Companies need to be willing to train employees again

There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal a while ago that put current US jobless rate in perspective, and honed in on a very important change in the way employees are sought.

Essentially, training programs are disappearing, and companies are looking for candidates with the ability to start a job and require no training or additional knowledge.  This is causing a huge disconnect between the employers, who are cited as being unable to find “qualified” candidates, and job seekers, who are seeing record levels of unemployment.

The author correctly points out that the employers’ issue is not one of having a market shortage of qualified employees, but rather an inability to find perfect candidates at prices they are willing to pay.   As the economy slowly comes out of its extended slumber, companies are going to have to re-evaluate they way they source their candidates, and the training they are willing to provide.  The “perfect candidates” are going to be picked up by the employers willing to pay the salaries needed to attract them, and other companies need to be willing to hire smart candidates with the ability to learn a job with proper training.  Otherwise, those candidates will be snatched up by employers willing to offer this.

Going away will be the graduate degree-toting unpaid interns.  Companies that offer the recently forgotten management training and apprenticeship-type programs are the ones who will find the most value from their “un-perfect” (but more affordable) employees.

Like it? Please Share!