The Skills Gap Myth: Why Companies Can’t Find Good People

[acri1]

The Skills Gap Myth: Why Companies Can’t Find Good People

By Peter Cappelli | June 4, 2012

Last week’s disappointing unemployment report has refocused attention on the question of why, despite modest signs of economic recovery in recent months, American companies aren’t hiring.

Indeed, some of the most puzzling stories to come out of the Great Recession are the many claims by employers that they cannot find qualified applicants to fill their jobs, despite the millions of unemployed who are seeking work. Beyond the anecdotes themselves is survey evidence, most recently from Manpower, which finds roughly half of employers reporting trouble filling their vacancies.

The first thing that makes me wonder about the supposed “skill gap” is that, when pressed for more evidence, roughly 10% of employers admit that the problem is really that the candidates they want won’t accept the positions at the wage level being offered. That’s not a skill shortage, it’s simply being unwilling to pay the going price.

But the heart of the real story about employer difficulties in hiring can be seen in the Manpower data showing that only 15% of employers who say they see a skill shortage say that the issue is a lack of candidate knowledge, which is what we’d normally think of as skill. Instead, by far the most important shortfall they see in candidates is a lack of experience doing similar jobs. Employers are not looking to hire entry-level applicants right out of school. They want experienced candidates who can contribute immediately with no training or start-up time. That’s certainly understandable, but the only people who can do that are those who have done virtually the same job before, and that often requires a skill set that, in a rapidly changing world, may die out soon after it is perfected.

One of my favorite examples of the absurdity of this requirement was a job advertisement for a cotton candy machine operator – not a high-skill job – which required that applicants “demonstrate prior success in operating cotton candy machines.” The most perverse manifestation of this approach is the many employers who now refuse to take applicants from unemployed candidates, the rationale being that their skills must be getting rusty.

Another way to describe the above situation is that employers don’t want to provide any training for new hires — or even any time for candidates to get up to speed. A 2011 Accenture survey found that only 21% of U.S. employees had received any employer-provided formal training in the past five years. Does it make sense to keep vacancies unfilled for months to avoid having to give new hires with less-than-perfect skills time to get up to speed?

Employers further complicated the hiring process by piling on more and more job requirements, expecting that in a down market a perfect candidate will turn up if they just keep looking. One job seeker I interviewed in my own research described her experience trying to land “one post that has gone unfilled for nearly a year, asking the candidate to not only be the human resources expert but the marketing, publishing, project manager, accounting and finance expert. When I asked the employer if it was difficult to fill the position, the response was ‘yes but we want the right fit.’”

Another factor that contributes to the perception of a skills gap is that most employers now use software to handle job applications, adding rigidity to the process that screens out all but the theoretically perfect candidate. Most systems, for example, now ask potential applicants what wage they are seeking — and toss out those who put down a figure higher than the employer wants. That’s hardly a skill problem. Meanwhile, applicants are typically assessed almost entirely on prior experience and credentials, and a failure to meet any one of the requirements leads to elimination. One manager told me that in his company 25,000 applicants had applied for a standard engineering job, yet none were rated as qualified. How could that be? Just put in enough of these yes/no requirements and it becomes mathematically unlikely that anyone will get through.

What do we do about this situation, where jobs are going unfilled while good candidates are out there? For starters, employers should ask themselves whether their current practices are truly working for them. Then they need to ask: Wouldn’t we be better off helping good candidates complete the requirements to be a perfect fit rather than keeping positions open indefinitely?

A generation ago, employers routinely hired people right out of school and were willing to provide almost all their skills. Apprenticeships and similar programs provided ways for the employees to essentially pay for the training themselves. Employers — and especially those who expect colleges to provide most of their skills — should also work more closely with educational institutions to develop the candidates they need.

It makes no sense to expect that a supplier will produce what you want if you give it no advanced warning of what that might be and no help developing it. But the first step is to recognize that this problem is self-inflicted.

The Skills Gap Myth: Why Companies Can't Find Good People | Business | TIME.com

Article is on point, IMO. A lot of companies these days expect to find somebody that's "perfect" and don't want to offer any job training at all.

 

[Serious]

Technology?

Sounds like the same thing males, say about internet dating.

Because there are so many thirsty men(job candidates ) females ( the employer) get to be as picky as possible.

The only person who gets to date all the females is the alpha male (most suitable candidate), thus weaving out all the in the between people who could have potentially worked perfectly in the system.......

 

[Habit]

Technology?

Sounds like the same thing males, say about internet dating.

Because there are so many thirsty men(job candidates ) females ( the employer) get to be as picky as possible.

The only person who gets to date all the females is the alpha male (most suitable candidate), thus weaving out all the in the between people who could have potentially worked perfectly in the system.......

So what is a non-STEM major to do?

These companies are taking full advantage of the poor economy. These business and liberal arts majors should go get a specialize degree, and let those suckers do the work of 3 or 4 people because their company won't hiring anyone.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

The Skills Gap Myth: Why Companies Can't Find Good People | Business | TIME.com

Article is on point, IMO. A lot of companies these days expect to find somebody that's "perfect" and don't want to offer any job training at all.

I agree with the article to an extent, but I have been team leader here at my company for about a year and we still havnt been able to fill my old position yet. We have hired 3 different people that couldn't make it past their 90 probation period. One was a drunk, had to fire him after his 4th DUI. One couldn't show up on time. The other had no clue what he was doing, resume said he had experience but he didn't know the first thing about electronics. I think companies are so used to fukked up employees that their scared to risk hiring ANYONE.

 

[Grams]

More companies need to stop with this "you need a degree" foolishness and start finding young bulls like me a few years fresh outta high school willing to study and learn on the job

 

[ZEB WALTON]

companies Don't wanna teach you shyt. as an engineering grad it is a difficult reality

 

[sm0ke]

More companies need to stop with this "you need a degree" foolishness and start finding young bulls like me a few years fresh outta high school willing to study and learn on the job

Nah, they need to stop with the demanding experience requirements and hire young, gifted dudes like me coming fresh outta college.

 

[beejus]

Part of the problem and I'm dealing with this right now myself as I'm trying to get a new job within my own company, is HR and recruiters are strictly looking for key words in resumes. If certain words don't appear in your application then you aren't even getting a shot of being hired. You're just another name and piece of paper to them. The easiest way to get a job still is having a some sort of hookup who can put in a good word for you.

 

[radio rahiem]

good thing my test taking a few years ago is starting to pay off [municipal]. but i've been on the market inbetween the test and the call back and sh-t is ridiculous.
these companies and their practices
best thing is network or know someone inside who can get you the hookup

 

[krexzen]

Nah, they need to stop with the demanding experience requirements and hire young, gifted dudes like me coming fresh outta college.

I agree, but I wonder as our generation grows and start to become in power, will we be any different? Will we be more flexible in hiring future upcoming college grads, or will we carry on the status quo? I really really hope that we run things differently and hopefully better.

 

[radio rahiem]

we better. this instant gratification culture is going to doom us. sometimes you have to develop great talent instead of just hoping they fall into your lap
especially if the post hasn't been filled for 6-12 mos

 

[Liquid]

I agree, but I wonder as our generation grows and start to become in power, will we be any different? Will we be more flexible in hiring future upcoming college grads, or will we carry on the status quo? I really really hope that we run things differently and hopefully better.

We have to. Talk to anyone in their mid 20's these days and they will sing you the same song.

You run yourself into the situation of you have no experience or you are overqualified. Where is the middle ground? How can one gain experience if they don't have the hookups in the industry? How is being overqualified a problem when I am applying for a position you can't seem to fill in the first place?

Also running into the problem in where you have to damn near master the art of a resume preparation for the specified field you are trying to get into. The whole searching for keywords nonsense is an absolute joke, but I have run across this myself. As far as the OP is concerned, While I find the cotton candy bit amusing I am almost positive they are bent on trying to find someone who has a college degree...to work a damn cotton candy machine lol

We have a problem in this country and its hilarious that some still use the whole "you have to go to college and get your degree" to get ahead line that worked for 50-70's babies. Things just don't operate that way anymore, hookups are just as important if not MORE important than the damn education itself. There are dozens of degrees that can be wiped out because as soon as you graduate...wtf are you going to do with them? You just dropped thousands of dollars to have the fancy title of having your bachelor's degree. We are simply just not acquiring the skills we need in High School and that's the root of the problem. Employers feel that people who have a High School diploma are just not ready to work these days and have scaled back on training to cut costs. This is a problem which I feel is only going to get worse as Education systems try to cut back on expenses and push everyone towards online courses. Thus having these big name universities justify their tuition increases. I bet they are salivating at the thought of charging more for degrees that continue to diminish in value.

Oh wait a second tho, that Philosophy degree can help you reach your goals as you are operating a cotton candy machine at the local mall.

 

[TruStyle]

Alot of truth in here. That we need people with experience but wont hire anyone to give them experience is a big problem with alot of places. I think alot of companys try to adopt the business models of huge money making companies like google and apple and try to apply it to their field. Even if its some dumb shyt like a laundromat or carwash. SHiiit i remember being 16 applying for a job at a car wash and these CACs had me doing personality tests and ethics quiz asking about my education plans and shyt. Im like yo b this is a mufucckin car wash, you need ppl to towel off some fukking cars, who you expecting to walk in this bytch, some fresh college grad looking to start his career?

 

[krexzen]

I think that they should cover networking and resume tips in high school to prepare kids more. Teachers, parents, and general public consensus go so heavy in trying to get you into college but are usually silent in regards to the outcome (it was almost like a good job/career was a certainty with a college degree).

There is such a fear of scaring kids away from college, that there is little mention of what can go wrong. IMO the sooner you know the bad the easier it is to cope with it and maybe overcome it.

 

[feelosofer]

As an employer, I'm in a bit of a tough spot. I tend to higher younger kids to work for me but part of the problem is that they want everything without putting in the work. I just had to let a kid I just hired go, because he never came in on time and then started asking about vacation time a few weeks into the job, I told him, 'Yea start today'

That being said companies are part of the problem. It's ok to want to get experienced people to do a job, but the problem is, hiring people with those level of qualifications is that they leave for greener pastures quickly. I did hire a 27 year old and he's been pretty good for me, but more companies should think that way.