On Sept 3 2021 the jobs report was released, showing a significant slowdown. The thing that interested us was some of the reactions that suggested that companies are having a difficult time finding skilled workers. And some of these reactions were coming from so-called economic experts. So, let’s talk about the skills, or what some might call the training gap that these reactions are referring to. Okay, so let’s ask some questions, when you hear these types of reactions do you ever ask yourself, I wonder when was the last time one of these economic experts actually looked at a job posting on one of the main job sites? Do you think it is beyond easy to not only see that they are completely in the dark about what is happening in the modern day world of recruiting, or do you simply believe that they just have not done enough research? 

Okay, so let’s see if we can enlighten some folks who might not be paying attention to what is really happening in the world of recruiting. For the job seeker and companies seeking talent. Since the world is heading mostly into the digital world we are going to focus on technology and not the manufacturing sector and stay in our lane.

Okay, if you have recently scrolled through job postings, on any of the major sites, would you first agree that there is a massive amount of technology and software as a service (SaaS) companies that are actively recruiting and seeking talent? Now we need to step back and emphasize this because we really want to make sure you are hearing what we are saying when we use the word massive. Now, because of the world heading more and more to remote work and distributed teams, the job seeker is seeing opportunities from all over the world. This is a very good thing in theory. 

The next thing we are going to discuss is very intense for both the job seeker and companies seeking talent, and again, we need to emphasize the importance of this. When the job seeker is reading job posts it is extremely rare that two jobs posts will require the exact same software skills. Do you agree? Companies usually have their own unique software skill set they are looking for. This has a dizzying effect on the job seeker, and we mean dizzying! It is almost impossible to write one sentence and describe exactly how dizzying this is for the job seeker. With more and more software coming online everyday, we beg to ask the question, is this only going to get more intense for the job seeker and companies seeking talent? 

Okay, at this point we are asking ourselves are they getting yet? Have we emphasized this in a strong enough manner to show how deep the problem is? 

Okay, now let’s shift gears and talk about companies vocalizing the fact that they are having trouble finding skilled talent. Earlier we stated that it is rare that two companies would be using the same software skill set to perform a given job. So let’s start out and ask a few questions. Do you think companies going forward will be able to sit back idly, and assume someone else is going to teach their future workforce the skills needed to perform the jobs inside their companies? Do you think that companies are going to have to become way more proactive when it comes to training employees to achieve success? Do you think that companies will have to up their game by creating more training operations within their own companies to fill positions, especially when it comes to software engineering, but not limited to?

Okay so let’s step back and try to rationally think about this. It is pretty safe to say that there is a massive amount of software out there, and more coming online everyday. So both the job seeker and companies seeking to fill positions have their jobs cut out for them.

Look, the job seeker is looking for work. And companies are trying to fill positions. How can we streamline the process and make it smooth and efficient? How can we stop complaining and get down to brass tactics and train people to do the jobs of today and tomorrow? Now this is an important question. Do you feel that the country’s that get this right will lead the world economically? Okay, so let’s ask one last question. Do you think that if we do not do something now in relation to the world of recruiting and human resources, that it could have catastrophic effects on both the job seeker and companies seeking talent? Okay this seems like an appropriate time to bring up the word empathy. If you are a company seeking talent we wish you great success in your endeavors. And if you are a job seeker we also wish you the best of luck on your career path. This blog post has been created from the Humanity In The Loop podcast episode dated September 8, 2021.