The Skills Gap

 
At the time this article was written, Partner Professional Staffing has about 140 open positions that our clients need filled. In a time when unemployment is high, one would expect that we would have plenty of candidates to screen when looking for that perfect match but in fact, the opposite is true. As my partner, Bill Laverty, has said, “we are job rich and candidate poor.” In essence, the candidate pool for the jobs that our clients are hiring for, the jobs that are important to these companies going forward in the changing competitive landscape, is vastly unprepared to succeed.
 
A 2009 study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation concluded that, “Success in the 21st century demands skills, attitudes, and abilities that make some form of postsecondary education a virtual requirement. In today’s world, a postsecondary credential has become as important as a high school diploma used to be.”
 
The study continues by saying, “The types of jobs fueling our economy continue to change rapidly. Technological advances have not only changed the products Americans create but the way American businesses actually build their products. Success in the workplace demands advanced skills in critical thinking and problem solving, as well as a kind of intellectual agility that enables one to shift readily from one task or project to another. Workers who have strong language and math skills, technological capabilities, and a capacity to work well in teams are most likely to succeed. Too many of our young people are not being effectively prepared for these new jobs.”
 
But where lays the blame for the skills gap? Employers point to the schools that are producing a generation of under-prepared young people that are not equipped for today’s workplace. Educators are saying that companies should do less complaining and get more involved to help fix the problem.  I believe that the answer probably lies somewhere in between these two camps. For now, this puts the onus on the employee to take responsibility for their own education and training or be risk being left behind in lower paid jobs or possibly laid off with few options for re-employment.
 
Options for Businesses
Some companies have made the decision not to hire employees that are unprepared. This might cost more up front in terms of paying for the in-demand talent, but these companies often cite the ability to focus on career development rather than remedial training as the benefit. Fortunately, there are cost effective ways of training that have emerged as technology has developed. 
 
Beyond company intranets, there are online social networks, blogs, podcasts and other web-based resources. These informal options are expected to rise in popularity and companies that embrace them will be attractive to the younger workers that many of these alternatives appeal to. Some other options include:

  • Getting involved with educators to discuss the skills your future employees need to have. Then offer that future workforce the opportunity to develop those skills through learning opportunities such as mentorships and internships.
  • Developing better measuring and tracking of the internal training costs over time and understanding the ROI. Using this information you can also document the true cost of ill-prepared employees.
  • If your organization is large enough use your corporate voice to draw attention to the areas where the young people entering the workforce are lacking skills.

 
Options for Candidates
Candidates need to understand what skills are required and are in demand in their preferred profession, then they need to close the gap to make themselves more marketable to employers. Some ways to do that:

  • Establish a relationship with a recruiter that works in your field and talk to them about what skills are in demand. Recruiters make their living filling in demand jobs with cream-of-the-crop talent, so they will have a good sense of what skills are needed.
  • Put together a plan to acquire those skills. Using the low cost, informal training options listed above might be an appealing way to acquire new skills.
  • Take advantage of company offered training dollars, if available, to take classes or get certified in a new or more relevant skill.

According to the directors of each of our divisions, the greatest skills gaps are found in the following areas:
 
Technology

  • Epic is a technology where the demand greatly outstrips the supply of skilled candidates. IT supports a hot area or electronic medical records (EMR) in Healthcare.
  • .Net is a technology that is being taught in schools, but the demand is high enough that many companies can’t find an adequate number of qualified people.
  • IBM Mainframe technology, such as Z/OS, BD2, CICS and VDB, is an older technology that is still in high demand in industries like Finance and Insurance. Unfortunately, many schools have stopped teaching it in favor of newer technologies.
  • MS SharePoint is an area where students and candidates are not getting exposure to the MOSS 2007 and higher releases. This is creating a challenge for the many companies that are looking to upgrade their software.
  • Cisco VOIP or Network Engineer positionsare an area most schools are not teaching to the level of specialization needed, leaving the students or candidates to go back on their own and get a certification from Cisco.

Healthcare and Scientific

  • MLT and MT candidates are in short supply in the healthcare arena, even with nearly 300,000 working in the US today.
  • Therapists, such as Occupational, Physical and Respiratory all require a certification or advanced degree, making that skill set more difficult for employers to find.
  • Epic, as mentioned under the Technology section, is a Healthcare technology skill that continues to see a shortage as the industry progresses with electronic medical records. 
  • Analytical experience using equipment such GC and HPLC (gas and liquid chromatography) is a skill too few students and candidates have exposure too.

Accounting and Finance

  • Excel, Crystal and Access proficiency is surprisingly low amongst accounting and finance professionals.
  • Communication skills and the ability to influence is critical for those that want to advance in this field, but all too often it’s a skill that has not been acquired by many accounting and finance professionals, making it a hot spot for employers.
  • ERP experience with programs like SAP, Hyperion and PeopleSoft continues to be an area of high demand with employers and is a difficult skill for many schools to teach.
  • IFRS Standards knowledge is a necessary skill for those wanting to work at international companies, but it’s not being taught yet in many schools.

There is a war raging in the recruiting marketplace today.  There is a high demand for talent with current technical skills and the ability to lead people to achieve results. These people will rarely be actively looking for a job (passive candidates) and will not be on the job boards such as Monster and Career Builder very often.  With the scarcity of such talent, you have to proactively go after these individuals if you don’t have the time to build the talent internally over a period of years.  In these cases, teach all your employees to network and always be on the lookout for people with both technical and leadership skills.  Or, hire a search firm with a history of finding “passive” candidates and aggressively target the best people.
 
By Greg Hopkins, CEO of Partner Professional Staffing