The Skills Gap is Real – and Widening

Despite the fact the unemployment rate continues to remain high, many of our clients (and 49% of American employers who were recently surveyed) are reporting that they are having difficulty when it comes to filling positions that require advanced skills and/or technical expertise.

With an astounding 13 million Americans currently unemployed and searching for work, how can this be? Most agree that the primary reason is that jobs are becoming increasingly complex, and, as such require higher levels of education, experience and problem solving ability – qualifications that a relatively small proportion of our labor force posses. Currently, the five most challenging positions to fill are skilled trades, engineers, IT staff, sales representatives, and accounting/finance professionals.  The “skills gap” is real, and it is widening, so as employers, what can we do to address it? In The Direct Report, we provide resources and tools that can help you better understand the implications of the “skills gap” and discuss ways that you become more competitive in your efforts to recruit, identify and select top talent. This includes a recent study by Jobvite, which discusses the effectiveness of social media recruiting, tactics for improving incumbent skills and more! (Excerpt from the September issue of The Direct Report.)