A popular point of conversation is that the American job market is experiencing a ‘skills gap’ — that part of the problem with unemployment is not that there aren’t enough jobs to go around, but that the people who need work don’t have the skills to do the jobs that are available.

So how do we work around this challenging reality? Part of the process is finding people who can be trained, and offering them the resources to become educated enough to do the modern jobs that need done in today’s fast-paced, high-tech job market.

Understanding the “Job Skills Triangle”

One aspect of the situation is that schools and educational institutions may not be providing the kinds of workers that businesses need. This Forbes article by Dennis Yang at Udemy suggests that there’s also a big gap on the magnitude of 72% to 42% between how ready universities and schools feel their students are for work, and how ready employers say that they are when they go through the intake process. This by itself explains a lot of the problems that people have in the workforce — they may be academically trained, but they’re not practically trained. At least not according to employers.

Another issue here is that technology changes the work world quickly, and many of the jobs available today were not anticipated as little as two or three decades ago. That makes it more difficult to fix the skills gap, and to match the dynamic changes that are occurring in today’s marketplace.

Practical Suggestions — Hire to Fix the Skills Gap

In a sense, hiring the right people for the skills gap involves hiring people who have skills that are able to start from a higher standard. But it also involves hiring people who are trainable, and are willing to meet the company halfway.

Companies can offer in-depth training programs to get workers cognizant about a range of aspects of their jobs, from equipment operation to customer service to production analysis. But job seekers have to be willing to invest their own resources in their career development. They need to become interested in their industries before they are hired, and while networking, also invest in their own continuing education to raise the bar for themselves. This will increase their career potential and make them more valuable to businesses, and if companies are willing to meet in the middle, the result can benefit everyone. All of us have to reach a little higher or dig a little deeper to enhance our careers and our enterprises, in a time where plodding along just doesn’t work.

For more on hiring and other aspects of business administration, keep an eye on Full Steam Staffing as we detail what we’ve seen work for our client companies in the Ontario, California area.