Philippines Analytics Outlook 2014 (4 of 4): Challenges of Hiring Big Data Talent

http://itstaffing.matrixresources.com/opportunities/tech-trends/challenges-hiring-big-data-talent

One of the biggest challenges I see in the Philippines right now is finding the right mix of talent and work ethic in analytics candidates. The core personality trait behind any good analyst is curiosity… the drive to find answers to business questions. The personality trait is however not one that is truly valued within the Filipino business culture. Asking questions can easily be perceived as a threat to authority and to the status quo.

When you look at the current state of things in the U.S., you can easily extrapolate that its even more severe in the Philippines. As the article in the above link demonstrates there is a significant challenge of hiring analytics talent, especially those who can manage and analyze big data.

“Over 300 professionals at the IT executive, director and management levels pinpoints what employers endure while trying to execute big data initiatives and recruit the IT talent needed to handle these initiatives.
• 88% of companies say they are facing a shortage of IT talent able to successfully execute big data initiatives.
• 39% say a lack of available IT talent is negatively affecting their ability to make data-driven decisions, while
• 36% are falling behind in their big data initiatives
• 35% have people in place who are unqualified for the job.
• Only 4% of companies rate the alignment of existing IT employees’ skill sets with big data initiatives as excellent
• while 56% rate them as fair or poor.”

In order to overcome these challenges business are taking steps to recruit new talent or retain existing talent for big data initiatives. The most common solution is to send current employees to external training programs.

External training is easier to implement than starting up internal cross training with other departments or search other departments within the organization for talent. This leads to pirating talent from competitors, which is very unhealthy for the industry as a whole.

So, it you want to stay ahead of the game and find talent that can keep you on the forefront of analytics, the best solution is to engage DMAI to either come in and train your team or send them to one of the DMAI public trainings coming soon.