Finding employees or Making employees?

“Find” your employee or “make” your employee?

Nine percent of the country is unemployed, thousands of very talented candidates are looking for work, yet according to Manpower’s Talent Shortage survey, 52% of employers cannot find people to fill their “mission-critical” positions.  This is an increase of 14% from last year!  Skilled trades people, sales representatives, and engineers are the
positions toughest to fill.

Cliff Zukin, a professor at RutgersUniversity, suggests that a disconnect exists between the types of candidates the education system produces and what employers actually need.  This makes sense.  As a student you may decide entering your freshman year what you want to be when you grow up, but that doesn’t mean that job will be available when you get out.  I can’t remember anyone, my guidance counselor or otherwise, advising me about the degree I should consider pursuing based on the foreseen availability of jobs in four years relating to my major.  Today, as in years past, students choose based on what they want to be rather than on employment that will be available.

So where does that leave employers?  Not so long ago employers had the power to be selective in their search for the perfect candidate, but now it seems that with no candidates available they have to resort to Plan B.  Kate Donovan, managing director of Manpower Group suggests that rather than “finding” employees, companies must now “make” the employees they require.  Provided that the candidates have the personality the company needs, training employees with the exact skills to perform the company’s necessary tasks makes perfect sense if you can justify the training costs.

The question is, with over half of companies unable to fill positions, what choice do they have?  Many are now partnering with local community colleges to offer post graduation certification programs to prepare candidates with necessary skills.

So what do you think?  Is it better to wait until you find the employee with the required
skills, or should you get a competent individual through the door and quickly
begin teaching them the skills they need?