It’s become a common assumption in the IT World: there is a major gap between the skills a company needs and the skills a company can find. A whopping 36 percent of respondents to a recent Manpower survey said they are having a hard time filling technical positions because they can’t find the skills they need.
Is the assumption correct? Yes and no. Depends on what you mean by a skills gap. If you are uber picky and want to find someone with the exact set of rather arcane skills you need to fit a very specific job, then you may have a problem. But if you really understand the IT world and appreciate the nature of IT professionals, you may come to realize that the so-called skills gap is merely an artifact of modern business practices.
Nowadays, employers expect their workers to appear fully trained and ready to hit the ground running. Few companies have any training programs in place and are unwilling to invest in education for either their current employees or new hires. But refusing to educate the talent you have, or to hire a good worker who doesn’t have quite all the skills you’re looking for, means putting off projects and delaying company growth. Not only that, but the “perfect” new hire for you will most likely be the perfect new hire for your competitor, and you could find yourself in a bidding war for talent.
So what do you do? Quite simply, invest in employee education. Most IT professionals are more than willing and able to learn new skills and have already proven themselves to be the kind of workers who eat up technologies like kids eat Halloween candy. So buck the trend that says you should hire only those workers with skills already in place. Cast your nets wider and hire good workers who can be easily trained to undertake your projects. Hire young workers with less experience and train them. Within a few months you’ll have your perfect employee with exactly the right skills. And most likely you will have created employee loyalty along the way and developed a corporate climate that fosters initiative and personal growth – no small accomplishment.