A skills gap? Just ASK!

“A war on talent”, “skills gap” and “talent problems” - all commonly heard phrases in East Lancashire. But what do we mean by them?

By Nicola Mason, HR consultant at Napthens solicitors.

We are often approached by businesses to discuss candidates recruited but failing in their newly appointed positions not due to a lack of skills, but due to a misaligned attitude. Which got me thinking: does a “gap” actually exist, or are we missing the target by not really understanding our needs and aligning recruitment processes accordingly?

A good recruitment process should assess ASK: Attitude, Skills, Knowledge.

Quite often in recruitment we forget about the A and focus on the latter, probably because attitude is more difficult to measure.

However, recruiting someone with the wrong attitude is an unsatisfactory experience for all involved and less cost effective in the long run. Time would be better spent looking at what you need from employees: What culture are you creating? What are your company values? What behaviours and attitudes are “good”? What is the personality of your existing team and what would enhance it? Once you understand this, assessing someone’s attitudes, behaviours, and ultimately their “fit” for your business becomes more straightforward.

Consider which is easier to train: an employee’s attitude and behaviours - or the skills and knowledge required to do the job?

We often hear complaints that candidates fresh out of education don’t have a work attitude. But what role do we all play in ensuring our graduates are “work ready”?

How much time do we invest in school/ college/ university relationships and how do we help our educational establishments set the tone for what is expected? A holistic and co-ordinated approach to our talent feed is where we will ultimately see real results and an increase in “good” candidates reaching the market place.