Attend a conference recently and hear how we have a workforce shortage? All these open positions in the USA going unfilled because we don't have candidates available or the skills we need. Really? So what games are we playing?
Mention "talent shortage," whether you're talking about IT, manufacturing, healthcare or any other professional group, and brace yourself for a firestorm. By chance, did you read the Wall Street Journal opinion piece that cites a recent Deloitte Consulting survey in making the case that 600,000 US manufacturing jobs are going unfilled during a period of high unemployment because of "workforce shortages or skills deficiencies". Interesting. Wonder why employers will not interview or hire candidates that are currently unemployed? What is the driving force to this nonsense? Perhaps some HR expert stated the relevance to this in a article or something. Make sense to you?
Let's take a look at some facts, three decades of cutting jobs, cutting training budgets, and now we have no one to do the jobs we need. We have done a poor approach to investing in our staff, building the skills and talent we need, and now we cry skills shortage. Why are we shocked? Listen to the lobbyists for industry as they make a case for why they need to bring more cheap foreign workers into the country to do these jobs. Is that the answer? Really? Dirty politics at work again, along with some greed.
How about we stop whining about the talent shortage and start doing something about it. Let's take a little lower margin this year and invest in our employees and develop the skills needed for today and tomorrow. If "People are our most important resource" as employers are wanting to proclaim, why do most of them expect this precious asset to show up gift wrapped, and to increase in value with little effort on their part? Why is it in Information Week's most recent US IT Salary Survey shows only 28% of the 13,800 IT pros say they expect to receive education and training this year?
Your organization needs to do a skills inventory and identify gaps. Take the initiative to start developing those skills necessary for today's operations, and tomorrows strategy. CIO, CTO and VP of IT - be the leader of your organization, and address the skills shortage head on. You will also find reward in investing in your employees and giving them the skills they need to do their job. Job satisfaction is a great thing.
Keep it positive!
Scott Arnett
scott.arnett@charter.net
About Me
- Scott Arnett
- Scott Arnett is an Information Technology & Security Professional Executive with over 30 years experience in IT. Scott has worked in various industries such as health care, insurance, manufacturing, broadcast, printing, and consulting and in enterprises ranging in size from $50M to $20B in revenue. Scott’s experience encompasses the following areas of specialization: Leadership, Strategy, Architecture, Business Partnership & Acumen, Process Management, Infrastructure and Security. With his broad understanding of technology and his ability to communicate successfully with both Executives and Technical Specialists, Scott has been consistently recognized as someone who not only can "Connect the Dots", but who can also create a workable solution. Scott is equally comfortable playing technical, project management/leadership and organizational leadership roles through experience gained throughout his career. Scott has previously acted in the role of CIO, CTO, and VP of IT, successfully built 9 data centers across the country, and is expert in understanding ITIL, PCI Compliance, SOX, HIPAA, FERPA, FRCP and COBIT.
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