The CC/CX Industry Update - Vol 1

Hi,

Following on from my Beginning article welcome to the first Biweekly edition of The CC/CX Industry Update. I hope you enjoy the content and feel free to feedback or if you would like to offer content yourself for a future edition please let me know.

Trends in Market Demand

Whether you are looking for a role yourself or hiring I aim to give you the benefit of my insight as one of the worlds only dedicated CC/CX technology recruiters for the best part of the last 10 years.

General Demand for Talent:

Overall this remains strong but I am seeing the start of a reduction or consolidation in requirements from hirers as they become more cautious given the uncertain global economic outlook. I am even seeing some big names put on full recruitment freezes even if externally they are still advertising!

This is driven by various obvious political and financial factors but it does mean there will be fewer vacancies for candidates to view in the coming months in my opinion and this will change behaviors. Demand for talent generally remains higher in America, Canada and mainland Europe than in the UK at the moment.

General Talent Availability:

You might think that with a decreasing number of vacancies available that there would be more talent available and greater competition for roles, that's not the case. The same economic and political factors that are driving the demand for talent are also creating caution in the talent market as individuals look for career stability and continuous employment in the coming months.

I'm seeing salary demands and contract rates level off as the gung-ho approach to job searching is being replaced by a more pragmatic mindset to secure long term engagement. Finally the CC/CX talent market will cool for a period of time however these effects are always cyclical and the savvy employer will invest in the best talent over the coming 6 months when they are at their most cost effective and loyal before things kick off again.

Hot Skills in Demand Globally:

1. Genesys Cloud and to an increasing extent MultiCloud
2. inContant and CXOne
3. AWS Connect

Global News and Events

Here I aim to bring you up to date on what is being discussed related to our industry and the key events on the calendar globally

News: Microsoft Digital Contact Centre

You already guessed this one would be here as soon as you saw the headline right!? It's been all over the channels as MS officially announce their CCaaS Digital CC product. There are plenty of opinion pieces out there to digest and many differing opinions about its viability at this point and what MS will be able to do in such an established market. This is definitely a product that I'll be watching and I'll report on talent demand as and when I see it (currently its zero).

Upcoming Events: Five9 CX Summit 2022 - Las Vegas

From the 9th to the 11th of August Five9 will be hosting their huge cloud contact center conference at the Aria Resort and Casino.

Talent Attraction and Acquisition - Tips

For the best part of 20 years I have been helping companies around the world attract and secure (as well as retain) tech talent and the last 10 years have been focused on CC and CX. Over the coming volumes I'll give you insight into what I have learnt worked then, now and for tomorrow.

Candidate Experience

For an industry that talks about CX a lot we are no better than any other at candidate experience from the application and interview perspective. I speak to people every day that are unhappy with an experience they have had in the recent past when applying for a role and whether the market is as super hot as it has been or cooling off this never seems to entirely change. There are companies out there that have this nailed down so it doesn't apply to everyone but there are a few key things you need to get right to attract and secure the best people.

1. Have a consistent, defined and finite interview process. Don't include everyone in the business no matter how important they think they are if it's not relevant to this persons position. Don't add stages after the process has started (or remove them). Be consistent for every candidate applying for the same role as word does get out. The interview process should be an upward trajectory so by the final stage it should be obvious to everyone that if this goes well a decision will happen quickly as there is not much left to discuss by then
2. Feedback. Everyone who applies for a role deserves some sort of feedback its that simple
3. Don't under offer. If a candidate applies at a salary of £100k/€100k/$100k and you cant afford that or wont pay it then query it upfront rather than interview them and then under offer. Whether working directly or via an external recruiter that honest and transparent conversation needs to be had early to ensure no one wastes their time
4. Keep in touch. They may be the right person but just not at the right time. In 6 months time you could be kicking yourself that you didn't provide any feedback and now they have a negative impression of your business. I know better than anyone that this is a relationships business as I've worked with and placed some candidates over years. Be polite, be professional and leave the door open, always

Current Hot Requirements

• Genesys Cloud CCaaS Architect - North America, $175-225k plus 20% bonus, client travel but work from home office
• Genesys Engage Architect - Canada, $150-175k, fully remote
• NICE Nexidia Consultant - Italy, native Italian speaker essential, contract (rates can be flexible), fully remote
• Genesys Engage Consultants (2 needed) - Italy, based in Italy, native Italian speaker essential, contract €650.00 per day, fully remote
• Genesys Engage Architect - UK, £100k, fully remote
• Genesys MultiCloud Consultant - Europe, £100k (or flexible in EUR for mainland Europe), fully remote but with client travel
• Genesys Cloud Consultant - UK, £70k, fully remote

Thank you as always for reading and sharing. James