poland), Michał Grzybowski (PwC), and Michal Kurowski (Raiffeisen Bank International), during the webinar, organized by SME Banking Club, together with Verita HR, Magazyn Rekruter on January 31 this year.
Here is a snapshot of the questions discussed:
What range of skills, and what type of specialists are needed right now in the market in the financial sector?
Katarzyna Stachowiak underlined the importance of soft skills. The pandemic made people change the localization of their workplaces – they moved from the offices to their homes, where no team can support and help them when it’s needed. She also added such traits as being independent and adaptable to the changes, as well as resolvable and empathic. In addition, Katarzyna singled out analytical and communicative skills, even if the employee works from their home office.
Michał Grzybowski gave an example of the ideal candidate, who should be digitally fluent, have cognitive skills, and be a social person. In practice, he told that it’s necessary to have the desire to develop digital skills.
Klaudia Archimowicz paid attention to being open-minded because the pandemic made significant adjustments to the market and varied the employees working environment.
Michal Kurowski commented that it’s essential to be adaptable to new technologies and cultures because nowadays companies have much more abilities to work with people from different countries. Banks are not necessarily at the top of mind for IT talents, but that can change with a clear innovation agenda, less hierarchical, and more “IT as a value generator” culture coupled with investments in people. He also notified that the companies shouldn’t forget about current employees, who should be upskilled.
Digital upskilling (of IT engineers and leaders). How should we do it effectively?
The speed of technological change requires constant employee digital upskilling. By upskilling, we mean giving employees opportunities to gain the knowledge, tools, and ability they need to use advanced and changing technologies in the workplace and their daily lives. But the most important probably is the upskilling of leaders to build digital transformation leaders. Upskilling is not in the sense of improving their tech skills but changing their management skills to be able to manage digital transformation inside the organization. The role of leaders is changing.
Klaudia Archimowicz and Michal Kurowski emphasized that everything starts with the top management. Furthermore, it’s necessary to have a clear strategy and direction for where a company is going and after that set up a range of skills needed for that in the organization.
What is more important: the individual or collective skills of a multidisciplinary team?
Katarzyna focused on the necessity of individual skills for the team leaders, who should motivate their teams, and collective skills for the IT engineers. Olena Gryniuk agreed with Katarzyna that some young people have never experienced working in an office, and because of that, it’s a challenge for them to build team skills. Klaudia added that even though the employees shouldn’t meet each other on an everyday basis, it’s good to integrate out of the offices, as that will help to feel comfortable during the work process. Michal Kurowski noted that the ability to work remotely gave people a lot of benefits, which are difficult to give up.
What IT acquisition strategy banks should apply?
In Klaudia’s opinion, companies should be more creative in looking for new candidates. It’s useful to take part in integration events and cooperate with startups. Furthermore, Katarzyna mentioned the importance of investing in employer branding, and building relationships with the talents, to keep in contact and present different options to the candidates. It’s also important to stay open and flexible, this is what the young generation expects from employers, and be able to bring value to all the generations company is dealing with. Michal Kurowski added that since “people are our key assets” for the banks, then talent “acquisition” should resemble other “asset classes” acquisitions (team takeovers, strategic partnerships).
To learn more details, watch the full webinar below:
