4 WAYS to OVERCOME
BY MOHAMED TOHAMI
Workforce Development
Do you find difficulty in hiring skilled workers? Or, maybe your organization is not performing effectively due to a huge skills gap.
I believe skilful talents are hard to find and manage.
They are difficult to find because new technologies move at a very fast rate and require new skills that schools don’t teach. Very few people keep up with the latest trends and invest in their own learning and development. Plus, organizations that possess skilful workers do everything they can to keep them.
And yes, these skilled employees are hard to manage, because they know they are special, they want to get paid really well and they usually find it hard to work on your terms or to fit into the organizational culture.
So how do you deal with this challenge?
Here are four ways to overcome the “Skills Gap”:
1. Search for Passionate Workers
Shift your focus from searching for skilful workers to finding passionate workers. They may have very basics skills, but they will exceed your expectations, simply because they LOVE what they do.
Don’t just look for people who fit the job. Instead, look for people that the job fits them. Passionate people associate their job with a bigger purpose and meaning. That’s why they are the best workers. They don’t just come to the office with their body, they do the job with full presence of their mind, heart and spirit.
They work harder, appreciate the chance you give them to grow and work on their passions, and money is the last thing they think about. However, you must design lucrative pay structures to retain passionate workers!
2. Train Them Well
Passion is THE starting point, but make sure you provide them with the right training in order for them to acquire the required skills fast.
With the right training, passionate people can do miracles!
The hiring decision nowadays shouldn’t be based on education, experience or skills. The primary factor for hiring these days should be based on the employee’s ability to excel at learning on the job.
And guess who will be the best learners?
Yes, you’re right … The Passionate Workers.
One more thing to mention here…
20 | TRAINING MAGAZINE MIDDLE EAST NOV 2014
THE "SKILLS GAP"