Getting Ahead of the Talent Shortage

by Sunny Ackerman, Vice President/ General Manager, Mountain Central US, Manpower

The struggle to find the right talent with the skills needed for business success has been building over the last several years.  Unfortunately, this struggle shows no signs of ending.  So what do we do?  We certainly can’t accept unfilled positions and lost productivity as normal.

The people that you employ are what drive your business success and give you a competitive edge.  We need to prepare for the future by anticipating talent shortages, and being aware of skills gaps and other human resources issues. Human resources executives can lead their companies to success by aligning workforce strategies with their organization’s business strategies. This alignment will separate companies that survive from companies that win and grow.  

What is a workforce strategy? It’s a complete assessment of your company’s business plan, the long-term talent needs of the organization and an approach toward managing the supply and demand of talent.  A good workforce strategy does more than fill positions – it drives a business forward.  There are three steps to creating a workforce strategy:  

1. Determine the current and future talent needs of the business, making sure to consider changing business conditions and emerging technologies.
2. Assess the available supply of talent whether it is in the immediate area, or stretches outside the area you would typically recruit.
3. Develop solutions to fill the potential gaps between needs and the available talent.

You’ll begin to see that when you anticipate a talent shortage you can address it more easily.  As a result, you can move from relying on what talent comes your way to manufacturing the talent you need when you need it.  Examples of these solutions can include:

• Apply the Teachable Fit. Expand your talent pool by recruiting for certain skills that are hard to train.  Then train for the skills that are easy to learn. You can find people willing to change careers (they may even already be in your company) and new graduates with basic degrees. You’ll end up investing in valuable individuals and build loyal employees.
• Hyperspecialization. Remove tasks that workers end up performing as part of daily duties. Free up your workers to focus on what they’re best at it, resulting in improved final products. This can save you money in the long run.
• Explore Untapped Talent Markets. Youth is a largely untapped talent market. Consider supporting career guidance programs. Developing a pipeline of inexpensive and energetic young labor can be a great window of opportunity.  It can also have the added benefit of injecting fresh thinking into an organization. Some of the most innovative companies have workforces with high concentration of young talent.
• Expand Talent Markets. Take a second look at candidates that you once thought were unsuitable.  Consider using job success profiles to describe a role within the company instead of a conventional job description. Job descriptions explain responsibilities and requirements. A job success profile focuses on the core competencies to deliver the required outcomes. 

Employers that are not concerned about the impact of unfulfilled positions on their bottom line put themselves at a disadvantage.  It’s the people you employ that will set you apart.

According to the most recent Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, Austin area employers expect to hire at an active pace during the second quarter of 2013. From April to June, 23% of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees.  This means your race to find good talent won’t be getting any easier.  How do you plan to prepare?  Join us on May 23rd to discuss the importance of strong talent pipelines. 

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Our many thanks to Sunny Ackerman for her contribution to AHRMA and "We Are Austin HR."

If you want to learn more about the importance of building a strong talent pipeline within our businesses and communities, please come hear Sunny Ackerman speak live on May 23 at 9:00am during AHRMA's Workforce Readiness Day.  

Click HERE to register.

May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebrates the culture, traditions, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S.

First observed in 1978 as a week-long celebration, the first week of May was chosen to commemorate two significant anniversaries: The arrival of the first Japanese immigrants on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad (which many Chinese laborers contributed to) on May 10, 1869. It was designated as a month-long celebration May 1992.

You can also read more on IWD here: http://asianpacificheritage.gov/index.html

*ACTION! How does your company celebrate the various national holidays, national ____month, and other celebrations throughout the year? We want to know! Please share with us how your company celebrates (no minimum or maximum length, just your own words), at vpdiversity@austinhumanresource.org. Send pictures, links, videos, a written summary - anything you'd like to share.We look forward to hearing from you, and we are excited for what the year will bring!Your AHRMA Diversity and Inclusion Committee

-submitted by AHRMA Diversity & Inclusion committee member, Jami Mozaffari

Thoughts on Technology Talent Development

By Matt Genovese

http://MattGenovese.net

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mgenovese

Traditional Talent Development roles often fall under the umbrella of a company’s Human Resource organization, and are primarily focused on assessing individual and group performance, and addressing any behavioral or technical skill gaps through targeted learning opportunities aligned with the business goals.  Such initiatives benefit the organization through gaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace, as well as aiding both the attraction of new talent and retention of existing talent.

While some companies choose to actively staff Talent Development initiatives, fewer appear to devote resources to a mission I label Technology Talent Development.  As an engineer myself, I am persuaded that employees working in engineering capacities have unique needs that warrant distinct attention and initiatives within the technology organization.  Here’s why:

1. Strategic Investment:  Engineering talent is a core company resource.  In fact, a rule of thumb by some angel investors is that each engineer adds $1M in a start-up’s valuation.  It stands to reason that ongoing investment in the development of internal engineering talent should be a strategic mission that yields future rewards for the entire company.
2. Focus on Creativity:  Engineering as a discipline is interwoven with creativity.  While certain skill gap assessments remain valid for engineers, I believe creativity itself cannot be treated as a skill, nor will it necessarily show up directly as a skill gap.  Creativity is inspired, and though that very statement sounds nebulous and intangible, it can be purposefully fostered.
3. Depth and Breadth:  Over time, an engineer may become a specialist, acquiring a depth in a specific knowledge area.  While recognition as a practice expert is attractive, stagnation may become side effect, both in terms of the engineer’s ongoing interest level (leading to boredom), as well as his/her ability to devise unique solutions to ongoing problems.  With a breadth of knowledge in adjacent areas of practice, new approaches to certain problems may stem from analogies of solutions applied in other areas.
4. Staying Technical:  While some engineers aspire to ascend the managerial ladder, others may wish to remain as engineers without management responsibility.  Traditional Talent Development initiatives often serve managerial-bound employees (engineers included), and those engineers wishing to remain individual contributors should be afforded relevant and equally proactive development initiatives.

While the above reasoning highlights some obvious benefits, other benefits of Technology Talent Development include cooperation with academic research institutions, which in turn can positively affect the graduate pipeline into the company.  Couple that with strategic involvement in the local technology community and professional organizations, and this technology role now possesses exciting HR fringe benefits.

Interestingly, when speaking with some companies about creating Technology Talent Development roles, the most common pushback argument I’ve heard is that investing in engineers’ development would make them more marketable, and thus more apt to leave the company.  Without sounding too brash, I find that argument as inspiring as a parent who would refuse to invest in their children’s education because one day they’ll leave to live on their own.  I’ll go out on a limb and assert that employees who are unhappy will eventually leave, and ironically an investment in Technology Talent Development can positively impact both employee retention and recruiting.

My hope is that companies will see Technology Talent Development as a role worthy of investment as they desire for their engineers to help the company innovate their way ahead of the competition.

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NOTE:  Matt is continuing on the Painpoint Report hiring survey to assess the critical needs in Austin's software industry.  Shortly he will be sending out the Q2 hiring survey to local employers.  All who complete the survey will receive a complimentary copy of the final report.  

The link is here:  http://www.painpointreport.com/survey-request

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Our many thanks to Matt Genovese for his contribution to AHRMA and "We Are Austin HR."

If you want to learn more about the importance of building a strong talent pipeline within our businesses and communities, please come hear Matt Genovese speak live on May 23 at 9:00am during AHRMA's Workforce Readiness Day.  

Click HERE to register.