In these uncertain economic times, those of us who are working have reason to celebrate ourselves, but employers who have the talent they need to get their work done should be celebrating as well.

So if you’re an employee, make sure you are conscientious, work hard and add value to your job.  And if you’re an employer, say ‘thanks’ to your associates — without them you would not be serving your customers or filling orders.

Based on ManpowerGroup’s recent research, we see that there is.  52% of the employers we interviewed are having trouble filling key position.  The counterpoint to my point was a woman from the UCLA Institute for Research on Jobs and Employment.  She tried to argue that there was no evicence of a talent mismatch — but I didn’t feel her arguments were very strong.

And those who called into the radio program — and most of those who have commented on the story — agree with me.  Employers are having trouble finding people with the skills they need.  And employees who have been well trained and who have the education required for today’s jobs are finding they have their pick of positions.

So what do you think?  Is there a skills mismatch?

First, about the K-12 Standards.  Here is the mission:  The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.

The Standards developed so far include math and literacy.  Forty-six states have pledged to adopt the Standards by 2014 and the New York school district has been in pilot stage.

Second, this is big!  It will dramatically change K-12 education for the better (in my humble opinion).  One thing that I particularly like about the initiative is that it focuses on mastery of skills — not just knowledge and memorization.  It goes deep into smaller bits of information before moving on to the next, more complex concepts.  That’s the good news.

But the bad news is, curricula will change.  Teachers will have to be trained.  Assessments will be more meaningful, but the scores — particularly early on — may be lower.  Parents will have to get on board.  School Administrators will lose some autonomy.  The list of challenges goes on and on.

My interest in the initiative echoes that of the GE Foundation as well as all the business leaders  present at the meeting.  We are facing a talent shortage right now and we know it will get way worse before it gets better.  Every business and every community needs a career-ready workforce, so we need to do everything we can to help young people prepare for either a sustainable job or post-secondary education.

So finally, do me a big favor, please.  Watch for news of this initiative in your local community.  Learn everything you can about it.  Then support it!

• Fourteen hundred!  That’s both good news and bad news.  The bad news is that so very many folks didn’t graduate from high school in the traditional way and 1400 is just a fraction of those who are in the same boat.  In fact, every four seconds of the school day, someone drops out of high school!  The good news is 1400 people saw the value of education and found the discipline and courage to do something about it.
• The age range of those at the ceremony were from early twenties to very late middle age.  As I sat on the platform watching the graduates walk across the stage, I couldn’t help but wonder about each individual’s motivation.  I was particularly curious about the older grads — was this something they’d always regretted and finally decided to do something about it?
• I also attend MATC’s regular graduation ceremonies twice a year.  The graduates are always filled with pride and excitement about their accomplishment.  But the grads last week were particularly proud and they weren’t ashamed to show it.  There was dancing, prancing, raised arms and huge smiles as each was handed his or her diploma.

It was an inspirational evening.  I am proud to be associated with MATC and most particularly proud that these 1400 grads now have a fighting chance — to get a family-sustaining job and/or to go ahead into a post-secondary field.

Congratulations grads!!

But lately I’ve been reading articles that oppose the shortage theory.  Most recently I read Is There Really an IT Labor Shortage? on Baselinemag.com.  Very interesting and worth reading.

To those who concur there is a shortage and to those who don’t, I agree with you both.  That’s because it depends.  It depends on where you are.  In some regions and in some cities, good IT talent is hard to come by.  And it depends on the specific skills you seek.  I would also argue that the economy has something to do with it.

But either way we should:

• Encourage the best and brightest to enter the IT field.
• Give IT talent the tools they need to keep their skills up to date.
• Make sure we’re balancing demand and supply.  Let’s not make too many only to face a glut that causes schools and students to pull back from the profession.

What do you think?  Is there a shortage?

The Donald agrees with what we’ve been saying – jobs are available, but people don’t necessarily have the skills to fill them.  His contention is that if you’re serious about finding work, look carefully because there is work out there. 

You don’t have to be a contestant (or celebrity) on Celebrity Apprentice to find work.  According to Trump, you just have to know where to look.

Some of the IT statistics I’ve found are a bit scary (if you’re an IT manager) and could be considered encouraging if you’re looking for IT work or if you’re a student.

So if you’re a potential employee I have some advice:

• Keep your skills current — take personal responsibility for learning new things.
• Specialize, if possible. The higher-end network analysts, architects and systems analysts are what many employers are seeking.
• Study business and management — I’m finding that most employers want a well-rounded IT professional who understands the business, can communicate well with internal customers and has management potential.

Does anyone have more to add to this advice?

Technology has changed the way many things get done.  ATMs, shipping containers, Google, factory robots… we can even check out of the grocery store without the help of a human being.  Technology has raised productivity — maybe even enough to make up for the predicted demographic shortages.  But the news isn’t all good.  Technology has also dramatically upgraded the skill sets required in the contemporary workplace.

So even if we don’t run out of labor, will we run out of labor with the skills we need?  What do you think?

It’s a question of supply and demand.  If we decrease demand — through technology, job redesign, outsourcing, offshoring — will it be enough?

Demographics aside, many say it won’t.  Technology has changed the skill-sets required to do even the simplest of jobs (or it has eliminated them!). 

So…

• if our education system isn’t keeping up,
• or if businesses don’t reskill and upskill their existing employees,
• or if we aren’t taking personal responsibility to keep our skills up-to-date

…will we run out of the people we need to get the work done?