Can Next Gen Staffing Agencies Close the Skills Gap?
March 27, 2018
This was originally published on USChamberFoundation.org.
Frank Britt, Penn Foster
Cathi Canfield, EmployBridge
(March 27, 2018) — Staffing agencies have long played a critical role in matching talent with the unique needs of employers. But as the shelf life of skills shrinks, staffing agencies are taking on a role that is about much more than matchmaking: ensuring potential hires have the skills they need to succeed in today’s dynamic labor market.
Staffing agencies have long played a critical role in matching talent with the unique needs of employers. But as the shelf life of skills shrinks, staffing agencies are taking on a role that is about much more than matchmaking: ensuring potential hires have the skills they need to succeed in today’s dynamic labor market.
Seventy percent of employers report that they are unable to find workers who are qualified for their job openings. At the same time, more than seven million Americans are unemployed and 43 percent of recent U.S. college graduates say they are under-employed. CEB data suggests that less than 20 percent of those who apply to a job opening meet the posted qualifications.
Business leaders, according to a report from the National Governors Association, are in turn worried about “a skills crisis” fueled by a scarcity of workers equipped to fill the high-skilled jobs of tomorrow.
The challenge is exacerbated by the complexity of not just one, but a multiplicity of skills gaps that affect states, regions, industries, and individual businesses. Real-time labor market data reveals the scarcity of software engineers in Detroit with the dearth of game developers in Utah or recruiting pros in San Francisco. It’s a challenge compounded, according to LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, by mobility rates among American workers, now at their lowest level since World War II.
Closing those gaps, according to a report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, requires “getting the right talent with the right skills at the right time and place.” And with their wide network of talent and their long history of connecting that talent with employers, our nation’s staffing agencies may be uniquely positioned to do just that.
Source: USChamberFoundation.org