We are currently experiencing an unemployment rate of 3.7% and simultaneously are seeing the demand for technical talent increasing.&nbsp; In data provided by CompTIA, the technology sector was shown to have expanded by 135,000 jobs in June nationwide. &nbsp;How is it that I stand in front of rooms of wildly capable people who have recently completed curriculum and certifications, yet are unemployed?&nbsp; I hear their struggles of not being able to secure employment because of their lack of experience.&nbsp; They continue to take course after course demonstrating their thirst for knowledge, desire to improve themselves and their commitment to finding a job.&nbsp; I am seeing them demonstrate the key things most employers look for:&nbsp; persistence, determination, responsibility and positive attitude.&nbsp; Most often these interactions are followed by calls with employers who are actively trying to fill roles and at times have had the respective opening for 3-9 months.&nbsp;From a surface level it doesn&rsquo;t seem to align.&nbsp; How can we marry a candidate who is so desperate to prove themselves with the employer?&nbsp; It all starts with changing the way we, as an industry, view building talent pipelines and the stories we are living by.
I can&rsquo;t hire someone without experience because I have no one to train them.
This is true AND it is also your truth that for every moment the role isn&rsquo;t filled, you are negatively impacting your ability to get product out or launch the idea that could be a game changer in your space.&nbsp; While some of these candidates have not worked for a specific employer leveraging the skills they recently obtained, they have done projects and other creative tasks to practice what they have learned.&nbsp; Retrospect is a beast because if we had known then what we know now, our decision criteria might have been altered.&nbsp; For example, if we had known it was going to take 6 months and we still wouldn&rsquo;t have found someone, we potentially could have had them trained by now.
We require a 4 year degree requirement.
In no way am I down playing the value of a 4 year degree but it is worth evaluating why organizations like Google and Apple have transitioned away from this requirement.&nbsp; In addition to historically low unemployment rates, the pace of technology is changing rapidly.&nbsp; Have you considered that the technology the student learns their freshman year could be obsolete by the time they graduate?&nbsp; What is it about the 4 year degree you value and is there another way to test if the person has the aptitude beyond the degree?
I can&rsquo;t take on new hires that have to be fully trained
The talent pipelines we are seeing aren&rsquo;t always someone looking for their first job with limited career experience.&nbsp; We are seeing veterans, women returning to the workforce and candidates looking for a career change.&nbsp; While their raw technical skills might be new, their contribution to the workforce is extensive.&nbsp; How do we value the work they have done against the roles currently available?
Now I recognize we are talking about a massive shift in mindset and policies.&nbsp; Most of our salary bands and job descriptions reflect years of experience and degrees as their foundation.&nbsp; It will take consideration to determine how salaries are adjusted and the models to help them gain the experience they need so they are productive.&nbsp;All of this is true.&nbsp; What I am asking us to consider are the following:
<ol>
<li>What do you value in a hire and what are ways to validate those strengths?</li>
<li>In addition to performance on course work for technical skills, what assessments would you consider for the soft skills and aptitude?</li>
<li>What is the makeup of your current team and how could you integrate someone with less practical experience?</li>
<li>Are programs like internships and apprenticeships a vehicle to help you accomplish your hiring goals while the candidate gains experience?</li>
<li>What is the risk of not exploring new strategies to build talent pools for your organization?</li>
</ol>

Tech sector growth vs. hiring challenges. Bridging the gap between skilled candidates and job openings.

Changing The Way The Industry Views Talent

When it comes to searching for a job, I constantly hear words like scary, nerve-racking, frustrating, and deflating when I ask someone how their search is going. The truth is, job searching canbe all of these things, but it doesn&rsquo;t have to be. The key to having a more pleasant and beneficial job search experience is understanding how to &ldquo;control the controllables&rdquo;!
While you are looking for a job, there are certain things that are within your control and others that&rsquo;s fall outside of your power. Factors such as the job market or the amount of currently open opportunities in your local area might be things that you are not able to control. However, there are other factors that you do have control over! Let&rsquo;s dive into the 3 areas that you have complete control over when you are looking for a new job.&nbsp;

Personal Brand:
There is nothing that we have more control over than our personal brand and how we present ourselves to the outside world. Whether we are talking about your resume, your LinkedIn page, or how your present yourself in an interview, these are all factors that you have the power to make as strong, or as weak, as you want. Everyone has heard the clich&eacute;, &ldquo;you never get a second chance at a first impression,&rdquo; and that relates directly back to your personal branding. How are you presenting yourself on social media? How does your resume reflect your professional persona? How are you communicating with recruiters and hiring managers? If you were on the other side of the interview table or computer, would you hire you? These are all questions that you need to honestly ask yourself and determine if there are areas of improvement.

Networking:
Networking is a crucial factor in a job search and it is something that every person can do to help themselves. Whether you have 5-10 years of experience, or zero experience at all, you can always network and build connections. Reaching out to past co-workers or managers, or professors and friends is a great way to start your networking process. It might feel awkward or uncomfortable at the beginning, but I can guarantee that these past relationships will help in your job search.
Oftentimes, I have people tell me that they feel slimy or rude when I suggest that they reach out to past co-workers or friends to see if they can help in their job search. But once I explain that people love to help other people, the mindset changes. Put yourself on the other side of the conversation&hellip;pretend that an old co-worker, who you enjoyed working with, reached out to you and explained that he/she was out of a job. Would you want to help them? Would you be willing to give them some perspective or suggestions about who might be good to talk to? Nine times out of ten, I would bet that you would want to help your old co-worker find a job! So, don&rsquo;t hesitate to reach out to those people who you have/had relationships with. The worst they can say is &ldquo;sorry buddy, I can&rsquo;t help you,&rdquo; but nothing is lost from reaching out! Silence the voices in your head saying, &ldquo;they don&rsquo;t care&rdquo; or &ldquo;they won&rsquo;t be any help,&rdquo; and just reach out! I promise that you will get a lot further in your job search!

Upskilling:
When you are out of a job for more than a couple months, &ldquo;upskilling&rdquo; can be a great thing for you to do in your spare time. &ldquo;Upskilling&rdquo; means taking a course or training and helping to advance your skills in the area that you want to grow into. Many people say, &ldquo;but that costs money, and I am out of a job so I can&rsquo;t spend money on more training,&rdquo; but the truth is, CareerCircle provides discounted trainings for you and the couple-hundred dollars that you spend on a course to advance your career is 100% worth it. Think about it from a hiring managers perspective. If you go into an interview after being out of work for 6 months and the hiring manager asks you what you have been doing for the past 6 months while you have been job search, do you think that the hiring manager will be more impressed with hearing that you have taken a course in the specific skills you are interviewing for, or do you think he/she wants to hear that you haven&rsquo;t been expanding your skills? That&rsquo;s an easy one, right? Every Hiring Manager loves to see candidates taking initiative and investing in their own knowledge. It shows that you are eager to learn and committed to growing your career! Do yourself a favor and invest a small amount of money in &ldquo;upskilling,&rdquo; I can promise you that the short term sacrifice will lead to long term gain!
So, if you are reading this post and feeling a little discouraged about your current job search, I challenge you to reflect on whether you are &ldquo;controlling the controllables,&rdquo; and if not, let&rsquo;s make the change and turn your job search experience around! You got this!

Discover how controlling personal branding, networking, and upskilling can transform your job search.

Controlling the Controllables

Transform your job search by controlling the controllables: personal branding, networking, and upskilling.

When a candidate applies for a job, that person is bringing their past &mdash; the knowledge they&rsquo;ve gained, their experiences, and their accomplishments &mdash; to the application process and interview. And in the traditional hiring process, employers have one decision to make when assessing such details: Does the candidate&rsquo;s past bring attributes that match the employer&rsquo;s present needs? If the answer is yes, they hire the person. If the answer is no, the employer moves on. Today, there is a third answer, employer-facilitated learning, that can help shape the future for the candidate and boost hiring options for the employer.
Beyond Yes or No: A Third Option for Candidates and Employers
We&rsquo;re putting that learning option to work through our CareerCircle initiative. The program was developed to provide professionals with a wealth of resources through an online platform that caters to the job seekers our clients seek. As a result, candidates &ldquo;upskill&rdquo; their credentials, making themselves more desirable to potential employers while also enabling career growth.
We partner with experts in education technology to deliver unique learning experiences that can be instructor-led or self-paced, supplemented with the necessary support for optimal results. By completing the coursework provided by these groups, candidates can be marketed to recruiters and potential employers with an emphasis on acquired skills and performance, versus limited work history or listed resume experience.
Today, the CareerCircle ecosystem centers around technical expertise that is in high demand. Areas of learning include data science, cybersecurity, and full stack development. These fields will continue to evolve as we add resources and as the technologies themselves change. The result gives professionals a way to keep up with changing skills demands as they arise.
Everyone Wins
Investing in skills development for candidates is not only a good idea for employers; the practice is quickly becoming a necessity for employers seeking high-demand skills. CareerCircle candidates help build the supply of workers needed to support our clients. The worker has a chance to advance her career, the employer has a better chance of securing the right talent for the job, and our organization improves the value it provides to clients and candidates alike.
&nbsp;
(Editor&rsquo;s Note: This article originally appeared in &ldquo;<a href="https://www.allegisgroup.com/insights/cultivating-skills">Cultivating Skills to Build the Talent Pipeline of Tomorrow</a>,&rdquo; an Allegis Group report based on a survey of 1,000 HR decision-makers offering proven approaches to skills development that benefit employees, talent acquisition, and the business as a whole. Download your free copy today.)

CareerCircle: Bridging the skills gap with training in data science, cybersecurity, and full stack development.

Upskilling Can Reshape the Future Workforce Supply

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144 Articles

Changing The Way The Industry Views Talent

Controlling the Controllables

Upskilling Can Reshape the Future Workforce Supply

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