The talent conundrum – what you can do to address it

It's true to say that talent is struggling to find work and businesses are struggling to find talent, but we need to qualify this.

Young, first-time talent is finding the first step on the career ladder an increasingly elusive foothold, whereas Companies need experienced talented people to help them transform their business, but these people are either hard to find or are becoming steadily more unaffordable.

So, never the twain shall meet, it seems. Let's unpack what's going on.

At a global level, geopolitical instability, economic sluggishness and AI are all impacting hiring plans. With chip manufacturers and infrastructure companies still the main beneficiaries of AI activity, companies are reassessing the skills they need or being spooked into reducing or eradicating entry-level positions.

People entering the workforce face the timeless Catch-22 problem: they need experience to get a job, but they can't get a job without experience. Where does their first opportunity come from? Many are resorting to the professions that still need the injection of young human hands: education, healthcare and hospitality.

Employers face their own challenges. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 found that 63% of surveyed employers identified skills gaps as a major barrier to business transformation. Companies need people who can deliver products and services, win customers, improve operations and help them reach their next level of growth.

How to find them? A heavy direct applicant flow does not automatically include the right person for a particular role, yet unsuccessful candidates with one employer are not without merit for other employers. Companies may also use external recruiters, but they'll never see candidates from outside that ecosystem. They also must stomach disruptive speculative approaches and sales calls, plus the ensuing fees.

Then there's the overhead of the applicant tracking system (ATS), which is supposed to manage all end-to-end hiring workflows, but rarely does. If only there was a way to make that ATS investment work harder.

That's where PAIR.cloud comes in. It sits alongside your existing ATS, so no upheaval required, increases your view of available candidates and allows you to generate real income from hiring activity, whilst minimising noise from external recruiters.

If you don't already have an ATS - perhaps because they are so expensive - you can also use our integrated ATS: inclusive.io.

PAIR.cloud provides a real return on hiring activity without any upheaval.

Sounds too good to be true? In this case we guarantee you that it isn't, which is why our company is backed by a former 'Dragon'.

Follow this link to sign up for a free trial: Make money from the ATS you already run

Who knows, with the funds you accrue from a platform that monetises your hiring activity, you could once again start hiring the more junior staff that promise to be the engine room of future innovation.