The conversation surrounding IT employment in recent years has focused primarily on the skills gap that is plaguing companies throughout the industry. Despite their best efforts, companies are missing required talent and struggling to find qualified professionals to fill the holes. What is less talked about, however, it just how deeply this skills gap affects the success of the company over the short, medium, and long term. The problems run deeper than many realize, but there are solutions.

Problems

• Strategic Agility – The pace of change in IT is faster than ever. Companies struggle to keep up simply because they can’t recruit the necessary professionals to help them stay relevant.
• Workforce Morale – A skills gap places an unnecessary burden on your existing workforce. Overtaxed professionals are forced to pick up the slack left by others and work in areas outside of their expertise. Over time, that contributes to burnout and turnover.
• Reputation – The most successful companies in IT are able to skate across the cutting edge. A skills gap can cause a company to gain a reputation for being behind the times and slow on the uptake, making it even harder to recruit.
• Client Satisfaction – Having just one skill missing from your workforce can seriously compromise your ability to finish projects and keep clients happy. That can have disastrous effects on your revenue stream.

Solutions

• Connect with Higher Ed – Many companies have overcome a skills gap by extending their reach into colleges and universities and grabbing up the top new talent as soon as they graduate.
• Retrain Your Workforce – Prioritizing professional development helps everyone on your workforce broaden their skill set. Consider offering educational reimbursements, or instituting an in-house training program focused on the most deficient skills.
• Improve Your Recruitment Process – When you make it faster, easier, and more inviting to work through your recruitment process, a larger number of qualified professionals apply for your open positions.
• Staff Strategically – If you recruit for tomorrow’s skills today, you won’t have to grapple with a skills gap in the future.

There is one final solution that must be mentioned because it might be the most effective one of all – working with a staffing partner. Partnering with IT recruiters makes it easy to connect with qualified candidate’s right when you need them. The skills gap quickly disappears when you can fill holes in your workforce almost instantaneously. Contact the team at RennerBrown to learn more about your options.