The SkillS Shortage

Despite our ever-growing population, there seems to be a skill shortage across the board. Why? The candidate pool for many roles is limited, which may be our main issue: is it time to start thinking outside of the box and looking toward job motivations and transferrable skills instead of factors such as experience, age, and education? Are we in fact limiting ourselves?

We know why people accept jobs/leave their current roles. It might be to escape a toxic work environment, or because other companies offer cultures that align better with a candidates values. Others leave a job for better opportunities, experience, or if a project really inspires them. Aside from these considerations, personal circumstances can also have a great influence on candidates. If the reasons for taking new offers are so obvious, and rewarding, how can there still be such a shortage of candidates?

The cycle of an ever-shrinking candidate pool has caused a market rife with competition to emerge, and salaries are increasing exponentially. This, of course, cannot be maintained – especially by smaller businesses that cannot afford to continually high-ball their offers for the right person. Employee benefits used to entice candidates can only be spread so thin, particularly as the offer of WFH is a given following the pandemic (or at least an expectation regarding hybrid working). To put the brakes on this rush and to get the hiring process back on track, we need to expand our hiring horizons. So, what actually predicts job success? Hint: it’s not experience. It’s also not intelligence (most of the time).

Though experience can provide us with the confidence to pursue greater challenge and exploration within our area of interest, how long we spend on the job does not automatically qualify us for leadership roles or higher-pressure projects. The trouble with many sectors (the pharmaceutical world comes to mind) is that for the least attractive roles, such as those that require a great financial and time commitment, the most restrictive guidelines must be met. Rather than attracting people most motivated and committed to the job, the candidate pool becomes saturated with a very select range of applicants, each with all of the same educational histories and matching experience. Not only can this cost sectors fortunes through delays and understaffing, but the workforce becomes bland and diversity poor. And I don’t just mean in regard to ethnicity and other factors of diversity. These narrow expectations of candidates effects the types of experience acquired by workforces, which can further stunt vocational growth and opportunities.

The skill shortage is also impacted by a stagnant role advancement process. The people applying for leadership roles rarely represent the full scope of worthy contenders, with women, as well as people from low socio-economic status, often not even considering themselves as equipped. This is due to countless influences, but one that is often overlooked is the assumptive reactions to interpersonal skills. Interviewers in particular often process familiarity, plentiful eye-contact, and reciprocity as somehow less transferable for leadership roles. This happens because both women and low socio-economic status applicants value and utilise community support and structures, whereas managers and other people with leadership roles are often encouraged to create distance in order to maintain respect from their ‘inferiors’. The reality is, the behaviours associated with interpersonal skills are actually very valuable and understanding this could encourage more people to apply for roles that they could succeed at, as well as educate leaders about traits and behaviours they should look out for in candidates.

Intelligence (assessment) does not encompass the talents and skills of creatives. Nor does it serve neurodiverse applicants. IQ and cognitive testing will not select the strongest candidates for your company, especially if you want somebody who is innovative. When analysing applications, be mindful of your presumptions based on academic history and test scores. Not everything is as it seems.

A valuable thought to keep in mind to tackle this hiring crunch is that the best candidate may not always be your initial choice. And for candidates, being clear about your job motivations and what you can bring to the role personally - regardless of experience or on-paper skills – will get your foot in the door more times than you might think.

Author: Tallulah Goldsmith