Analyzing Skills Disruption in Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
The professional, scientific, and technical services industry is in a skills marathon.
While professional, scientific, and technical fields will continue to be attractive career paths for new talent entering the market, roles especially in consulting, supervision, and compliance are at risk of workforce exits as specialists retire. The industry can lean on local workforce development, immigration, globalization, and AI as viable levers to fill workforce shortages and skills gaps, mitigating its risks, but must maintain a close focus on continuous upskilling and technological innovation to remain competitive among adjacent industries, like technology and communications, for organizations to ensure the go-to-market edge.
Risk Factors
1.94
Occupation Risk Score
This industry benefits from a large supply of prime-age workers in roles such as data scientists, biochemists, life scientists, and market research analysts, balancing out occupational risk. However, this contrasts with a decline of prime-age workers in supervisor roles, as well as more exits than entrances across human capital, legal, sales, and operations roles. Chief executives and lawyers are among the top across all roles in the Workforce Risk Outlook that are seeing vastly more exits than entrances, presenting leadership and compliance risks in corporate environments.
2.21
Market Risk Score
Corporate operations in metros such as New York City, N.Y., San Francisco, Calif., and Boston, Mass. will continue to feel competitive pressure as the prime-age workforce shrinks among retirement—especially among competition with adjacent industries. The critical roles that professional, scientific, and technical services firms need to ensure business continuity cannot be easily accessed within the general market, as they require specialized skills, knowledge, and experience. Companies need to closely monitor retiring talent and ensure they are growing a new talent pool upon graduation, focusing on upskilling them quickly before established professionals retire.
1.00
Industry Risk Score
The global workforce has grown disproportionately with technology talent, and workers with STEM degrees are in ample supply. The professional, scientific, and technical services industry benefits from being able to source workers locally, attract foreign-born workers, expand work to any country with an internet connection, and also benefits from rapid technological advances that limit the need for workers. However, these roles are heavily dependent on advanced, specialized skills and decades-long experience. While the risk is low, companies must also understand their internal skills landscape to retain and grow more competitive, specialized skills.
1.61
AI Skills Gap Score
Overall, this industry is significantly progressing in adopting new technologies—but rapid innovation continues to introduce new skills required to keep pace. Research and development firms need to ensure a balance of field-specific knowledge and innovation with adapting AI technologies to enhance their work. While critical roles are highly exposed to AI skills, regulatory and compliance standards across human capital and business management, research and development, and technology infrastructure services place a high priority on ensuring cybersecurity and analysis of AI output.
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Organizations in the Fortune 1000
In the Workforce Risk Outlook, Lightcast found little correlation between workforce risk exposure and their Fortune 1000 ranking. C-suite leaders must align their workforce strategies with their quadrant position, as opposed to assuming their revenue makes them immune.
High Risk/High Scale to Address: Organizations in this quadrant face significant risk of being disrupted in their industry, but also have the financial resources to reduce their risk if they are proactive. These organizations should invest in AI-driven knowledge management, expand talent acquisition through global remote work strategies, and create continuous learning programs to upskill employees in emerging technologies.
High Risk/Lower Scale to Address: Organizations within the riskiest quadrant are lower on the competitive ladder and have less resources to address their incoming risk. To remain competitive, these organizations should focus on specialized service offerings, leverage automation to reduce repetitive tasks, and build strong employer branding to attract skilled professionals in a tight labor market.
Lower Risk/High Scale to Address: Organizations in this quadrant may not face immediate workforce shortages, but should remain proactive to maintain and reduce their exposure to risk. Investing in cloud-based collaboration tools, fostering cross-functional expertise through rotational programs, and expanding partnerships with universities and research institutions will help sustain long-term workforce stability.
Lower Risk/Lower Scale to Address: Organizations in this quadrant, if they are proactive, have a chance to be the disruptors. Specifically, they can disrupt industry competitors in the High Risk/High Scale quadrant. They should focus on AI-driven consulting, flexible workforce models, and niche specializations in high-growth fields like quantum computing or cybersecurity to differentiate themselves in the market.
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Solving Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Workforce Management
Talent Analyst
Strategies to Balance Skills and Experience
This workforce is characterized by advanced skills in consulting, research and development, and scientific application. These roles are often mid-career to executive level positions, which demand the right balance of skills and experience, and talent pools that are not approaching retirement age. Some fields, like consulting, are able to broaden talent searches beyond local markets, as they can be performed remotely or through establishing smaller regional offices; however, many R&D and applied science roles are localized to research centers, requiring insights on local supply and/or competitive compensation to attract from other markets.
How Consulting is Scaling Talent Intelligence
A Fortune 1000 diversified consulting firm aimed to centralize and integrate data for Recruitment Process Outsourcing clients to drive informed hiring decisions and optimize resource allocation. By using Talent Analyst, it gained comprehensive insights across global markets to assess talent supply and demand, identify critical skills gaps, and benchmark roles against competitors in challenging markets. By mapping its internal data to external labor market context, it has achieved a scalable framework for global talent intelligence and applied this framework across its geographies, reinforcing its leadership in strategic talent solutions.
Talent Transform
Strategies to Unlock Specialized Skills Across Roles
Many of these disciplines require specialized skills, which are at risk of retiring from this workforce. Firms will need an outside-in view of the skills landscape and strategies to determine must-have skills, and what skills can be developed, especially in the form of mentorships by experienced professionals who may be approaching retirement to early and mid-career professionals. Further, operations that require specialized roles with niche skills must understand emerging and disruptive skills, and determine which can be upskilled internally, or what talent needs to be sourced and the business case for premium costs for skills gaps.
How Biotech is Prioritizing Critical Skills
A biotechnology firm sought to understand global labor market dynamics, including talent availability, emerging skills, salary trends, and diversity metrics, to support mergers and acquisitions, optimize recruiting strategies, and enhance career pathways. Lightcast skills data enabled the company to segment skills into defining, distinguishing, and necessary categories, prioritizing critical and emerging skills to refine job descriptions and develop targeted upskilling initiatives. These actionable insights are helping the firm build a future-ready workforce in a rapidly advancing field.
