The labor shortage could remain a major factor for some Marketplaces Industry employers even a decade from now, said Poline Search Partners president and CEO David Poline. “Absent some major change in birth rates, immigration or acceleration of AI, there will continue to be a supply-demand imbalance, with not enough people to fill all available jobs.”

Restaurants, retail stores and service tenants are among the employers that are especially likely to feel this pinch. But according to Poline, when it comes to executive-level talent at retail chains and open-air developers, there’s low demand for candidates. Chalk it up to the sluggish pace of construction, which has led to a scarcity of new open-air center space hitting the market. This constrains hiring because companies need smaller payrolls when they’re building fewer centers and opening fewer stores.

As a result, both retailers and developers are intent on finding the right people and systems to do more with less and are being extraordinarily diligent about new hires. “We always recommend that our clients take their time in the hiring process, but it has been a lot more obvious just how deliberate companies have become over the past six months,” said Poline Search Partners executive recruiter Cary Beale. “Employers are evaluating and reevaluating candidates, meeting them in person several times, even after multiple rounds of virtual interviews beforehand.”

Phillips Edison & Co. vice president of human resources Emily LeFevre said it has become important for job candidates to bring tech and data experience to the table. Over the past decade, the national owner-operator of grocery-anchored centers has ramped up its IT hiring in areas like app development, cybersecurity, research and data science, she said. Meanwhile, new platforms continue to transform workflows in traditional areas like property management and finance. Phillips Edison is keen on hiring people who want to embrace technology, LeFevre said, and the company strives to help its existing employees stay current with new tech tools.

She said artificial intelligence likely will play a bigger role as professionals learn how to use AI to be more efficient and gain new insights. “If you’re leveraging AI, you want to have your associates be more focused on analyzing and using data rather than just inputting it,” LeFevre said.

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