76% of companies are struggling to find the right employees

The ‘Great Resignation’ has seen millions leave the workforce as they reconsider what they want from employment. In response, businesses have reflected on the benefits that employees receive.

Of course, stopping a cause of staff attrition doesn’t fill the skill gaps that are left behind by those who have already left a company. There is a clear solution to fill these businesses' needs: hire quickly and effectively. However, this is often easier said than done.?

In fact, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) spoke to over 5,000 companies and found that recruitment problems were at “record highs” as 76% of companies are struggling to find new employees.

BCC Head of Policy Jane Gratton noted that these findings mean: "Businesses remain under huge pressure to fill jobs, but record levels of recruitment difficulty are showing no signs of improvement.

"Solutions are urgently needed so that firms can keep their doors open throughout these tough times.”

And this situation was echoed in a recent LinkedIn poll I conducted which found, at the time of writing, that 75% of employers have experienced skill gaps.

With this ongoing challenge in mind, let’s look at how skill gaps can be filled and managed.?

Upskilling internally

Assessing the talent that you have and the position of your company is essential before taking any drastic approaches to hiring. The need to do take careful consideration is evident as even companies like tech giant Meta have begun to lay off employees after hiring sprees.

The first obvious step to understanding what skills you have is using a reliable system of record. While there are many HR management systems (HRMS) available, it is essential that you can track the development of employees and understand what career paths they have available to them.

By having this tracking system, missing skills can be recognized, and you can begin to spot why certain positions are leaving your organization.

Upskilling can help motivate staff and build loyalty. PwC found in a survey of more than 52,000 workers across the globe that those who believe that they have infrequent skills are happier in their work than their less-skilled counterparts.

In fact, 80% of those who have hard-to-find skills are satisfied with their work and two-thirds feel listened to by their superiors. The clear bonus for organizations is that the needs of the business have been addressed through laser-focused training.

Some also believe that improving the abilities of workers is a business necessity. Eugene Chang, Managing Director at, Korn Ferry Singapore, explained to HRM Asia: “Upskilling is imperative for employees to keep up with the pace of digitisation; if not, employees will continue to work with outdated tools and struggle to keep up with increasing workloads.”

Of course, upskilling staff and keeping them happy in their current roles does not mean they won’t be tempted by another offer. In this instance, when there is a skill gap that can’t be trained to existing staff, it is time to hire.

Hiring talent properly

Naturally, bringing the right talent into a business can immediately solve the woes of losing important team members. To do this, you need to look at your hiring and onboarding strategy.

Finding suitable people for a specific role is difficult. While positions may have the same names in organizations, they often entail different processes and have varied desired outcomes.

Navigating this job title situation requires the recognition of the qualities you want in a candidate. If you want someone who has proficiency in a certain software, then you will need to look through this lens specifically.?

Equally, if you desire a candidate who is an expert in cross-team collaboration, it is worth diving into the granular details of their current and former positions.

This is something that we have been very passionate about at PitchMe, we decided to use data from over 30 digital sources to ensure that skills can be matched accurately and that information is kept up to date at all times.

I feel the need for continuously updated candidate information is imperative in an age where so many employees are looking at shifting careers at a rate that most recruiters and their applicant tracking systems (ATS) simply can’t keep up with.?

In addition, the sourcing process is typically long and tedious for recruiters and becoming efficient in this process is essential for in-house recruitment teams as well as agencies. Often LinkedIn searches will be leveraged to manually input relevant data, and begin outreach.

These processes can be automated and make outreach more effective and personable.?

Once a pool of candidates is established, it is important to assess their suitability for the role against each other. This enables interviews and screening rounds to have a greater purpose and get to the crux of potential issues as well as areas for development.?

Final decisions

During the interview and screening stages, there must be evidence that the candidate can meet the demands of the role. This can be done through paid tests or examples of their previous work. Equally, probing questions can reveal the suitability of a candidate. After all, it is essential to know how skills will transfer.

While this may seem dangerous in a time when talent is sparse, it is essential when trying to avoid a high turnover rate that does more to disrupt than it does to strengthen a business.

On top of that, in a working world that has embraced hybrid work, you need to be able to find a working pattern that works for the business and the potential hire. This can be difficult, as employees now expect more flexibility than ever before because of the radical changes to work culture we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic.?

There is also a need to look inward and ask questions about whether key stakeholders agree about what the new skills will bring to the business and what impact they will have. Moreover, it needs to be decided how the employee will fit in with the existing hierarchy.?

While these may be challenging conversations, they will ultimately lead to a better hire. And if you’ve identified the skills you need to take your business further, this will mean a positive impact on your organization long-term.

Skill gaps are a daunting prospect, but they can be overcome by either internal upskilling or by leveraging the best technology in candidate sourcing and using a disciplined approach to hiring.?