While pessimists tend to see problems, optimists are more likely to recognize
opportunities. A number of recent studies have disseminated doom and gloom
about worker skills shortages facing North American organizations. While these
reports paint a pessimistic picture for business, the smart -- and optimistic -- job-seeker
or organization member can seize opportunity amid the grim statistics. This article
summarizes the skills crisis, looks at its causes, and reveals how you can use the
skills shortage to your advantage.
The Problem/Opportunity
The Internet is fraught with dire news of existing or ominous skills shortages:
A survey of leaders from a consortium
of business-research organizations finds the incoming generation sorely lacking in much needed
workplace skills – both basic academic and more advanced "applied" skills. The consortium, which
consisted of The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for
21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management, found that too many new
entrants to the workforce are not adequately prepared in such important skills as teamwork, critical
thinking, communication, professionalism and work ethic (defined as "demonstrating personal
accountability, effective work habits, e.g., punctuality, working productively with others, time and
workload management"), and even basic-knowledge skills such as reading and math. Writing
was particularly singled out as a deficient skill, with nearly half of all survey participants reporting
that two-year college graduates are deficient in this skill. [Note: See our article
Writing Skills: More Important Than Ever on the Job.]
Accenture's High Performance Workforce Study, as reported by ZDNet, found that
only 14 percent of senior-executive respondents described the overall skill level of their
organizations' workforce as industry leading, and only 20 percent of respondents said the
vast majority of their employees understand their companies' strategy and what's needed to
succeed in their industry.
Fifty percent of Canadian managers say the shortage of skilled labor is a serious
problem, according to the Workplace Partners Panel's 2005 Viewpoints Leadership Survey.
Most aspects of the information-technology field are growing, yet enrollment in
post-secondary IT programs dropped 70 percent between 2000 and 2005, reports HR.com.
The perception that most IT jobs are going overseas may be responsible for this drop, but
HR.com notes that "while commoditized IT work will be offshored, there will be an increase
in demand for IT roles focused on the creation of ongoing business value intelligence using IT."
More than half of four-year college students and at least 75 percent of community-college
students lack the literacy (and especially math skills) to handle complex real-life tasks, says a
2006 study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. In addition, 98 percent of community colleges
offer at least one remedial reading, writing, or math course because entering students lack
these basic skills, according to Carnegie Senior Scholar Rose Asera.
The skills of project team members these days rarely are adequate to comprehensively
address all their tasks, report Dan Bradbury and David Garrett in Projects@Work.
Bringing the workforce's skills up to speed is an overwhelming expense that many
organizations can't afford.
The Causes
Why the skills deficiency? Studies point to these causes:
Aging population. The retirement of baby boomers, already under way, is a
major cause for the skills drain. The Accenture study refers to this issue as the "talent time bomb."
Knowledge economy. Consultant Madelyn Blair notes that by 2020 the blue-collar
factory worker will have virtually vanished. Knowledge and information rule in a world where, as
Blair observes, "there is more information in the Sunday edition of the New York Times
than a 17th century [person] learned in a lifetime."
Global competition for skilled workers. "The performance gap between the U.S.
and the European economies is increasing," says Scott Pollak, senior manager and site leader
of the Saratoga Institute in an interview with HR.com's Karen Elmhirst. "The emerging markets of
Eastern and Central Europe, India, and China are growing substantially more than Western
economies, and they are competing on knowledge and expertise, not just cost." A study by
Pollak's Saratoga Institute indicates that the low costs associated with offshoring are not the
only attraction of the practice; "low costs combined with educated talent are particularly
attractive," reports the Institute's
Key
Trends in Human Capital.
How You Can Benefit from the Skills Shortage
If you can offer the skills that organizations are hurting for, you will have a clear competitive
edge in your current organization or the next one you seek to join. Here's how to turn the
skills shortage to your advantage:
Learn to identify your skills. One of my students recently posted on a class
discussion board that she has no skills. Nonsense. Everyone has skills. However, many people
have a difficult time recognizing, analyzing, and describing their skills. The
Minnesota Department
of Employment and Economic Development suggests analyzing your job functions to
determine what skills you employ to perform each function. The department's site notes that
skill sets can be divided into job-specific skills, transferable skills, and self-management skills,
which are also know as "soft skills," life skills, personality characteristics, or emotional intelligence.
Transferable skills are those that you develop in a job -- or in any aspect of your life -- that
you can then apply to the positions you seek. Read more about
transferable skills. The
Core Competencies of the US Department of Veterans Affairs'
High Performance Development Model
lists details about how workers can demonstrate high-demand skills, thus providing an
excellent tool for skills identification.
Sharpen your ability to describe your skills to employers. "Employers need to
hear what you can do," the Minnesota site declares. Compose stories that illustrate how
you've demonstrated your most job-relevant skills and be prepared to tell those stories to
employers. A skills portfolio is also an outstanding way to convey your skills to employers by
showing real-world examples. Read more about
career and job-search portfolios.
Know which skills are most in demand and which growing occupations
need those skills.The Partnership for 21st Century Skills
recommends a "cutting-edge combination of technological abilities and people skills," Wendy
Croix reports. Croix suggests several fields that are sure bets for high growth and will continue
to need skilled workers. Virtually anything relating to health care, technology, and the aging
population is a safe investment of your human capital. Among "age-related services," Croix
cites, for example, are cosmetic surgery, home elder care, travel consulting, leisure services,
as well as investment and tax planning. The survey by the consortium of business-research
organizations points to knowledge of foreign languages, cultures, and global markets as
in-demand skills for the future, along with creativity and innovation. In Canada, doctors,
nurses, and skilled trades workers are said to be in short supply. See a small snapshot
of in-demand 21st-century skills. [Note: See our article,
Millennial Job Skills
Job-Seekers Need for Success.]
Be prepared to have your skills tested. Erin White in CareerJournal.com
reports a growing trend to test candidates' skills before hiring, and workers at all levels are
subject to these skills tryouts. These tests, she writes, can take the form of
case-based interviews,
simulations, role-playing exercises, and mini-project assignments. Be aware that you may
be asked to do more than just describe your skills when you seek a new position.
Seek new opportunities to learn on the job.Find a mentor
or a career coach.
Get advice on how to sharpen your skills from the most skilled co-workers you know. Investigate
whether your employer offers training programs or tuition reimbursement for outside training. If not,
collaborate with other workers to lobby for such programs.
Create a specialty niche of expertise. By observing your changing environment, you
can develop a strategy to stay up to date in a field that will have staying power, says Madelyn Blair.
Be sure your niche is future-oriented. What will organizations need that they didn't need in the past?
Then talk to people in your network, take courses, read books and periodicals, watch TV, comb
library databases, and scour the Internet to learn as much as you can, Blair advises. Monitor your
area of expertise to ensure it remains relevant to advancing your opportunities.
Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search
terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.
Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate
publisher of Quintessential Careers, is an educator, author,
and blogger who provides content for Quintessential Careers,
edits QuintZine,
an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and blogs about storytelling
in the job search at A Storied
Career. Katharine, who earned her PhD in organizational behavior
from Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, OH, is author of Dynamic
Cover Letters for New Graduates and A Foot in the Door: Networking
Your Way into the Hidden Job Market (both published by Ten Speed Press),
as well as Top Notch Executive Resumes (Career Press); and with
Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters, Write Your
Way to a Higher GPA (Ten Speed), and The Complete Idiot's Guide
to Study Skills (Alpha). Visit her
personal Website
or reach her by e-mail at
kathy(at)quintcareers.com.
