Juan Diego Barrera Sandoval“We need evangelization”. Martin Padulla, Founder & CEO at Staffingamericalatina and former Managing Director of the World Employment Confederation preaches the old customer service and IT world is dying. “We need to make the general public understand that English proficiency and digital skills are essential, yet not enough anymore.”
In this breakdown, we gathered insights from Staffing Industry leaders in Latin America to help you understand 2025’s staffing trends and navigate the new industry’s order.
Opportunities and policy-maker bakcwardness
“The workforce solutions penetration in the regional market is still below the global average and even lower than in more developed countries,” says Martin Padulla, Founder & CEO at Staffingamericalatina and former Managing Director of the World Employment Confederation’s Latin America branch.
“A nearshoring company could reasonably establish a 24/7 workflow that is strong on employee well-being standards. The question is: how fast can we achieve the structural coordination for that to happen?”
He refers to public policy. Indirectly, he speaks to cases like Colombia’s labor reform: “policymakers insist on creating legislation that has nothing to do with 21st-century workplace environment. We need more flexibility.”
When asked what he means by evangelization, Padulla explained: “State, culture, and industry are coming together to spread the message that we need to keep competitive. We need all actors to resort to technology as a key ally in democratizing education in languages and technology.”
Profiling:
“The demand for bilingual, culturally fluent talent is skyrocketing—it’s no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a deal breaker,” says Justin Belmont, Founder and CEO at Prose and current Forbes Agency Council member. “At the same time, experienced professionals in AI, cloud computing, and cybersecurity are becoming unicorns: rare, elusive, and worth the investment.”
Óscar Silvero, President of Argentina’s Employment Federation (FAE) and Global PR Head for ARCH Resources Group, highlights the decline of jobs due to automation. He emphasizes that the growing demand for tech-savvy data analysts with expertise in specific business domains is rendering general analysts with limited skills increasingly irrelevant.
He also notes, “Our clients are not satisfied with our recruiting abilities. Technology development requires staffing agencies to become more data-driven and get involved and help employees achieve skill proficiency.”
Talent attraction and retention:
“Every sector faces a talent retention crisis,”. says Óscar Silvero. “Upskilling and reskilling are more crucial than ever due to technological transformations.”
Meanwhile, Martin Padulla believes the industry is realizing it must offer more than transitional jobs: “People need purpose. It changes with age and socioeconomic conditions. Companies are learning to align staff with specific personal and general purposes that are meaningful, allowing Latin workers to understand they can transform reality through their jobs.”
Pablo Rossel Estay, Senior Vice President and Country Manager at CGS Chile, agrees: “Companies that want to stand out must invest in long-term development plans, flexible working conditions, and a strong purpose that attracts and retains talent.”
Some companies believe that strategic investments can help bridge the age gap, transforming BPO and IT services into fields that are not exclusively dominated by younger professionals. ‘Though there’s still a bias toward youth, an experienced workforce with digital education has much to offer if companies do their part,” Óscar Silvero argued.
This prompts the question of whether, in the long term, CX and IT industries could evolve to actively seek experienced workers for their valuable soft skills.
Dan Hickey, Director of Operations at Halo Recruiting, believes the scarcity of IT talent benefits nearshoring companies: “With low retention becoming common in IT, leveraging more global remote talent is a successful strategy. The global talent pool is more robust and US employers can be more competitive in salaries relative to local competitors.”
NSAM’s Take:
Nearshoring industries are entering a pivotal transition year. By the end of 2025, staffing is expected to have walked a long distance in the shift away from its traditional focus on entry-level roles, with English proficiency being the primary hiring criterion.
CX and IT companies are increasingly seeking staffing agents who can supply talent with specialized skills and long-term compromise. This shift underscores the urgent need for governments, staffing firms, and businesses to collaborate on sharing responsibilities for reskilling and upskilling the workforce.
Without long-term coordination to transform the talent pool, the region risks wasting its cultural and time-zone advantages, which have been key drivers of its nearshoring success.
In the words of Ashish Malhotra, President at Ampalyst LLC: “Latin America continues to face stiff competition from Asian destinations such as India and the Philippines, and improvements in technology and infrastructure rapidly counter the arguments in favor of time zones by the availability of vast talent ecosystems that are available in Asia.”
At the same time, as operative tasks become increasingly automated, soft skills are becoming crucial in order to translate innovative tech tools into real productivity.
The demand for same-time-zone support doesn’t necessarily equate to the need for same-time-zone resources. For instance, a second shift in Asia—preferred by many in the Philippines—can often address this requirement while leveraging global cost efficiencies. Ultimately, the priority remains skilled professionals equipped with access to robust ecosystems and advanced technologies. LATAM has made impressive strides in integrating cutting-edge technology into its labor pools, raising the quality of work clients can anticipate. Strengthening collaboration between public and private sectors will further accelerate these advancements, fostering even greater opportunities for the region.