While the Covid pandemic brought remote working to the fore, and therefore the potential for talent to be dislocated from location, it is still likely that organizational attempts to secure the talent they need will be highly dependent on location. A recent report from Forrester is interesting, therefore, as it highlights so-called skill clusters around Europe where cities and regions specialize in particularly valuable skillsets.
“Dispersed skill clusters across Europe’s cities and regions mean
that tech and business leaders must establish where to source the skills they need for the future of work,” the authors explain. “This report outlines where business leaders can find the leading skill clusters in Europe and helps them tap into these skill clusters as part of their talent management strategies.”
Skills clusters
Of the leading cities around Europe, the report highlights Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Helsinki as the main hotspots for businesses to attract the kind of talent needed to survive and thrive in the modern world. The researchers rank 50 cities from around Europe in a bid to help leaders better understand where the skills their organizations need are located.
These skills include technical skills, such as AI, cloud computing, and robotics; critical thinking skills; leadership skills; and self-management skills. The top 10 cities are all from western and northern Europe, highlighting the skills gaps that exist across Europe, with neither eastern nor southern Europe well represented.
The clusters were rated according to educational attainment, workforce composition, economic performance, soft skills, and regulatory framework.
“The focus on green and digital revolution coupled with the socio-economic changes have created a noticeable skills gap in Europe, which can be debilitating for business growth,” the authors explain. “To prepare for the future of work, European businesses need to hire talent adept at both technical and soft skills. The Nordics region is teeming with precisely this kind of talent. Recruiting talent from emerging hubs like the Nordics will allow European businesses to accelerate digital transformation efforts and drive long-term business growth.”
Of course, it remains to be seen whether organizations open physical offices in these places or strive to provide a “work from anywhere” environment to tap into these pools of talent remotely. The authors are confident, however, that by better understanding where the talent they believe organizations need is located it at least puts them ahead of the game.
