Filling the Skills Gap: How to Find Qualified Talent

75904155Despite an unemployment rate that is still above what analysts would prefer, businesses are still finding it difficult to fill open positions. This certainly is not due to a lack of Americans searching for work, but rather a dearth of qualified talent. The so-called “skills gap” has frustrated hiring managers, because they can’t find prospective employees that possess the tools needed to step into vacant positions.

More than technical skills. A recent poll conducted by Adecco Staffing US shed light on how the skills gap is affecting companies. Researchers found that 92 percent believe in the skills gap, but they also revealed exactly what tools are most lacking from the workforce. They found that 44 percent of respondents cited soft skills – communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration – as being the most absent.

“Educational institutions may overlook these elements in today’s digital age, but schools must integrate both hard and soft skill sets into their curriculums, which in turn will help better prepare candidates and strengthen our country’s workforce,” researcher Janette Marx said.

Filling the gap. Business executives are not without possible solutions, however. Perhaps most importantly, employers need to be willing to offer apprenticeship and training programs. CNBC notes that many of the respondents to the Adecco Staffing survey have removed such initiatives in an effort to cut costs, yet they are often some of the most valuable resources when it comes to building soft skills.

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Revisit recruiting. Another roadblock that may be preventing businesses from filling open positions is that they have not recently addressed their recruiting practices, and injecting some new life into the initiative may bring about better results.

This can be accomplished in many different ways, whether employers want to update the job specifications, target new areas or ask for internal referrals. Furthermore, executives may want to attend webinars or conferences themselves to pick up on new and innovative ways to improve their recruiting habits.

Rethink requirements. If businesses are having a significant amount of trouble filling certain positions, some experts say it may be time for them to relax some of the requirements for a particular job. For instance, perhaps a prospective employee was deterred from applying due to a particular sentence that made him or her think it was not a good fit, despite him or her having the soft skills necessary for the position.

Where’s the future headed. Despite the lingering challenges, there’s no denying that employers are seeing some increased success. According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 3.3 people for every job opening, which is down significantly from the figure of 6.2 that stood during the height of the recession. Still, if executives want to fill the jobs they’ve been long been hoping to, it would be wise to revisit their hiring and recruiting practices.

MORE: Mind the IT Skills Gap

Tim Kardok

Tim Kardok
Tim Kardok is president of eCareer Holdings Inc., a developer of industry-specific career websites focused on job advertising.

Tim Kardok

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3 Responses to “Filling the Skills Gap: How to Find Qualified Talent”

  1. […] Filling the skills gap: How to find qualified talent […]

  2. […] recent poll found that “44 percent of respondents cited soft skills – communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration – as being […]

  3. […] Despite an unemployment rate that is still above what analysts would prefer, businesses are still finding it difficult to fill open positions. This certainly is not due to a lack of Americans searching for work, but rather a dearth of qualified talent.  […]

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