The Untapped Workforce Resource!

Are You Missing Much Talent by Chasing Unicorns?

Many, by seeking workforce "unicorns" are missing an untapped pool of candidates! You say you're not chasing unicorns just looking for qualified help that is ready to go, right? In today's workforce, you're likely chasing unicorns to the exclusion of some amazing talent that is more likely to meet your current workforce needs. Many do not even understand the workforce they are attempting to hire from and most are using recruiting models from decades ago. In other words, chasing unicorns! I wrote an article about two years ago defining what chasing unicorns was about. Below is the link to that article for your consideration.

So, what is this untapped pool that so many are missing? I like to refer to them as "career changers". One of the groups is the disenfranchised that found the "college for all" solution didn't work. Another group is made up of people, especially mothers, who set an initial priority to focus on raising their young children; or those that served our countries in the military and are leaving the military to become productive civilians. A third group is those who have wrapped up a career and retired early such as those who joined the military right of high school and can retire at 40 years or so and want to be productive as civilians. The last group is those that have retired from a career and still have a lot to offer and many times want to go a different direction.

The first group of potential candidates is growing daily. They are those who have become disenfranchised with their most recent employment situation. Those that are victim of their bad career choices based on poor or even bad guidance afforded them by the current education system. These are people that answered the "call" of "get a degree, any degree and you will be set for life"! They pursued the magical degree only to find out that "college life" wasn't for them (at least not at the time they started). They dropped out and have been working to stay alive wherever they could find a way to make money. Those that got the magical degree have ended up working in a job they weren't educated for (70% of degree holders). These are talented people who might lack the technical skills for an electrician job but bring great life skills to the table.

The second group have "employment gaps" that many consider a negative! Mothers and sometimes fathers fall into this category because they chose to focus on raising their children. They are deemed not to be qualified because even if they were educated in a field that would be acceptable they aren't "current" with the electrical field because so much has changed. Transitioning military fall here many times because they weren't working in a civilian field with civilian "qualifications". Although this group is currently being given more consideration because they were military and learned "self discipline" and "leadership" through the military. We still have some difficulty with them because their skills don't translate. After all I'm not looking to hire and infantry soldier for what we do!

The third group, the "early retirees", just don't have the technical skills to be an electrician and I need them ready to go right now! This group is primarily retiring military but can include those who were entrepreneurs who had great success and have sold their business and ready to do something else, something they really want to do. They are looking for "practical" jobs working with hands on skills because they suffered being in an office too long. This group can include retiring military who worked in leadership and now they are interested in just being really good at a job where they don't have to lead people, only be excellent at what they do.

The fourth group is traditional retirees who had the foresight to plan for retirement and didn't have to work until they were "used up"! These candidates still have the physical capabilities to work and the willingness to learn. We tend to reject them because, "they will want too much money" or "won't last long enough to recoup my investment". Given our need for electrician and the extreme shortage of "qualified help", shouldn't they be given consideration as well? Don't they bring the "employability skills" we are desperate for? They have learned many skills needed by electricians such as "problem solving", "decision making" and others!

There is a common theme among most of these candidates that we tend to ignore or want to treat like candidates that are completely green. These candidates all lack specific technical electrical knowledge and skills without a doubt! But, they bring with them many of the employability and soft skills we complain the new candidates lack! They also bring more life perspectives and quite often have learned how to prioritize better. This group also brings their own support mechanisms such as family and business networks that helps them weather the storms of a new career.

So, how do we tap into this pool of candidates and get the benefit they bring to our companies? First, remember that like Unicorns, the perfect candidate doesn't exist! Second, do you remember when you have remarked or thought, "send us people with work ethic and employability skills and we will train them in the technical skills"? These are those people! These candidates may not be technically trained and experienced but they bring life skills that are desired. These candidates can't be viewed in the same fashion as the traditional "green employee" and will require more of an upfront investment. The good news is that the ROI for these employees will typically be much faster!

About the author:?Mr. Ward is a former teacher and current businessman that has worked in the workforce arena for many years. In addition to teaching, he has run a construction business in the past, he also worked as a COO of an education non-profit. He is currently CEO of WKW Consulting Services and has written and spoken on education, leadership, and workforce and how they are related. He is a Workforce Recruiting Consultant with IEC Atlanta/Georgia. He also currently holds an Honorary Doctorate in education. He is on two LinkedIn live streams weekly, Wisdom Seeker Live Podcast on Mondays at 8:00am EDT and The #HumanSOS Show on Tuesdays at 8:00am EDT.

His passion and vision are to help everyone find, understand, and live their potential as an individual and help bring that understanding to their organizations so that their organization reaches their full potential.

You can find Mr. Ward on social media at the following links and reach him through DM on LinkedIn or via email at [email protected].

LinkedIn:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/w-kevin-ward-speaker-messenger/

LinkedIn Company Page:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/wkw-consulting-services-llc/?viewAsMember=true

Facebook:?https://www.facebook.com/w.kevin.ward

Facebook Company Page:?https://www.facebook.com/wkwkconsultingservicesllc

YouTube Channel:?https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRIbW-e_IF2EvPtaU25uOew

Hashtags:?#WKWPeopleBuilder #WisdomSeeker #WiseCounselor #VoiceOfCalm #WisdomNugget #HumanSOS