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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has seen maximum talent coming to its shores of late, mostly from India, according to 'Talent Migration', a blog post by professional networking site LinkedIn.
To get a big picture view of talent mobility, LinkedIn analysed its data to see which countries gained and lost the most talent between November 2012 and November 2013, and what characteristics were shared by those who relocated for their careers.
The networking portal measured net inflow and outflow of LinkedIn members for 20 countries where they saw the most migration activity to see which were the overall winners and losers of talent in 2013. As a percentage of the total country workforce, while the UAE was the net gainer and held the topmost position, Spain, which has been facing tough economic conditions, saw the most talent leaving the country, with the majority of members leaving for the United Kingdom.
The UAE saw a strong inflow of professionals at 1.3 per cent net gain, particularly among architecture and engineering roles. This might reflect the region's fast development and the increasingly busy skyline. LinkedIn also noticed that the vast majority of members who moved to the UAE (75 per cent), came from outside of the Middle East.
Indian CEOs intend to increase their headcount over the next year, said professional services network PwC commissioned by LinkedIn. This, according to experts, could increase the talent retention in India, though adaptability continues to be a challenge.
"Raising the level of talent adaptability in a market will go a long was towards enabling economic success for everyone, from job-seekers to recruiters and the economy. We hope the findings of the Adapt to Survive study will also arm everyone in the talent ecosystem with insights to enable them to better address the skills gap in the workforce today, so that jobs and talents can be better matched in future," said Irfan Abdulla, Director of Talent Solutions, LinkedIn India.
One out of 3 LinkedIn members who made a move of 100 miles or more in the last year, relocated internationally. This varied drastically due to country size and proximity to neighbouring economic centres. For example, Switzerland, a small land-locked country, saw the greatest percentage of movers leave the country at 69 per cent. The top destinations for Swiss movers were Germany and France.
The study indicates that in India, skills such as engineering, human resources, software engineering management and requirements gathering, Java development management and leadership are flowing extensively to countries such as the United States, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Singapore.
Further, it also suggested that India is gaining skills in sales management consulting, business strategy and analysis, engineering, human resources, management and leadership from countries such as China, the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
With respect to age, LinkedIn said that it appeared younger professionals were more likely to work internationally. Members who made a significant move in the past year, had an average of 7.8 years of professional experience, but those who made shorter moves, had 20 per cent more professional experience compared to significant movers.
Some skills uniquely found in movers included social media marketing, foreign language translation, Java development, public policy and international relations among others. Skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) made up nearly half the list (4 out of 10). Also, members who had STEM skills and had moved in the past year, tended to travel the farthest distances for their new role, averaging nearly 2,400 miles (3,900 km).
Among job functions, those in the area of business development, marketing, research, media and communication and product management were most likely to move. On the other hand, individuals in administrative, health care services, accounting, ownership/entrepreneurship and security and protective services were least likely to move.
LinkedIn determined the geographic movements of members in the last year by looking at every new position that was added to profiles between November 2012 and November 2013, which included a regionally specific location (e.g. "Greater Los Angeles Area") that differed from the regionally specific location of the previously held position (e.g. "Greater New York City Area"). Next, they excluded movements that did not exceed 100 miles (161 km), based on the direct distance between two geographic coordinates, generalised as the geographic centre of each region.
