How to Address the Skills Gap?
There have been various job openings after the Covid-19 pandemic. As the economy opened up, many organizations needed qualified and skilled individuals on their side. However, most industries are facing a peculiar issue where job openings are outnumbering qualified applicants.
The study by the Korn Ferry Institute shows that the current talent shortage will reach its peak in 2030. As the study shows, around 85.2 million job openings by 2030 won't be filled globally. The technology and media industries are going to be the worst affected ones.
Therefore, it is time to think of ways to address the skills gap and create awareness for skilled jobs. But what should you do for workforce development? We'll discuss a few options in this article to assist you in bridging the skills gap. Let's get right into it!
Bridging the Skills Gap in the Workforce: 4 Ways to Help You Out
Closing the skills gap will ensure that employers can find qualified applicants to fill the vacant positions. The best way of doing that is by creating awareness of skilled jobs so applicants can focus on vocational training and technical education. Here are a few ways to help you out.
1. Cross-Training and Strategic Hiring
Cross-training is all about educating your workforce to handle more than one role or job. This strategy can help businesses to enhance skill gap areas since they can optimize the resources that they currently have. Companies can encourage their employees to go for cross-training in other areas.
Doing so will allow you to fill the areas which require immediate shortcomings. Similarly, you can also have easy access to highly skilled talent within the organization. As a result, it can become easy for businesses to transfer knowledge and other critical information.
Strategic hiring also plays a vital role in resolving the skills gap issue. Applicants with in-demand skill sets can also be hard to find and costly. Therefore, businesses need to focus on hiring strategically. Ideally, organizations can partner with recruiters, schools, and other associations.
This way, companies can position themselves better for finding and hiring the right talent. Practices like recruiting fresh graduates with job training programs will help businesses find employees without overpaying.
2. Encourage Employees to Continue their Education
Employees continuing their education can be beneficial for everyone. Organizations can get more talented, versatile, and productive groups of individuals by incentivizing their employees to continue their education. Such policies can help companies to attract top talent and decrease labor turnover.
Businesses can offer loans or grants to cover the cost of employees' additional efforts for education. Whether they want to pursue a higher degree or refresh their expired certification, employers should incentivize their employees. Allowing employees to pursue further education will assist them with their career pathways.
3. Upskill Your Team
Apart from hiring new talent, businesses also need to ensure that their current workforce is also equipped with the latest skills. Therefore, give current employees a chance to enhance their abilities and develop new skills.
Upskilling your team would be imperative so that they can stay updated with job market trends. There are different ways that you can upskill your team, such as:
- Hire a consultant to conduct a workshop
- Have an in-house training session
- Allow employees to attend conferences
These steps might be hard for businesses since training sessions mean employees won't be able to complete their working hours. Upskilling can also be quite challenging if the business is currently booming and you need your employees to put in their best.
Nevertheless, companies should understand that employees are an important asset. So, investing in the employees' upskilling and training efforts will benefit the companies in the long run. Furthermore, training your employees will help them keep the business competitive.
4. Get in Touch With Different Educators
Apprenticeships can help businesses to train new talent so they can develop skills for the job. However, choosing the right individuals is important for organizations so that they can become skilled individuals in the long run. That is where networking with educators can come in handy.
HR managers can get in touch with professional associations and inform them about their needs. As a result, companies can develop a program with educational institutes that ensure they find the best talent. Furthermore, collaborating with high school and college will help them learn about the skills that employers are looking for.
Connecting with the individual educators in your community will allow you to share your views about what skills students entering the workforce need to have. Educational institutes can make relevant adjustments to their curriculum, helping bridge the skills gap.
How Can Addressing the Skills Gap Help Your Organization?
There is a wide range of benefits that you can get from addressing and bridging the skills gap. Here are just a few of them.
Makes Strategic Workforce Planning Easy
Strategic workforce planning refers to having an accurate number of employees on your side with the right skills. As a result, organizations can easily find people that are best fitting for their job roles. A clear strategy will help you achieve your business goals while building a sustainable and flourishing workforce.
Optimizes your Hiring Practices
Addressing the skills gap will help you to optimize your hiring practices and recruitment strategies. You'll have a clear idea regarding how to find the right talent in the long run. Not only will it save companies valuable resources, but also ensure that they find the right talent.
Gives Businesses a Competitive Advantage
Many countries have a skilled trade program to bring top talent so they can have an edge over nations. The case is no different for businesses that can optimize their performance by having skilled people on their side. This is particularly important for businesses in emerging industries to get a competitive edge early on.
Final Word
Creating awareness for skilled jobs and addressing the skills gap might seem like a challenging task. Nevertheless, it can help you acquire the competencies for your business to grow in the long term.
Businesses should focus on vocational training to ensure that their current workforce is updated with the new technological advancements. This way, organizations can focus on their long-term growth and sustainability.