Creative Ways to Fill the Skills Gap | 2-minute video

How will you fill the skills gap?

It’s a question that keeps many HR professionals up at night. (In fact, one of our experts in this episode said it’s the thing that keeps him up.)

HR pros lose sleep with reason. Nearly every executive in a McKinsey study said they expect to face a skills gap in the next 10 years — most of them expect it will happen in the very near future.

Fill the skills gap from outside and within

While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to filling the skills gap — especially as the workplace changes rapidly with the introduction of AI — this is for certain: You’ll want to take steps to bring in new skills and give employees ample opportunities to learn and fill your gaps.

In this episode of HRMorning’s 3-Point, our experts give us practical advice on how to fill the skills gap almost immediately — and then how to continue to improve employees’ knowledge and skills while they’re working.

Click, watch and listen for more details on how to fix your skills gaps.

Transcript (edited for clarity):

For a growing number of HR pros, the skills gap feels like it’s almost on scale with the Grand Canyon.

That’s no joke: McKinsey researchers found more than 85% of companies have a skills gap or will have one in the next few years.

Simply put, it’s getting more difficult to find the right people with the right skills to fill the right roles.

Let’s let SHRM’s Jim Link put it in perspective.

Link: When people ask me what I worry about at night, the thing I worry about most is the skills gap. It’s just not a problem in America. It’s a problem globally. And most people think we have twice as many job openings as we have unemployed people, at least, in the United States. So, what’s the disconnect? Well, the disconnect is clear. Those people who are unemployed may or may not have the skills that are being sought after by employers.

But here’s the thing. In some cases, companies are to blame for their hiring and promotion woes. They’re holding on to requirements that may not actually be relevant – for instance, degrees, certifications or years of experience. And that narrows the pool of candidates.

So could fewer requirements be the key to filling the skills gap?

Plunkett: You definitely need to hire based on skills sometimes, depending on the position. I mean, skills forward and scientific roles, and there are definitely ones where you need a degree and a certification. But when you can, if you can hire for that fit and teach, you will find that sometimes you’ll get acclimated more quickly and you can have a stronger team quickly.

Now, let’s say you want to fill a gap with existing employees. Erika Tedesco has an idea.

Tedesco: We also encourage collaboration and learning groups. So we have groups that are geared toward certain certifications geared toward their subject matter expertise. And we put them together and they create a cohort where they’re learning together and they’re also discussing things that are happening in the organization. And it’s really creating a great community.

Back to that McKinsey study. Nearly 60% of CEOs believe they can help employees build the skills they need. How?

• Gain perspective. There will always be a gap between what people know and what you need them to know. You have to build the bridge.
• Hire and train for skills. Are there requirements you can drop so you can start hiring candidates with lesser skill but greater potential?
• Promote collaboration. Give employees time and resources to learn together and learn from each other.

The skills gap won’t go away. But you can narrow it with the right hiring, training and collaboration tactics starting today.