While training institutions graduate entry-level professionals, year in year out, shortage of skills in the labor market is still palpable. Once in a while, companies find themselves in a position where it costs them so much to attract and retain talent for specific projects. Because of this, they must figure out how they can mitigate the situation so that their businesses are not disrupted.
According to Canadian human resources consulting agencies, this shortage of skills certainly undermines the quality of recruitments and it is upon business leaders in the various industries to come together and share strategies that will strengthen their staff base going into this period.
If you feel as a company that you have a skills gap within your organization and the people you have may not have the right skills to meet your project needs in the future, there are strategies you can adopt to address this. Below are some of them:
Reinvention
The skills shortage presents companies with renewed imperatives to critically rethink their traditional habits and patterns such as where they find their workers and how they do the recruitment. Companies must consider the different ways they can possibly run their businesses including where feasible, developing flexible organization structures, operating models, and career paths whose center of focus is not on business functions, but instead skills. For instance, departments that have staff with analytical skills can be structured such that they offer support in logistics, human resource, and finance.
Re-Evaluation
Companies must know the skill profiles of their employees. When you understand the potential and talent of your team, you can leverage on their competencies and unique skills to give you a competitive edge. In many companies, the summary of the capabilities of the employees is only represented in writing by the job description. However, employees are much more than such descriptions and the only way you can bring these skills out is by tracking and measuring the different capabilities within your company.
Recruitment
Recruitment processes with narrow criteria can hamper the search for real talent. Companies tend to waste resources including time in search for the perfect candidate. Instead of looking for the perfect match to your job description, it is probably more fruitful to look for new hires that have a demonstrable capacity to learn specific skills or roles and who match your company’s culture.
With the help of internal training programs, you can then mold them and strengthen their skills so that they can fit the requirements of the job. Look for candidates with skills such as leadership, analytical, problem solving, and technology.
Realignment
Every industry has its own niches and these do not necessarily grow at the same rate. For instance, the primary driver in the construction industry may be infrastructure followed by housing both public and private. In light of this, you may consider moving skilled construction workers who are low in demand in one sub-sector or region and take them to another sub-sector or geographical location. Redeploying employees into new roles and locations can help your company address skills shortage without the need to conduct a recruitment.
In addition to the above strategies, companies can also collaborate with education institutions and other industry players so as to build a pool of skilled workers. They can do this by establishing collaborative training programs which will enable them to pursue a wider audience of potential employees.
