February 2019 – Croixstone

LinkedIn Live Launched

LinkedIn recently launched its first live video tool, giving people and organizations the ability to broadcast real-time video to select groups or to the LinkedIn world at large.

Launching in beta first in the U.S., LinkedIn Live (as the product is called) will be invite-only. In coming weeks, LinkedIn will also post a contact form for others who want to get in on the action. Learn more here.

Demand for Older Workers

Croixstone Consulting only hires experience – and demand is rising in the marketplace for older professionals with deep experience. With the labor market at its tightest in two decades, companies are increasingly turning to older workers to meet their talent needs.

Last September, Forbes magazine published an article addressing this trend that benefits older workers with experience. We found the following factoids to be especially interesting:

The unemployment rate for people 55 and older is now just 3.1%, less than the overall jobless rate of 3.9%.
Workers 55 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. labor force.
Job growth for people 55 and older is up 4.5%, according to ADP. That’s more than twice as high as the 1.7% job growth for workers overall.

Read the full article here.

In Demand Projects + Skills for Consultants

Have you ever wondered what demand exists in the consulting marketplace for your skills? Well, we have your answer courtesy of Forbes magazine. Earlier this week, the magazine published an online article listing the most in demand projects and skills for “independent” consultants (the article is using this term to reference consultants who apply their skills outside the big firms like McKinsey and Accenture).

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The most in demand projects for consultants include:

61% Strategy: Marketing + Sales Strategy, Growth Strategy, Opportunity Assessment, Product Strategy
22% Operations: Business Processes, Product Launch Planning, Supply Chain
9% Transformation: Business Intelligence and Analytics, IT/Tech Transformation
4% Organization
4% Interim Executive

The most in demand skills for independent consultants include:

Project Management
Market Landscape
Growth Strategy
Strategic Planning
Supply Chain
Program Management Office (PMO)
Corporate + Business Unit Strategy
Product Development and Launch
Market Access and Value
Innovation Strategy

Read the article to learn more about the leading industries using independent consultants, the company size leaders who use independents, and more.