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In their recent “Digital Leadership Report,” IT staffing provider Harvey Nash Group found that 69% of US  tech leaders say they are unable to keep pace with change because of lack of talent. Harvey Nash CEO Bev White said, “businesses face a triple whammy. They lack the supply of skilled resources they need; they have not yet evolved a new and effective employee value proposition for the hybrid working world; and the needed skills themselves are changing as technology develops at an accelerated pace.”

With this perfect storm of challenges facing today’s operations— a labor shortage, skills gaps, and challenges in trying to scale teams up to meet production demands— organizations are looking for viable solutions to meet goals until they’re able to hire adequate staff. Adopting a lean model may be one helpful way to continue meeting goals during this challenging time.  

Third-quarter news on the global chip shortage crisis is not much better than it was in the first quarter of 2021. In fact, it’s downright brutal. Here are just a few of the recent headlines:

“Global chip shortage ‘is far from over’ as wait times get longer,” said The Wall Street Journal. 

The “semiconductor shortage that has hobbled manufacturing worldwide is getting worse,” announced the Washington Post.

“It will get worse before it gets better,” reports Fitch Solutions.

You may have heard more about ransomware attacks in the past year or so. Seemingly every week, there are new headlines about the frequency and severity of ransomware attacks. There’s a reason you’re hearing about this crime more often: as ransomware attackers develop more sophisticated ways of targeting organizations, more and more companies have been victimized.

The semiconductor industry is projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030, but experts say that will only be possible if the current talent shortage is addressed on a global level. The specialized skills required by today’s industry are getting harder to find. Until some of the many education programs ramping up around the world bear fruit, semiconductor organizations that need specialized talent must get creative and develop staffing strategies they can deploy now to bridge the gaps.

Here are some of the solutions that can help teams work around the skill challenge— from rethinking organizational structure to engaging in international staffing cooperation.

As we wrap up another quarter, it’s time to look back on what’s happened in the semiconductor industry in the last few months. In this quarterly round-up of semiconductor news: the White House continues to focus on semiconductor supply chains, the EU seeks semiconductor sovereignty, and more. Read on to learn more about the latest news and technology updates in the third quarter of 2021:

Today, electronic devices are the backbone of our world and semiconductor chips are the brains inside the devices that run our lives — from our phones to vehicles to the energy grids. However, these critical devices cannot run properly unless the chips are free of weakness and security vulnerabilities. And that is becoming an increasingly precarious situation.

Package tracking and visibility are more important now than ever, as businesses and consumers have become increasingly reliant on timely deliveries. The marketplace for asset tracking was already growing quickly at the beginning of 2020, but the advent of the worldwide pandemic accelerated growth beyond predictions due to a monumental increase in e-commerce.

As the chip design becomes increasingly complex, verification engineers need to keep their skills updated and sometimes adapt their skills to a new design landscape.

Verification is a critical step in manufacturing because it helps detect and debug functional defects before products are deployed. This role is performed by a verification engineer, a role that can go by many titles, such as Product Quality Engineer, Quality Assurance Engineer, and Validation Specialist.

If America needed a clear signal that we’ve entered the era of the electric vehicle, it arrived on May 19, 2021, with a press release from Ford announcing the new all-electric F-150 Lightning truck. The truck of the future is here — and it’s not the product of a non-traditional company like Tesla. It’s coming from the most traditional car manufacturer on the planet.

Skilled engineers are more in demand than ever. To keep pace with the rapid rate of change in today’s world, engineering opportunities are being created faster than employers can fill them. This is particularly frustrating now, when the semiconductor industry is struggling to keep up with demand for products and innovations thanks to a chip shortage. 

In today’s marketplace, it’s difficult, but not impossible, to attract and retain talent. To overcome the challenges, employers need to stay current with the latest hiring trends. Here are five ways to be more proactive.