Best Measure of a Company's Health – Employee Engagement is #1

“Skills Shortage” “Qualified Candidates Shortage” – REALLY?

 

We have a skills shortage in areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  This is not a new issue.   However, a skill shortage or the inability to find qualified people, beyond those STEM areas is an illusion created by failure of process and execution.

HERE’S WHAT REALLY GOING ON!

It’s not a supply problem.  It’s an execution problem OR more honestly, a failure in execution.

Quite frankly……….. the claim that it is difficult to find qualified people to fill jobs, is more often attributable to……

• the application of a misguided recipe for candidate selection,
• an aversion to training,
• a shortage of interviewing skills for identifying and selecting “talent,”
• an aversion to making hiring decisions, and
• discriminatory hiring practices. 

Companies are searching for the square peg that fits the square hole. Job openings are listed with requirements drawn so narrowly that they even include experience using the same software in use at the hiring company.  In addition to having the same job title – with the same responsibilities – in the same industry, some also want a candidate who has performed the job in the same way.  Please see post: Hire for Employee Engagement – It’s not the Square Peg!

With such qualifications required to fill a job, how can it be anything but difficult to find people to fill an opening.

You would suspect that no one has ever learned a new piece of software or a new skill, and yet, because of the pace of change………the exact opposite is true. 

People at work are successfully being introduced to new software, processes and procedures on a regular basis driven by technological advances. 

……And it’s not just the “Square-Peg Mentality.   We also see…….. 

D I S C R I M I N A T I O N

Against the  UNEMPLOYED,  Against the OLDER WORKER

DISCRIMINATION against the unemployed, is another mis-guided practice that leaves highly qualified and educated people on the sidelines, unemployed while companies talk about their inability to find qualified people.

Rather than eliminating these people without even a look at what they offer. we need to TAKE A LOOK AT THEM INTELLIGENTLY.

• Look at what that “unemployed” person has accomplished in their work history.  
• Look at what they have been doing as they look for work.  
  • Have they kept current with seminars, training, and other professional growth activities
  • Have they extended themselves to help others with volunteer work, 

      and most of all……

• that unemployed person needs to brought in for an interview, just like other people with equivalent skills and experience.

We are barely coming out of the worst economic downturn since the depression.  The so-called recovery has been sluggish in comparison to other recoveries.  I would think this is widely known along with the understanding that most long term unemployed are in that situation due to factors unrelated to performance, attitude or ability.  

As the economy contracted so did businesses; less customers – fewer employees needed.  Many companies completely shutdown, shutdown divisions, or product lines.  Some became acquisition targets at attractive prices.   Staff redundancies resulted in terminations that had nothing to do with ability but whether or not you were an employee of the acquired company or the acquirer.  

Over 8 million jobs were lost (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics).   As of this month, we are close to having gained back approximately the number of jobs lost – might sound good, but it’s not.    Why?    it is estimated that there are 125,000  new entrants to the workforce each month.   How many is that since 2008?   Gaining back close to 8 million jobs gets us only “half way down the field.*

Bottom Line:   A majority of the unemployed were thrown into an untenable and unprecedented situation in our lifetimes and they probably represent the largest segment of the workforce receptive to becoming Engaged Employees.  They deserve at least a level playing field in their job searches.

DISCRIMINATION against the older worker; 

Another source of skills and expertise sitting on the sidelines while companies declare, “we can’t find skilled people;” a total fail to execute effectively.  

We need to TAKE A LOOK A THEM INTELLIGENTLY as well.   They also deserve a level playing field.

• Look at what that older person has accomplished in their work history just as you would anyone else.  
• Evaluate them on their ability to do the job as you would anyone else.

Step back from stereo-typing, step away from discriminatory behavior.

Discrimination of any kind is illegal, unethical, morally wrong and is also bad business policy.

Discrimination of any kind is not the hallmark of a rational well thought out and executed hiring process designed to bring onboard qualified, capable people.  

Discrimination is the exact opposite.

THE RESULT is MEDIOCRITY AND LESS 

We have to do a lot better – there’s an awful lot riding on it!

Once again, for at least some of this problem, we go back to interviewing skills also touched upon in the post on “Square Peg” hiring.   

A skilled interviewer should easily be able to determine, skills and attitude, and if a candidate is unemployed, how they came to be unemployed.  Reference checking is a valuable additional  action that can support a decision to hire or not.    

…… and the other issue that is beginning to surface.  Qualified candidates are declining to accept the salaries being offered.  It appears the some of the mismatch is not between required skills and candidates available.  It’s between the salaries offered and the salaries requested.

Peter Cappelli, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, argues in his book “Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs” that employers can’t find qualified workers not because of a “skills gap,” but because employers’ hiring requirements are unrealistic, salaries are too low and overly rigid applicant screening keeps most people out

Yes, we are living in a risk averse period in the conduct of business and this is impacting if, when, and how we hire.

Unfortunately, I also know that nothing very impressive and little if any innovation has come out of being averse to risk, so let’s shake that off – and get back to innovating and intelligent risk taking before we forget how that works!

* We entered a very weak recovery in July 2009, following the deep recession that began in December 2007.   Through 2013, Economist referred to the recovery as “off balance.”   As we approach mid- 2014 the recovery is still called “wobbly.”   First Quarter 2014 GDP results were disappointing and below estimates.

There are some differences amongst Economist’s projections, but the ball park seems to be that in order to gain back all of the jobs lost in the recessions and keep pace with new entrants to the workforce we would need to produce at least 300,o00 new jobs per month for several years.  I cannot find any month where we have reached this number since the recovery began.

Further, and the reason why we have not seen that 300,000 number, that type of job growth typically requires GDP growth of at least 3%.   GDP and job growth statistics are widely available to review.

Follow