11
Oct, 2017
Shortage of Talent, Myth or Reality?
According to a recent study from “France Strategie” difficulties in recruitment are linked to companies’ skills management plans, or a lack thereof. Is the stubbornness of the public authorities to support the training of candidates a mistake? Should the State not concentrate its resources on the development of skills management?
The “Skills Gap”, a Problem with Training or with Competencies?
150,000 to 250,000 jobs remain unfilled each year in France.
According to the study “Talent shortages 2016” by Manpower Group, 23% of companies are affected by these recruitment challenges.
Per the BMO 2017 investigation (“Need of manpower”) led by “Pôle Emploi”, for more than 80% of employers, the problem is mostly due to the lack of candidates or to the applicants’ lack of suitable qualifications.
While there’s an underutilization in France of the qualifications produced by the education system, according to the OCDE (1); one observation seems to be unanimous: in some sectors, such as hospitality, tourism, industry or commerce, potential assets are not sufficiently trained to meet the needs of companies.
The government hopes to act swiftly by contributing 15 billion euros into the training of jobseekers and youth over the next 5 years.
The goal is to put an end to mass unemployment in France by 2020.
→ To reduce your skills gap, come discover our skills management and position matching/instant profile software: skillspotting.
Shortage of Talent: Have Companies Identified their Needs?
A study published at the end of August by “France Stratégie” has enlightened us on the situation. “Strengthening companies’ ability to recruit”, questions, amongst other things, this imbalance between supply and demand in the job market and moves the focus away from training, but rather on employers’ struggle to identify their own needs in terms of skills and identifying the candidates’ skillset.
To break the stalemate, the document encourages companies to reference the skills that they have and those that they will need. The effort to be made seems logical: the study highlights that less than 15% of companies do skills management. Instead of solely focusing on training, shouldn’t the State also help recruiters develop a skills management strategy or support them in strengthening their pre-existing ones?
→To better understand the issues and key stages of skills management, refer to our white book.
Skills vs. Diplomas
An awareness that is becoming more and more urgent whereby the job market is quickly evolving. In fact, while companies are transforming – their organisation as well as their professions – certain specialists have suggested that re-evaluating how companies recruit is becoming a necessity. The idea is that they should no longer focus solely on diplomas and professional experiences, but rather primarily on skills.
Moreover, while technical skills are important, teamwork is becoming even more crucial, mostly due to the emergence that still widely underestimated of artificial intelligence and its impact on employment (massive destruction of positions and creation of new positions requiring a different skillset).
Behavioural skills are therefore becoming a more central focus and companies are usually not equipped to measure or develop them. On June 22nd, there was a debate in Paris about the impact of automation on employment. Catherine Poux, director of company services at “Pôle Emploi” emphasized the importance to develop “a skills-based approach and to encourage companies to speak this way”.
→To better measure your employees’ behavioral skills, our skills management software integrates a psychometric tool that assesses their behavioural preferences and their motivations.
Innovation in Service of Skills Management
With this in mind, “Pôle Emploi” has launched a new platform: Pole-talents.fr, which is a site that allows jobseekers to access offers referenced by skills. The tool is still being tested but it demonstrates the critical importance of the shift that needs to happen.
→ Convinced of this need at Skillspotting, we have developed a tool that will change the recruitment paradigm and allow the launch of a skills management that is simple and effective, in particular because it relies on the appropriation of the tool by all players (candidates/collaborators; HR; managers).
If you wish to take stock of skills management: Skillspot scan.
Whether you need support to build your skills management model or want to optimize it, we are at your side. We can also help you develop your managers’ skills and thus teamwork, through tailor-made courses mixing individual coaching and action-oriented training modules.
(1) 44% of workers have a level of education that does not match the job they possess: 31% are over-qualified and 13% are under-qualified (numbers from OCDE cited in the aforementioned “France Stratégie study).
Sources :
- Renforcer l’aptitude des entreprises à recruter, étude France Stratégie, http://www.strategie.gouv.fr/publications/renforcer-capacite-entreprises-recruter
- Pénurie de talents 2016, Manpower Group, http://www.manpowergroup.fr/penurie-de-talents-2016/
- Enquête BMO Pôle Emploi, http://statistiques.pole-emploi.org/bmo/
- Recrutement : les valeurs du candidat plus décisives que ses compétences ? Parlons RH, https://www.parlonsrh.com/recrutement-les-valeurs-du-candidat-plus-decisives-que-ses-competences/
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