How to Close the Talent Gap with 5 Powerful Strategies

This week I was talking with a new client, the CEO of the company and the entire C-Suite Leadership team. We were doing a deep dive into all the challenges they have in their company – opportunities with the sales team, opportunities for mergers and acquisitions, and opportunities for organic growth – it was exciting.

As we were gathering ideas and building our strategies, we kept coming back to one issue, the one obstacle, the one thing that would prevent us from achieving all the goals and opportunities we had in front of us – talent or a lack of.

If we as an organization could not find the talent, attract the talent, and retain the talent, we could never achieve our goals or exceed our dreams. It was a problem, and we knew we were not alone. Most companies are facing this challenge, and most companies are doing everything they can to attract, steal, and find the talent they need to grow their organizations.

What Exactly is the Talent Gap?

In fact, the statistics are scary. According to Springboard , more than 70% of Corporate Leaders say that they are having a talent gap in their organization, and one that negatively impacts company performance. On top of that, the US Chamber of Commerce reports that there are only 71 employees for every 100 jobs.

This talent shortage is a real and significant problem — and it's not confined to a specific industry or country. It is a worldwide issue that is impacting various sectors from healthcare and finance, to hospitality and technology.

What is Causing the Talent Gap?

The talent gap is becoming an increasingly pressing challenge. To fully understand the problem we need to dive into the core causes of this talent gap.

• Demographic Shifts: We're seeing a seismic shift in our demographics. Aging populations and those ever-decreasing birth rates are painting a challenging picture. It's like we're heading into a perfect storm where our workforce pool is beginning to shrink, really turning up the heat on the talent shortage.
• Technological Advancements: Talk about change – technology is on a fast track, and it's not waiting for anyone. This whirlwind of digital transformation is creating a hunger for new, cutting-edge skills. The catch? Our workforce is scrambling to keep pace, leaving us grappling with how to bridge this growing skills gap.
• Educational Misalignment: Today's educational institutions, the very cradles of learning, are not quite in sync with industry needs. There's a glaring disconnect between what's being taught in classrooms and the skills our industries are crying out for. It's like we're preparing our future talent for yesterday's jobs.
• Lack of Training and Development: And then, there's the training dilemma. Companies are finding themselves at a crossroads, struggling to carve out effective training and development paths that align with the rapid evolution of job requirements. It's as if we know we need to upskill our teams, but the path forward is anything but clear.

It’s a battlefield out there, and if you have any chance of winning this fight, you are going to have to focus on what it takes to close the talent gap.

5 Strategies To Close The Talent Gap

Own It

If you want to close the talent gap, you need to own the challenge of the talent gap and own the problem of solving the talent gap – own it at the C-Suite, CEO and/or business owner level.

If you run a business, own a business, or lead a team, you have to understand your number one challenge you have is talent, and the only thing holding you back is talent. In today’s uncertain marketplace, there is so little, so little you can control that can impact your ability to be successful.

But the good news is the one thing you can control is the MOST important thing you need to control to take your organization to the next level – talent. Do not delegate this to someone else is the organization – if this is your company, your business, your team – you own finding the talent.

Build Your Culture

Before you attract top talent then, before you even start, you need to ask yourself if you are offering a place they want to work. In 2021, more than five million people voluntarily left their jobs, and of that five million, two of five are already looking for another opportunity.

What that tells you is top talent is not looking for a job, what they are looking for is a culture. Top talent today knows they hold the cards, and while they may take a job with a less than stellar culture, they will stay at a company where the culture matches their values and supports their dreams.

So if you want to close the talent gap, then define your culture and get it right.

Create Your Avatar

And now that you own the talent gap, and you have your culture right, you are still not ready to look for the talent. You can’t look for talent until you know the type of talent you are looking for. It takes a lot and costs a lot to hire talent these days, so you want to get it right. In other words, you need to create your avatar, the best description you can come up with of the individual that is the best fit for your organization.

Get Proactive

Now you are ready to hire, and the last thing you want to do is wait for your avatar to find you. If you want to close the talent gap, you need to go find that talent. You need to treat finding talent the same way you treat sales. Create your target (avatar), build your pipeline, and then create a process to recruit that talent.

Make It Better

Never ever rest, never stop improving your process. Every quarter, take the time to review your talent acquisition and retention strategies and ask yourself some very important questions – what is working, what is not, and what do you need to be doing that you are not doing already.

Listen, closing the talent gap is not easy. It is a challenge – if it wasn’t, would there really be a talent gap? And while it may not be easy to close the talent gap, it is one of the most rewarding and highest return on investments you will ever make.

Put these strategies into place and you will not only close the talent gap, but you will turn all of this uncertainty to your greatest competitive advantage.