Wednesday 5 March 2014

Why can't employers find the talented workers they require?

So what is the problem? What is this employment crisis?

Despite a growing global population, the availability of skilled workers is actually shrinking, and no longer just in advanced countries. It is occurring all over the world and demographics are having a huge influence on this. 


For example,  China is now the most populous country in the world which proves a problem because there may not be enough young people to work when the ageing population is so dominant, due to the one-child policy. So the Chinese government has now had to relax the one child policy (if one parent is an only child, they are permitted to have another child) in order to boost the younger generation, in the hope that this will help to support the vast ageing population. 


Of course, countries all over the world have a demographic problem of their own, and if this is constantly impacting on the employment of that country, then there will constantly be a problem with employment. 




The main problem for employers is candidates lacking technical skills or because they do not have relevant workplace experience. Essentially, there is an overall lack of qualified applicants. 


The solution: job candidates should try and undertake where possible: more education, training and voluntary work in order to make themselves more desirable to employers. In addition to this, schools could implement workplace experience workshops in to schools at a younger age so children will understand how competitive the employment market is and can prepare themselves to enhance their job prospects. 


An opposing view to this comes from the Wall Street Journal, in which they blame employers for this employment crisis, stating that employers expect too much from candidates and expect them to fill a job right away, without any training or induction. 


A direct quote from the WSJ reads: In other words, to get a job, you have to have that job already” which is a problem that job candidates are experiencing more and more. 


Clearly, with so many people in unemployment, there are enough people who could fill job roles with some training, even less experienced people; such as new graduates who have little job experience. 


Although employers would disagree, university students are pursuing more vocationally oriented courses than ever before, with degrees in highly specialized fields like pharmaceutical, marketing and retail logistics - students are having to study more vocationally oriented courses to make themselves invaluable in that field and to ensure they have specialised knowledge. 


However, despite this, companies are less willing to train candidates for roles because of the large expenditure that it would involve – leaving both employers and candidates in a Catch 22. 




To conclude: 

If people are better off receiving welfare compared to working, regardless of what country they live in, why would they have the incentive to search for employment? The answer: they wouldn't. 

Hiring brand new employees is expensive and time consuming for companies, therefore more should be done to encourage businesses to hire externally – e.g. regulations enforced, governmental incentives.


It is well documented that job candidates are struggling to find work, therefore, job candidates should be trying to do everything they can to enhance their employability and make themselves appear more desirable to employers.


Personally, I don’t think anyone in particular is to blame, but as the employability crisis is well documented, more effort needs to be made by employers, job candidates and governments all over the world to solve unemployment and make it easier for people to be employed. Then decreasing welfare spending and putting less pressure on taxpayers and governments. 



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