“Talent is the only sustainable competitive edge we have. We need to create awareness around the skills needed and invest in communities,” said Mike Barriere, executive vice president of Human Resources and Environment, Health & Safety at Alcoa, during inaugural Close It Summit, held last week in Washington, D.C. The three-day event brought together hiring professionals from across the nation to discuss the challenges employers face in closing the skills gap and explore new ways to meet these challenges. CareerBuilder, whose Empowering Employment initiative is aligned with many of the ideas discussed, was a proud sponsor of the event, and I had the privilege to attend. For those who didn’t, I’ve included my favorite takeaways from the event (but feel free to chime in with your own in the comments below):
The 10 Best Takeaways from the 2013 Close It Summit:
Know where the gaps are. “If you don’t have a clear view of where the gaps are [in your own workforce, it’s hard to acquire a skill set you need,” said Andrew Jackson, deputy assistant secretary for Technology, Information & Business Services at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Jackson explained how, before his department created a job shadowing program to supplement their talent needs, they “took a step back and…took a concrete approach to identify gaps in our workforce.” Jim Gulezian, human resources director at Zodiac Aerospace, made a similar point when he said, “HR need to get out from behind the job descriptions and truly understand the key competencies of that job.”
Work with educational institutions. Once you’ve identified the skills your business needs, you can help ensure future workers are obtaining these critical stills by partnering with the educational institutions you depend on to source talent. “Degrees must align with the skills businesses have identified as essential,” said panelist Patricia Buhler, a management professor at Goldey-Beacom College during a session titled, “To What Degree Do Degrees Matter?”
Look beyond the degree. According to Merrilea Mayo, the chief information and research officer at Innovate+Educate, one of the most important skills a worker can have are not taught in school. Mayo’s research has found that cognitive skill level is the single best measure for predicting performance, outweighing even degree and level of education. “If you’re only looking at degrees, you’re missing out on a huge pool of untapped talent,” Mayo said at one point.
If you can’t find skills you need, create them yourself. Many companies are taking the initiative to train workers themselves – from working with community centers to provide skills training for the long-term unemployed or underemployed, to creating internal mentoring programs, internships and apprenticeships. “We go into communities where talent isn’t available, and we go in and train,” said Barriere of Alcoa’s “long-term but sustainable business model” for developing and engaging local talent, and preparing them for the workforce of tomorrow. AmeriHealth Caritas takes a similar approach, focusing on reskilling the unemployed and underemployed members of the community. “We have made a deliberate effort to bring people in who represent their community… and give them the support to build the skills they need over time,” said Karen Dale, executive director of AmeriHealth District of Columbia, in a session about building talent pipelines.
Be willing to take a risk. Bringing in the right talent in today’s competitive labor market requires changing the way we think about hiring. Change, however, often involves risk. “If you change and do something a little more creative, will that put you at more risk?” said Nancy Delogu, a lawyer and shareholder at Littler Mendelson. ”Or are you at the same level of risk you’re at now, but with the possible huge payoff of finding great new talent?” In other words, great risks can result in great rewards, but at the very least, they’ll provide an opportunity to learn and grow; otherwise, if you’re not changing, you’re not progressing.
If you don’t like what people are saying, change the conversation. “We have an image problem,” said Wendi Safstrom of the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation, of the lack of awareness around the long-term career opportunities that exist in the restaurant industry. In order to help combat this challenge, the NRA created ProStart, a nationwide program to teach future workers about careers in restaurant management and culinary arts “and train students in industry-specific and transferable skills.” Employers in any industry where there’s a misconception around career opportunities could learn by the NRA’s example, and take the opportunity to reach out and find a way to change those misconceptions.
Form meaningful partnerships. “Through collaboration, anything is possible,” said Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce President Bill Allen during his Summit keynote. Collaboration was a prevalent theme at the event, with several speakers focusing on the importance of the importance of partnering with the local educational institutions. “Only 13 percent of local businesses actually partner with their local workforce board,” said Cook County Illinois Board President Toni Preckwinkle during a Q&A session. “We have to work with businesses to understand their needs. We need to figure out how we can be more responsive to the business community.”
Find the system that works for you. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to navigating the skills gap, so organizations need to decide for themselves the strategy that makes the most sense for them and their long-term goals. Take, for instance, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s process. According to Jackson, “We had to decide if we needed to grow from the outside or build from within. We started with a blank slate. This talent management system we built started with questions we had to answer.” Jackson says they also created a review board to provide them with an external perspective and further insight.
Retain the talent you have by putting people first. “Your employees will know if you’re not sincere about your commitment to them. It’s important that you are authentic; otherwise, it’s demoralizing,” said Jackson. Jackson attributes his department’s high retention rates to the confidence employees have in the organization’s commitment to their current and future well-being.
Treat talent development as any other business initiative. “As an engineering company, we focus on processes for product development, but when it comes to talent acquisition, the process part drops off the table,” admitted Gulezian at one point. It was this realization that compelled Zodiac Aerospace’s executive team to create a strategic process around talent acquisition – one that enabled the company to build a stronger, more competitive workforce. “Bottom line: for all processes that we have in place for product development, we need to treat developing skill sets the same way.”
Much like Barriere said, the talent you have in place is your company’s most competitive asset; therefore, it makes sense to put as much energy and resources into acquiring and developing that talent as any other crucial business initiative. Did you attend the Close It Summit? What were your top takeaways?