SkillSmart Logo
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Careers
  • Who We Serve
    • General Contractors
    • Owners/Developers
    • Diversity Directors
    • Project Executives
    • Other Industries Served
  • Products
    • SkillSmart InSight
    • SkillSmart Seeker
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press / Media
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Case Studies
  • Contact
Schedule Demo
Support
SkillSmart Logo
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Careers
  • Who We Serve
    • General Contractors
    • Owners/Developers
    • Diversity Directors
    • Project Executives
    • Other Industries Served
  • Products
    • SkillSmart InSight
    • SkillSmart Seeker
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press / Media
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Case Studies
  • Contact
Schedule Demo
Support
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Careers
  • Who We Serve
    • General Contractors
    • Owners/Developers
    • Diversity Directors
    • Project Executives
    • Other Industries Served
  • Products
    • SkillSmart InSight
    • SkillSmart Seeker
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press / Media
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Case Studies
  • Contact
SkillSmart Logo
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Careers
  • Who We Serve
    • General Contractors
    • Owners/Developers
    • Diversity Directors
    • Project Executives
    • Other Industries Served
  • Products
    • SkillSmart InSight
    • SkillSmart Seeker
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press / Media
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Case Studies
  • Contact
Blog
Home Industry Enough Talk, Let’s Get to Work
Industry

Enough Talk, Let’s Get to Work

September 1, 2017 SkillSmart
0 Comments
942 Views
59

Why is it that each day we see a story about a company that can’t find workers, communities without jobs, and graduates not finding work?

It’s not that we don’t have jobs. 
We have 6.2 million unfilled jobs in the U.S., more than at any time in our history.

It’s not that we don’t have training. 
We have more capacity and more students enrolled in our community colleges, training programs and universities than at any point in history.

It’s not that we don’t have good people willing to work.
We have more high school graduates, vocational school and community college graduates, and university graduates than any time in our history. We have thousands of experienced, underemployed Veterans transitioning from the military.

All the same, more people are struggling to find good jobs than at any time in our history – and this is a problem that we can tackle right now in every community in the U.S. Let’s start with what’s broken and then address how to fix it.

First, job boards don’t work. Simply matching job descriptions to resumes does not lead to good outcomes and job descriptions don’t do a good job of telling an applicant what they need to do to be successful. Ask any employer, all you get is a time-wasting list of unqualified candidates to sort through.

Second, when an individual is not well qualified for a job, there is no clear path of how to get there.

Third, just because a course is offered at a local college doesn’t mean that it will help you get a job.

Finally, most people, employers, or schools don’t want to do anything differently, even thought the current process doesn’t work.

Let’s resolve this Labor Day to fix this mess. Here’s what to do:

First, employers must identify the skills they need and use this in their job postings – not just entry-level.  This will make it clearer within their organization and to applicants what they must do to be successful.

Second, job seekers must use the specific experiences they’ve had in their life (school, work, volunteer, etc.) to demonstrate how they can do the skills the employer is seeking.

Third, local colleges and training programs must look at the skills the employers are seeking to ensure their courses provide students with what they need to get hired.

These three simple steps will help align the interests of the three key stakeholders in a community – employers, job seekers, and educators – and train better employees, improve education outcomes and make stronger employers.

In the words of Home Depot – Let’s Do This… and we can help.

 

AboutSkillSmart
SkillSmart provides construction technology to transform the way project data is tracked and reported. Our team supports some of the largest economic development and construction projects in the U.S. SkillSmart Insight helps organizations address diversity, prevailing wage, and regional workforce compliance, moving to quantify the economic impact of every project in the communities where you are building. We provide a secure solution for tracking and reporting all of the data that you need to run your project and your business. Our team works collaboratively with yours to streamline the way data is collected and stored so that when it comes time to report, analyze, quantify, and deliver the results there’s no second guessing.
Maryland cyber group aims to decrease number of unfilled industry jobsAugust 23, 2017
Maryland Meeting the Urgent Demand for Cybersecurity WorkersOctober 10, 2017
InSight was created to capture, store and report project, workforce, wage and business compliance data.

Learn how InSight can help your project today!
Seeker is a community engagement platform to build a skilled workforce pipeline for your business.

Build your workforce with Seeker today!
Newsletter

About SkillSmart

SkillSmart is a compliance, reporting and tracking technology company with a strong record of transforming communities by creating tools and services to build strong markets and clear paths to economic success.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Website Accessibility
Latest News
  • The InSight Minute: How You Can Track the Impact of Your IIJA Project
    The InSight Minute: How You Can Track the Impact of Your IIJA Project
  • 2022 Blog Recap: Exciting Revelations in Data Collection + Reporting
    2022 Blog Recap: Exciting Revelations in Data Collection + Reporting
  • The InSight Minute: Data, Insights, Action
    The InSight Minute: Data, Insights, Action
Comparisons
  • SkillSmart InSight vs. LCPTracker
  • SkillSmart InSight vs. B2Gnow
Connect
SkillSmart
PO Box: 1116
Germantown, MD 20875
(301)250-1015
Proud Member
SkillSmart Construction Association Logos

Copyright © 2022 SkillSmart. All Rights Reserved

#softlab_button_64210522006e9 .wgl_button_link { color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_64210522006e9 .wgl_button_link:hover { color: rgba(234,118,0,1); }#softlab_button_64210522006e9 .wgl_button_link { border-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); background-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); }#softlab_button_64210522006e9 .wgl_button_link:hover { border-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); background-color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_6421052202066 .wgl_button_link { color: rgba(0,114,206,1); }#softlab_button_6421052202066 .wgl_button_link:hover { color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_6421052202066 .wgl_button_link { border-color: rgba(0,114,206,1); background-color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_6421052202066 .wgl_button_link:hover { border-color: rgba(0,114,206,1); background-color: rgba(0,114,206,1); }#softlab_button_6421052206b42 .wgl_button_link { color: rgba(234,118,0,1); }#softlab_button_6421052206b42 .wgl_button_link:hover { color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_6421052206b42 .wgl_button_link { border-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); background-color: transparent; }#softlab_button_6421052206b42 .wgl_button_link:hover { border-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); background-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); }