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The headline caught my attention…

One Third of Employers Worldwide Cannot Find Qualified Talent, Survey Finds.

NEWSFLASH – It is NOT a candidate problem! The candidates are out there, waiting to become part of your organization. I actually see the problem as two-fold and both lie squarely on the shoulders of the hiring organization.

One in three employers globally report experiencing difficulty filling jobs due to lack of available talent, the highest percentage since before the recession in 2007, a ManpowerGroup survey found.  The Talent Shortage Survey conducted by the workforce solutions company also found that 90 percent of employers cite candidate-specific factors behind the challenge of filling mission-critical roles — including a lack of necessary skills and experience, insufficient qualifications, or a lack of soft skills.

Point 1A:  The bar is set so high by the hiring organization that no one can get in.

Organizations today are looking for “miracle workers.”  Sorry, such a plethora of people who would even come close is nonexistent.  Many of those I have talked with that are currently actively employed (survivors of the “rightsizing”) have said they probably would not even qualify for their own jobs if they did not have them already.

The article goes on to quote Jeffrey A. Joerres, ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO:

“As the chaos and complexity of the post-recession era have irrevocably changed the way the world works, employers can no longer solely rely on a ‘just in time’ approach to hiring, expecting ‘on-demand’ talent to be available wherever and whenever they need it.”

And, yes, there will be some training costs to bring people “up to speed.”  But these costs will be far less than the hidden costs you will incur from the losses you will experience while the position remains open:

• Lost productivity while remaining workers “take up the slack” while the position remains open.
• Incomplete projects
• Lower customer service (internal or external) due to less available support.
• Lost customers because of the above

Point 1B:  A major talent set is being largely tossed aside.

Let’s talk about hiring the “overqualified.”  A recent HBR blog post put it this way:

Recruiters have traditionally hesitated to place overqualified candidates because of several presumed risks, says Berrin Erdogan, a professor of management at Portland State University and the lead author of a recent study on the subject. “The assumption is that the person will be bored and not motivated, so they will underperform or leave.” However, her research shows that these risks may be more perceived than real. In fact, sales associates in her study who were thought to be overqualified actually performed better. And rarely do people move on simply because they feel they’re too talented for the job. “People don’t stay or leave a company because of their skills. They stay or leave because of working conditions” she says.

If your organization is even thinking about future growth, these are your people – providing you give them the right environment to flourish.

Point 2:  Organizations have gone out of their way to alienate themselves from potential candidates.

A recent #TChat moderated by @TalentCulture discussed the “innovations” that organizations have started using in the talent search process.  One of the points that was repeated throughout the conversation was that companies have taken the “human” out of HR.

I can attest to this.  As I saw my inevitable departure from my former employer on the horizon, I started looking for other potential opportunities.  What I found was an interminable rat’s nest of electronic processes (e-applications, resume and cover letter processing, etc.) that were more frustrating than productive.  I did not speak to one human being!  If I received any communication from a potential organization (less than 10% responded with any acknowledgement), it was an electronically formed missive to thank me for the application.  I can only assume that my submitted documents were then non-humanly “scanned” for any trace of specific key words that might have been placed on the page or appropriate fields.  With no matches in the “specific word DNA” search (even though there might have been a synonym or contextual statement there), my application was tossed into the virtual ether.

After about 9 months of this I gave up.  If HR/Hiring personnel were forced to endure their own processes, they probably would too.

I am looking for an organization that values the human being, and demonstrates it by how they interact during that “first impression” process.  If all I see is your computer, that tells me what you value most – you put your processes over your people.

WAKE UP, PEOPLE!

This is an “inter-human” endeavor.  No electronic process can possibly handle the nuances that are involved in talent recruiting, evaluation, and selection.

You are looking for the “perfect” employee, when the “right” one is easier to find.  The talent you are looking for is right there under your noses, if you would just take off your tunnel-visioned, rosy-tinted e-glasses.  There is a very large group of people who want to work, and have the internal drive to do your company proud.  They may not have the exact skills you are looking for, but…

Motivation Trumps Talent/Skills Every Time It’s Employed.

Biography

John D. Lake, Jr. is owner of JDLake Communications, LLC, an independent Business Culture Consulting firm. Mr. Lake has been an employee of a major multinational manufacturing organization, and its various parent companies, for 30 years. He has held positions in Marketing, Customer Training & Support, and has been an Internal Consultant and Master Trainer in Human Resources’ Global Training & Development for 20 years. He consults and conducts workshops in many subject areas including Leadership, Managerial & Supervisory Skills, Team Development, Sales/Customer Service, as well as Interviewing & Selection.

Contact John -  JDLAKE COMMUNICATIONS, LLC 2225 Coulee Drive * La Crosse, WI  54601 john@jdlake.com Cell: 608-792-3419 Fax: 608-787-1970

www.jdlake.com Twitter: @jdlakecom

JDLake Communications, LLC is “Helping organizations retain the talent they don’t know they are about to lose.”

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