Monday, January 25, 2010

Shortage of Talent or Unrealistic Expectations?

Chapter two was quite an informative chapter on diversity. However, the topic that still lingers in my mind is about how there is a shortage of talent around the world. The exact sentence was, "'The study found that 41% of them [37,000 employers in 17 countries] are having trouble hiring the people they need'" (Kreitner 47).

Now to put things into my own perspective. 37,000 employers is a fairly significant amount, even if it is a global figure. The fact that all these employers are having trouble finding employees with the necessary skills is hard to believe. Is the source of this problem the lack of qualified prospective candidates, or is it because the employers are just having too high of expectations? The cause of the former might just be because of the latter. The only reason that I remain unconvinced that there is a shortage of talent in the world, is because it simply doesn't make sense. Shouldn't talent be on the rise? Throughout the world, people are becoming smarter and more efficient every day. Perhaps the reason that employers are having trouble finding qualified employees is because they're looking in the wrong place. To find an answer, I turn to the internet.

In an article titled "The Myth of a Talent Shortage," Wheeler goes on to explain a few of the possible reason why all these employers have no success at finding employees they want. The one that stuck out to me the most is how companies offer low wages. This could be the biggest reason that employers are not getting candidates with the skills they want. No accountant wants to work for $20 a day. Granted this could change depending on country living costs, but the principles are the same. No one wants to work for jobs that they're overqualified for. Another reason might just be that the job market is too small. It's going to be hard to find a stock broker in Alaska. Perhaps these employers are in a small rural area, and for them to find the employees they're looking for, they might need to move or expand.


Wheeler, Kevin. "The Myth of a Talent Shortage". ERE. 1/23/2010 .

5 comments:

  1. In addition to low wages or overqualifications discouraging workers from apllying to certain jobs, culture and educational systems could also be the cause of the shortage. For example, in America certain jobs are frowned upon- like working at McDonald's, and no body grows up hoping to be a garbage collector either. We all want the big jobs. As for educational systems, ours is extremely pricey when compared to European countries, which discourages some from pursuing higher educations. Of course, other countries educational systems could be at fault as well, where difficult examinations and qualifications block many from going onto higher education, which leaves them only two options: attending a career school or dropping out after high school.

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  2. I was extremely shocked like Hank that there was such a high number for employers trying to find the right employees they need with certain skills. I find it interesting to see that their are so many aspects that cause this shortage like overqualification, low wages, cultural systems, educatuonal system, and etc. You would think that in this time people would try and adopt skills that fit into the positions that are available by employers.

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  3. I think that there is a positive side to this situation. 37,000 employers having jobs that require a certain skill mean that if one chooses to acquire that skill they pretty much automatically get a job because of the demand for employees. Jobs require hard work and desire. If one wants a job, he/she should take the necessary steps in order to get it, and the fact that these job require a certain skill means that the pay will be hire. A possible solution might be found if these employers offered some sort of job training or trade school option.

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  4. I think that a valid point is being brought up here. No one wants to work at a job in which they believe that their talents are not being highlighted in a way that they deem most valuable. Take the job title, Sanitation Engineer, for example. Though it may pay higher wages than what may be offered at an office job, some people would rather be unemployed than pick up trash. Talent shortage then becomes an entirely different matter. It becomes the issue of what jobs society has influenced us to hold in high or low esteem.

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  5. These are important points. Good job, Hank, on doing research that sheds light on another perspective of the "talent shortage".

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