The number of job postings that mentioned ‘Deal Making’ as a theme grew by 427% in Q1 2022 verses Q4 2021, according to leading data and analytics company GlobalData. This finding was identified as part of research into the growth of companies using various themes within job postings. Trending themes included ‘Ecommerce’, ‘Artificial Intelligence’, ‘Environment’, ‘Digital Media’, ‘Cloud’, ‘Quantum Computing’, ‘Advanced Materials’ and ‘Deal Making’.

Sherla Sriprada, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “This impressive four-fold increase in the number of job postings seeking staff involved in deal-making processes indicates that businesses were looking at inorganic opportunities in Q1 2022. For example, Morgan Stanley’s posted ‘Investment Banking M&A Vice President’ role will be responsible for structuring and executing complex domestic and cross-border transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, mergers, spin-offs and joint-ventures. Roles related to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) saw significant growth in Q1 2022. GlobalData found that there were over 60,000 job postings in Q1 2022 that had ‘deal making’ keywords (including M&A) as a theme.”

GlobalData’s research, as published in its ‘Global Hiring Report – Signals & Trends – Quarterly Report – Q1 2022’ report, also noted that multiple tech themes have emerged within job postings in Q1 2022. Some key themes included ‘Big Data’, ‘Cloud’, ‘Digital Media’, and ‘Artificial Intelligence’.

Sriprada continued: “Digitalization was rampant during 2020 and 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns required solutions that allowed people to work from home. Interestingly, the amount of time it took for jobs posts featuring the digitalization theme to close (Job closure duration) increased from 46 days in Q4 2021 to over 51 days in Q1 2022. This suggests that firms were unable to find the right talent for certain roles during the quarter.”

When it comes to digital strategies, some interesting trends can be found in the construction sector. For instance, CBRE Group’s newly-created ‘Director, Strategic Sourcing – Digital Technology’ role will focus on providing oversight for the procurement of digital technology such as cloud and VMware, and corporate services. This is a promising development, following GlobalData’s comment in May that highlighted the benefits technology such as augmented reality could bring to the construction sector.

Robert Penmen, Analyst on the Thematic Team at GlobalData, comments: “Contractors constantly face challenges in securing people, materials, and equipment. Technology adoption will help attract the talent needed to invigorate the industry.”

Among tech-related themes, ‘Metaverse’, ‘Quantum Computing’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’ saw high growth in the number of job postings.

Sriprada adds: “The metaverse continues to be a trending theme across sectors, with firms actively looking to fill metaverse-related roles. The number of job posts related to ‘Metaverse’ as a theme surged by 130% in Q1 2022, compared to 34% in Q4 2021.

“One example is Retail company PVH Corp’s role, ‘Marketing Insights & Analytics Director’, which looks to drive future initiatives such as marketing in the metaverse, marketing automation, and personalization. In March 2022, PVH’s brand, Tommy Hilfiger, joined the Metaverse Fashion Week and hosted a digital retail platform where customers can shop NFTs for their avatars or purchase physical items from within the metaverse.”