According to the latest studies in human resources, the number of individuals who have the qualities most sought by employers declined in the last decade, while the number of persons with irrelevant skills for opened positions has increased significantly. Unfortunately, this trend manifests both globally and in Romania.
The fact that this is a reality human resources professionals are increasingly facing is proven by a simple use of the most popular search engine. Thus, if we want to do a little experiment, we can perform a search related to the scarcity of talents on Google, in English, and we will see that this association of terms returns millions of results. Here is, therefore, the evidence that the lack of qualified workforce is a global reality.
Paradox – Lack of jobs versus skill gaps
However, inevitably, we will ask the next question: How is it possible that in a world where millions of people have no jobs, employers are complaining that they can not find the suitable candidates to occupy certain positions? How is it possible that in countries with high unemployment and a low number of working people human resources professionals can encounter a big difficulty in finding qualified employees?
Well, although it seems hard to believe, even worldwide employers are facing a scarcity of talent. According to the studies we have mentioned since the beginning of this article, the demographic changes that are taking place around the globe are influencing this. On one hand, the working population is declining worldwide, and on the other hand, technology is advancing very quickly, which causes the needs of employers regarding recruitment to be increasingly more complex, and the qualifications of candidates to be even harder to find.
Why can’t we find the right people and what remains to be done
Among the most common causes of the difficulties faced by employers in finding suitable workers for some jobs are the insufficient number of candidates or the lack of specific professional skills for a particular opened position. Also, other causes include the lack of experienced candidates, the absence of interpersonal and relationship skills, and the fact that their salary expectations are too high.
What could employers or HR professionals do to tackle the talent shortage is to adopt less used methods of searching and recruiting and this way they will identify the right people where they wouldn’t expect to. Redefining the selection criteria, developing new recruitment practices or adopting a more flexible attitude by expanding the search area for candidates among other social categories (young or retired people) may be helpful.
Accordingly, when finding new workers is a problem, employers should consider expanding the benefits package, and increasing the offered wages. At the same time, attracting people with the potential to learn and to gain the skills needed for a particular position can be a profitable strategy, as well as providing trainings and development programs for already existing employees.
Above all, companies should be more concerned with consolidating their employer brand and highlighting the value of the benefits offered to their employees.
BIA HR TEAM