Surging Job Market- How Are You Dealing With the Skills Gap

With the addition of 23,200 jobs by the staffing firms in September, the year-to-year growth in staffing jobs is clearly evident and the numbers are really encouraging!

But, despite of the astonishing figures with close to 6 million job openings, it has become really difficult for U.S. businesses to fill these openings due to skills gap challenges and talent shortage. Thus, it is high time when businesses need to understand that to proactively respond to the dynamic business ecosystem and stay competitive in global and domestic markets, they need to focus on strategic talent acquisition, development, management and retention techniques.

The skills gap exists in every sized business and if not managed strategically, it may hinder any business’s growth. Some of the common drivers of this gap include compensation expectations, change in technology, employer reluctance to pay more, education, mismatched job requirements and acquisition. Based on common areas that trigger the skills gap, here are a few tips that may help improving the situation:

Strategic Staffing Practices:       

Contingent workforce is no more an alien concept and this is actually the need of the hour! Businesses that suffer the skills gap and need to fill the gap within shorter timeframe, have the best option in the form of temp or contract hiring. You can take help from IT consulting firms that can help you meet the right talent at the right time.

Hiring Roadmap:

There’s no doubt that your current workforce is super talented and highly capable of meeting the business goals. But, with fast-moving global market, business needs and requirements may change periodically and for that you need to have a proper roadmap in mind. Being a strategic player, you must always have some talented candidates in pipeline to meet any unplanned requirement. Also, keep track of retiring baby boomers whose replacements need to be found out!

Talent Development:

No matter how talented candidates you hired, with the advancement of technologies and techniques, you need to make training and development a priority! The key to any business’s success is how it invests in the talent development. With proper time to time training programs being conducted, your workforce should always be ready to grab any new opportunities in completely different markets.

Embrace Flexibility:

While making training a priority is a positive factor for companies, embracing flexibility can help you go long way! Today’s workforce is more likely to prefer employer that allows flexible working hours and give more freedom to employees. By allowing employees to work flexibly, you can boost their morale as well as make them more engaged.

Bringing It All Together