The Workforce of the Future

by Graciela Kenig--©2007

By 2050, nearly half of the U.S. workforce will be of a different race or ethnicity; up from 30 percent in 2005, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Latinos will make up the largest share of that diversity, as the group is projected to represent 24.3 percent of the working population, compared to 14 percent for African-Americans, and 8.3 and 4.9 percent for Asians and other non-white groups respectively.   

These projections reflect the meteoric growth of the country’s Hispanic population, which is expected to reach 102.6 million in 2050, up from 42.7 million in 2005.

Employers who understand the impact of such growth, (Hispanic buying power is expected to reach $1.2 trillion in 2011,) are preparing for it now.  A survey conducted by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com revealed that one-in-ten employers will be targeting Hispanic job candidates most aggressively of all diverse segments in 2007.  

Entitled 2007 Job Forecast, the survey further revealed that half of employers recruiting bilingual employees say English/Spanish-speaking candidates are most in demand in their organizations.

In an article he wrote for Hispanic Magazine, executive recruiter Victor Arias said: “The growing dominance of the Latino population is an extremely noteworthy shift for companies.  In these harrowing times for businesses, there are precious few growth opportunities for companies to gain revenues and market share. Yet the Latino community is one of these few, valuable opportunities.”

But moving from targeting to actually hiring and retaining Latinos has proven to be more difficult than anticipated. In part, this is because traditional recruitment methods are not particularly effective with Latinos.  The difficulty also reflects a general lack of understanding--on the part of recruiters, managers and Latino candidates alike--of the impact that cultural upbringing has on interviewing behaviors, hiring and promotion decisions.

Call us to find out how to:

• Reduce unintentional elimination of qualified candidates due to cultural differences

• Improve your ability to identify and develop the talent your company needs to succeed

• minimize legal exposure to your company and yourself

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