Recent studies have shown that nearly two-thirds of all companies have begun to notice a marked increase in the number of job applicants with a severe lack of the necessary talent to fill these positions. This has of course been a direct result of the poor economic climate over the past decade, and the dramatic unemployment rate it has brought on. This matter, paired with the fact that many of the Baby Boomer generation are now coming reaching the age of retirement, means that many companies are beginning to face a dire lack of talented and qualified individuals in the near future. As this problem draws to a head, companies will need to begin finding ways of coping with this problem before it becomes too late. Fortunately, executive search firms have discovered and outlined a number of ways of preempting this issue, which organizations will need to take into consideration.
The first step companies will need to take in narrowing the rising talent gap is to approach their older employees, those that are nearing retirement age, and begin discussing this matter with them. This should be approached gently but directly by enquiring after the individuals’ plans regarding retirement and whether or not they would consider staying on longer. While not a real solution to this growing problem, doing this can at least help delay companies having to face sudden and unexpected losses, giving them the opportunity to anticipate and plan for these inevitabilities. Also, in tandem with this effort, if they have not already, companies should begin identifying and training select employees for future promotion to fill the spots of those who would be leaving in the near future.
For this to be done efficiently will require the company’s leaders to begin assessing the talent and potential of their current employees to judge who would work best in filling those higher positions. In addition to using an effective training program to prepare employees for these promotions, companies can also introduce a mentoring program to help the selected individual get a more in depth understanding of the job and its functions, as well as allowing them to learn directly from their predecessor in that position. However, moving one employee up to fill an opening will only leave another opening which must be taken into account and planned for as well. If everything is handled correctly, then once the time comes for those senior employees to begin departing, their replacements should already be well trained and prepared to step in and take over the position without a hitch, greatly narrowing the company’s executive search efforts.
With the economy in the state it is in, and the hiring pool being flooded by under qualified candidates, companies will need to take every advantage they can to stay ahead of the game and avoid falling into crisis once their Baby Boomer employees begin leaving. The simplest and clearest answer to this problem remains that of internal promotion, a tactic which can save companies a great deal of time and trouble from searching beyond their own organization.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
