Skills Gap: How To Understand and Use it to Your Advantage

The future of work has already arrived; is your business ready for it? Skills gaps represent an existential threat to companies and a constant headache for recruiters.

The required skills for jobs and industries are constantly evolving. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, 40% of current workers’ core skills will change in the next five years. Therefore, it is essential that organisations are familiar with any current or future skills gaps they could face.

In this post, we will explain the importance of identifying skill gaps, how to tackle them, and how to hire smart to avoid facing more skill gaps in the future.

What is a skills gap, and why does it matter?

The ‘skills gap’ refers to a mismatch between what employers require and what employees or job seekers offer. Organisations must be aware of what the workforce excels in and where support is needed. Awareness of skill gaps within the workforce is the first step in filling those gaps and meeting future goals. 

Skills gaps are becoming increasingly common between employers and job seekers. There are not enough ‘right’ candidates for the emerging job vacancies. On average, companies estimate that around 40% of workers will require reskilling of six months or less, and 94% of business leaders report that they expect employees to pick up new skills on the job, a sharp uptake from 65% in 2018.

If skill gaps are ignored or go unnoticed, they will likely cause your business to fall behind competitors. That’s why we explain how to understand skill gaps and use them to your advantage. 

So here’s how to avoid facing a skills gap

Know your business

It is valuable to know how each department in the company is coping with the changing world of work. A clear overview of the organisation and where it’s heading will help determine which teams are not meeting objectives and why. You can look at resources and evaluate individual performance to determine what skills each team requires training.

Measure your skills

Evaluate how your employees contribute to the business by conducting surveys and skill assessments. Creating a skills matrix could be a great place to start.

The top skills and skill groups employers see as rising in prominence include critical thinking and problem-solving, as well as self-management skills such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance, and flexibility.

Be Generous with Training

Providing your employees with the requisite training will help fill skill gaps and provide an engaged and productive workforce.

Employees are often keen to receive career development training and will be appreciative. There has been a fourfold increase in the number of individuals seeking out opportunities for learning online through their own initiative, a fivefold increase in employer provision of online learning opportunities to their workers, and a ninefold increase in enrolment for learners accessing online learning through government programs.

You can provide training internally or externally; contacting professional training firms that provide workshops or seminars can be helpful and a good team-building exercise.

Hire Smart 

Aim to foresee where skill gaps may arise in the future and build out your workforce plan accordingly. Don’t hire employees reactively every time a new need arises, instead focus on building a proactive recruitment plan. Have a long-term strategy for all new employees and ensure they fill the present and the near future requirements. Using pre-hire assessments to measure not only the skills you currently need but are likely to need shortly is a great way to reduce your skills gap proactively.

Refocus Your Recruitment Mindset

While you should be specific about what you need from a future employee, you should also keep an open mind. It is unhelpful to create an overly exhaustive list of requirements for applicants to meet—you are only limiting your range of candidates.

Focus on your required skills and abilities, but also acknowledge non-tangible qualities such as commitment and drive. These attributes can be captured in an Ideal Candidate Profile. Allow yourself to identify overlooked and diverse talent pools. Different candidates that your workforce may not already have are likely to bring something new and beneficial to your organization.

Be Ready

Always be thinking ahead. How is your organization prepared to change with the times? What future work trends could emerge that may affect your organization? How could the industry change with emerging technology, and do you have people in the business who can adapt? You may need to fill positions that don’t exist yet.

Beat the Competition

84% of employers are set to rapidly digitalize working processes, including a significant expansion of remote work—potentially moving 44% of their workforce to operate remotely. Identifying growing skill and working trend gaps in your workforce and industry will put you ahead of your competitors, who are less equipped to overcome them.

Tips on handling skills gap

In summary, you should start by evaluating the teams within your organization and determining where attention is required. A good knowledge of your business as a whole will prevent skill gaps from slipping under your radar. 

Training is key! It will make your current employees feel valued and new/prospective employees more productive. A high-quality workforce is likely to be the highest determinant of business success, so don’t hesitate to offer training and support.

Thirdly, ensure you have a robust hiring strategy. Be specific but open-minded about the candidates you consider. Consider what each person can bring to your business. 

Closing

Automation, in tandem with the COVID-19 recession, is creating a ‘double-disruption’ scenario for workers. By approaching your skills gap head-on, you can get more comfortable knowing where you need to invest in training and resourcing and how you will tackle them actively. Skills gaps are a weakness for many companies, but you can turn them into strengths!