Minding the Gap: How to Take Advantage of the Skills Gap

Written by Amanda Covert, Client Relationship Manager- Indianapolis.

Have you heard of the gap? What are you doing to bridge it? What I am referring to is two-fold: the talent gap and the time gap between opening a job opportunity and hiring the right person for your job.

As job openings continue to exceed hires and the time to fill a job opportunity reaches 40-60 days, the questions you should be asking yourself now are “Why should someone want to work for me?” and “Are the skills we are looking for trainable?”. In today’s market, the right person for your job opportunity is either 1) not actively looking for a new job 2) does not yet have the refined skills you are looking for or 3) requires something you do not offer

If you can’t close the (skills)gap, build a bridge.

We’ve got to mind the gap, but what’s the gap? In today’s workforce, across all industries, there is a growing demand for skilled workers and a lack of skilled labor. You might hear this called a skills gap. You might even hear it called a talent gap. Either way, it’s time to build a bridge. Companies are struggling to fill jobs in a timely manner or even at all. This gap is a wake-up call. A wake-up call to those of us in HR, to those of us in charge of finding skilled people, and to those of us in charge of hiring or rejecting.

What defines the highly skilled candidate?

Is it time we reconsider what makes a good candidate? What makes a person qualified to do the job? Is it education? Years of experience? Is it a certification? Is it how well formatted their resume is or how well-spoken they were in interview? Is it that they have all the talent needed to perform all job responsibilities and require no training? What about if they are a team player or the culture fit—does this matter?

The ugly truth of the growing skills gap.

Looking at the increasing gap in skills of the current work force versus the needs of companies is staggering. According to CareerBuilder, gaps in education and experience for any position above entry level is 72% of the reason that positions stay open for 6 plus weeks. This 6 week time period can result in $6-25k in lost production. Not only are companies spending money trying to find the candidates that match what they are looking for, but they are losing revenue as positions sit vacant. We all need skilled employees. If we didn’t, this conversation wouldn’t be needed. But for a moment, let’s consider hiring for skills that can’t be trained and train the skills that can be. Let’s choose to train!

Hire soft skills, Train hard skills.

What if we focused on candidates with great “soft” skills. Would that really be crazy? Skills like work ethic, dependability, positive attitude and trainability. Begin asking questions such as “would this candidate fit our culture?”; “What kind of a team mate would they make?.” Assessing candidates not on the hard skills they have now, but on what skills they could gain with time and training. Every time a company loses an employee it can cost, on the minimum, $25,000. (What does losing an employee cost you?) That’s a good chunk of change that could be invested into turning a dedicated and passionate employee into the trained, highly skilled employee that is needed. What are we waiting for? Take the best available candidates on the market, invest in time, choose to train them, and your company will have in your employment the best obtainable.

Why we choose to train.

At HireLevel, we believe in searching for candidates that are the best fit for your company. Candidates we believe will last. The talent search goes far past what’s on paper. In a severely passive workforce, we seek out team players who are passionate, self-motivated, accountable, and trainable (what all companies need) and spend the money to train, crosstrain, and upskill them for the opportunities we have available.

Benefits of Training and Upskilling Programs

• Fill vacant positions faster
• Retention
• Boosting employee moral
• Attracting new talent

So by choosing to train talent, you get more talent! It is a win win. Hiring someone for a highly skilled position that does not have the current skill set to do the job can be risky, but the bigger risk is letting positions go unfilled time over time. By keeping in mind that even the best of the best (skill wise) is not guaranteed to stick around, you will see your focus shift to a culture fit. Then, when you invest in the people that are the right fit for the company, they will commit to the work they’re doing and strive to keep learning.

HireLevel takes recruitment to retirement

With decades of experience in workforce development, HireLevel believes in the value of an innovative and diverse approach to hiring and maintaining. We hire candidates we believe in | find the right match for the company’s culture | seek out team players who are truly passionate about the work they want to do | strive to bring people with diverse backgrounds together

HireLevel is dedicated to continuous training and upskilling, as well as recognition of employees, through our train the trainer program, our internal #HiFive program, and opportunities for education reimbursement and certification programs. We believe all of these drive employee retention at our company.

If you would like to learn more about how you can implement training programs, innovative hiring strategies, or employee recognition programs at your company please reach out to our Human Capital Management Marketing Team at hello@hirelevel.com

Share This Post