• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

InFront on the Workforce

Long-term and post-acute care publication

Subscribe | Events | Advertise | Contact Us

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Who We Are & What We Do
    • The Vision
    • Readership
  • RESOURCES
    • Important Links
  • Retention & Engagement
  • Culture & Leadership
  • Regulatory
  • Technology
  • Industry Trends

Bridging Skills Gaps to Build a Strong Workforce

By Joanne Kaldy / March 21, 2019

Here’s what employers are doing to fill skills gaps that keep them from finding qualified job candidates.

In a recent survey of HR professionals, 83% said they have had trouble recruiting suitable job candidates in the past year; and 75% said that part of the problem is related to skills gaps. Over half said this concern has worsened in the past two years. Skills most lacking, the survey suggested, are in the medical, science, engineering, and data analysis fields.

Thirty-five percent (35%) of respondents said that candidates don’t have the right technical skills for job openings, while 30% said applicants don’t have the right soft skills (such as problem solving, critical thinking, the ability to deal with complexity and ambiguity, and communication). About a third of respondents said that candidates don’t have necessary work experience. Even when they could find good candidates, 43% of respondents said that competition from other employers was an issue. Just over 30% of HR professionals said that a low number of applicants or lack of interest by job seekers in the organization makes filling positions more difficult.

Looking to fill these skills gaps, HR leaders said the most effective solutions include offering onsite and offsite training through seminars and workshops; starting/expanding training programs to help improve new hires’ skills; hiring external workers (such as temps or independent contractors); increasing compensation; and improving retention efforts for current employees. Survey respondents identified other commonly used remedies such as expanding advertising via social media and collaborating with educational institutions to build talent pipelines. Some employers, according to survey results, are looking to alternative sources for new workers, such as veterans, retirees, and skilled individuals in other countries. 

Half of HR professionals said that education systems have done little or nothing to help address skills shortages. Particularly, respondents said that job candidates lack skills such as professionalism, business acumen, critical thinking, and lifelong learning.

Related Posts

  • (1/31) Viewpoint: The Case for Soft Skills
  • Customize Turnover Solutions with Workforce Analytics
  • (12/28) The Great Workforce Shortage – Provider
  • (11/14) Skills Gap Fallout Lands with HR – SHRM
  • Workforce Woes

Categories: Culture & Leadership / Tags: Featured, Latest Articles, More Articles

Primary Sidebar

AROUND THE WEB

Items of interest from across the web.

  • As More States Are Legalizing Marijuana, How Should Employers Respond – HR Executive
  • Giving Thanks for Senior Living Employees, Leaders — McKnights
  • 22 States Petition CMS to End Mandate As 76% of SNF Staff Behind on Vaccines – Skilled Nursing News
  • 6 Ways to Re-energize a Depleted Team – Harvard Business Review
  • 7 Ways to Lift Up the Employees’ Morale Ahead of Holiday Season — Entrepreneur
  • Workforce, Financial Relief Focus in ‘Tumultuous Period’ After Midterms: Argentum – McKnights
  • 6 Steps to Creating More Inclusive Job Descriptions – HR Morning
  • Mental Wellbeing and Resilience: Tech + Culture to the Rescue – HR Daily Advisor
  • Employers Have ‘Flexibility Fatigue.’ But That Could Put Them on the Wrong Side of the ADA. – HR Dive(11/16) Employers Must Push Preventive Care to Inflation-Worried Staff – TLNT

View All

CONTACT INFO

Publisher: CC Andrews
440.638.6990
Editor: Joanne Kaldy

PO Box 360727
Cleveland, OH 44136

CATEGORIES

  • CULTURE & LEADERSHIP
  • RETENTION & ENGAGEMENT
  • REGULATORY
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • TRENDS IN THE INDUSTRY

Copyright © 2023 - InFrontWorkforce.com. All rights reserved.