July 22, 2009

Edited and Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Published by Success Performance Solutions. Major Sponsor,

2008 Best Places to Work In Pennsylvania

What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:

• Managers, New Grads, and Newly-Redundant Let Down
• Perfect Labor Storm Warnings
• Competency Based Assessment Solutions
• eSKill Office Skill Testing
• Quotes from the Hire Authorities

Managers, New Grads, and the "Newly-Redundant" Let Down by Training and Education

Just because there are suddenly lots of talented, out-of-work people to choose from doesn't mean the long-term demographic pressures of falling birth rates and an aging workforce have gone away.  

Despite a glut of applicants ready to fill every available position right now,  U.S employers are still struggling to find people with even the right basic or applied skills, despite the rising levels of unemployment according to the latest research from The Conference Board.  

In response to a staggering increase in the U.S. unemployment rate, President Obama recently unveiled a $12 billion plan to help community colleges prepare millions of people for "a new generation" of jobs, highlighting the need for workers to have the right skills to cope with the new, post-recession world.  

But the Conference Board research has argued that even employer-sponsored training is not successfully preparing workers for the rigors of the workplace. The report polled 217 employers about their training of newly hired graduates of high school and two- and four-year colleges.

Almost half said they had to provide remedial "readiness" training for new hires, and the majority rated the programs as only "moderately" or "somewhat" successful.

 "It is a losing strategy for employers to try to fill the workforce readiness gap on the job, says Donna Klein, executive chair of Corporate Voices for Working Families. They need to be involved much sooner to prepare new employees to succeed."  

Having a knowledgeable, skilled workforce is critical for organizations to grow and be successful in the future. As the skills gap widens among new entrants to the workforce, it's clear that all stakeholders - employers, education, and the public workforce system - must collaborate to effectively prepare workers to be successful on the job.  

But employers also need to do a better job of quantifying the threat of what an under-prepared or ill-prepared workforce really means. Many companies complained new hires lacked crucial critical-thinking and creativity, yet few then offered related training. Similarly, employers rarely detailed their spending on remedial programmes, meaning it was all but impossible to assess the true costs of an ill-prepared workforce to their own, and just as importantly, to the economy's bottom line.  

It's not just managers and the newly-redundant who are being let down when it comes to skills, either. A report last month by the UK's Ashridge Business School argued that new graduates and younger Generation Y workers were being badly let down by the schooling system when it came to trying to get ahead in the jobs' market, as well as by entrenched negative stereotypes in the boardroom and the media.

 As a result, companies that have been forced to cut costs and reduce headcounts during the recession may well struggle to find the people they need when growth eventually returns.

Perfect Labor Storm Warnings   

The U.S. population will stop growing within 10 years. despite immigration. Canada's aging population is flattening and will start falling within six years, despite immigration. Europe will lose 50 million workers in the next 20 years.  

For more workforce and hiring trends. subscribe to the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog.

Purchase the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 books (soft and hard cover versions) at PerfectLaborStorm.com.

Competency Based Assessment Solutions

Hire the best managers and professionals.
Develop them to their highest potential.

• Assess aligns people with business strategy to achieve success.
• Assess integrates a series of assessments to evaluate job fit.
• Assess includes tools to help people grow and develop in their roles.
• Assess allows organizations to measure performance progress against personal development targets and business objectives.

Learn more

Test for Office Skills Accurate & Affordable   

eSkill assessments are an effective method of ensuring your candidates have the skills needed for your jobs before an extensive interview process. eSkill's online testing tool creates valid, job-based tests by combining multiple subjects and skill levels as needed into a single assessment.  

• Accounting
• Bookkeeping
• Arithmetic
• English and grammar

Click here to learn more

Quotes from Hire Authorities

"It doesn't make any difference if you're operating a business in Mumbai, Beijing or New York - the number one challenge facing every organization is finding and growing skilled talent."   

SHRM chief executive Laurence O'Neil

Become a fan   

Follow us on

Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2009 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.