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I was speaking with an executive who is looking for a new job and she shared that she is bewildered by how many people she knows who are looking for work and can’t find opportunities. Yet, she sees so many employers who are looking talent and she doesn’t understand why they can’t find workers. She knows that unemployment is at the lowest since 2000, and still there are so many people she knows who are available for work and can’t find jobs. I call this the Market-Talent paradox.
How can so many people and companies be looking without success? I would tell you that the top 3 reasons are skill mismatch, culture mismatch, and terms mismatch.
Skill Mismatch. Business is operating at faster and faster speeds, and often I find myself saying, “innovate or die.” Companies are automating, enhancing and changing products and services, and optimizing operations to stay competitive, and speed matters. What is needed today, changes tomorrow. One moment you need someone who is great at writing & using standard tools on the computer and the next day you need someone who is great at writing and is skilled in using automated marketing tools and SEO. And the applicants are either great writers or great with the tools and SEO; however, it is hard to find someone who is sufficiently skilled in both.
Culture Mismatch. As businesses, we’ve learned that culture matters. We’ve also learned as leaders that one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. We now intentionally recruit for how a candidate fits with the team and our culture. If we are a consensus culture, a person who is authoritarian isn’t the best fit. If we are team that works remotely and uses online collaboration tools, we struggle with someone who is high verbal and a luddite. We also know that our team members shape our culture and team values define our brand. If we value on-time delivery and prices that are reasonable, a candidate that believes you should spend as much time as possible to produce the very best product, wouldn’t work well in our model.
Terms Mismatch. A job has value to the employer and the employee. The employer looks at it as an investment and what the return on the investment is for the business. The employee looks at it as the value for their skill and experience. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Pay is disassociating from years of experience. It’s more about skill and production – now. I’ve seen candidates that have 20 years in a field and they have not stayed up with the changes in their discipline and as such their skills are less relevant. I’ve seen employers’ value the position for their company, but not look at the market, and chronically under pay and lose candidates.
Creating a Match. In today’s job market, to get past the Market-Talent paradox, it’s about creating matches. For employers, look at how you’ve designed your jobs. Perhaps you need to make some changes and realign job skills across different jobs. And consider what you are paying from both an internal and external perspective. For workers, it’s your job to manage your career. Are you keeping your skills relevant? Understand what cultures you fit in, and understand your market value based on your skills, not just that you’ve been in the field for 20 years. Jobs & pay are like the stock market…they go up and down based on value. Start with value and it is amazing how matches can be created.
By Guest Blogger Melodie Reagan, CEO, i2i Workforce and Host of Higher Results
