ssss

Customer experience and corporate needs in recruitment: what are the issues?

While that generation of baby-boomers is progressively retiring and making way for new technologies that are emerging at a galloping pace, work, as we knew it five years previously, has been drastically transformed. More and more companies are reviewing their methods of recruitment in order to welcome on board new profiles that combine technical skills with a more strategic vision. Welcome to the era of hybridization.

 

Digitization as a game changer

A survey conducted by Bentley University reveals that employers are increasingly looking into profiles that combine skills in multiple areas:  technical, strategic thinking as well as communication and collaboration. To improve their employability, workers are expected to widen and deepen their skillset. This stands as the key enabler for 2.0 jobs: the next-generation company requires one with multitasking laced with cross-functional expertise.

This is even truer at a time when digital transformation entails a major shift in marketing strategies which are moving from mass marketing to highly customized campaigns. Nevertheless, the implementation of such advanced strategies requires agility. Today, user experience is pivotal to relationships between brands and customers. The rapid evolution of buying behaviors and customer requirements, as well as the exponential growth and diversity of communication techniques are urging such profiles to carefully monitor and welcome emerging trends so as to avoid turning redundant.

Consequently, the digital transformation triggers two major upheavals for the workforce.  First, jobs are becoming hybrid (technical skills + UX vision), and now cut across different disciplines. Second, this transformation nurtures a new corporate vision: communication strategies are redesigned with the goal of releasing the pressure on consumers who are aggressively sought after. Companies can no longer simply communicate on their products but must speak directly to their customers. In this context, who is responsible for this corporate digital transformation? The Chief Digital Officer’s position is obviously dedicated to it, yet, all business lines must contribute to it.

 

Recruitment: on the lookout for a new breed of talents

Driven by technologies that are developing at a rapid pace, responsiveness becomes critical and workers must be able to respond in real time. This is all the more true for historical marketing roles which scope has expanded with the integrating of new skills. The ecosystem is changing fast and profiles need also to undergo a quantum change to remain attractive.

As a result, the traditional Product Manager has been replaced by the Customer Experience Manager: this new strategic and cross-cutting role bridges the gap between the different departments of an organization. This highlights a major shift among businesses, as they are setting the emphasis on user experience which is considered to be a key challenge.

This is particularly true at UCOPIA, a prominent player in Wi-Fi access and Wi-Fi proximity marketing. This is a company always on the look-out for technical engineers with not only robust expertise in technical development, but also with the capacity to roll out a consumer-centric approach that prioritizes customer experience.

The work methods and goals have changed: it is no longer just about knowing how to deliver code, but also about understanding the purpose of this code and the expectations of those using that code. Therefore, profiles that were once mainly technical must learn to manage both the front and back ends. This is required to support the digital transformation, and it is high time for everyone to think and act in terms of the digital journey.

 

It can be quite challenging to spot and recruit hybrid profiles that are both technical and customer-driven. Attracting them can be achieved in two ways. The first one relates to external recruitment in order to find new skills and push them forward. The second relates to work-study contracts in order to integrate junior profiles that have just started out on their career. Indeed, this allows ramping them up according to corporate needs and improving their expertise. If the primary goal is to make them more employable, the desire to enhance their skills over time is also a way to retain talent, limit staff turnover, and improve efficiency, while, of course, sticking as close as possible to customer needs.