Article by: Jon Harvill CPC
Article appeared in the APICS Atlanta October 2011 Newsletter

We are in an unusual time when, even in spite of near-double digit unemployment, there are still companies bemoaning that they can’t find qualified workers for their more technically oriented positions. In a recent survey of 750 senior level supply chain professionals for APICS’ “Chief Supply Chain Officers Report 2011”, more than 90 percent indicated that talent acquisition is an important challenge or one of their top challenges. We are not talking about a shortage of engineers and research scientist, although that may be the case as well, we are talking about Material Analyst, Purchasing Planners, Junior Buyers, Buyers and Production Planners. In a speech at North Virginia Community College this June, President Obama illustrated the challenges we face in educating for today’s job market. He said, “The irony is even though a lot of folks are looking for work, there are a lot of companies that are actually also looking for skilled workers.”

Both sides of this supply vs. demand equation are somewhat fuzzy. We are still in a lousy economy and because of that, many companies are not hiring until they absolutely reach the point where they are forced to hire or else they will lose business or market share. Even then, they may hedge their bets. Worried about the economy slipping back into a full recession, they may choose to hire a temporary worker. Accepting that a temp may offer less dedication and growth potential than a direct-hire employee, they opt for the temporary solution that carries the least downside risks.

In a stronger economy more companies would have a longer horizon. In a stronger economy, forward looking companies would want to build their team of the strongest individuals they could find, with the potential to grow with the economic recovery. They would invest more in training and be more concerned about employee development and retention than they appear to be today.

On the supply side, it is true that our educational system could be better focused on training in the skills needed in a recovering economy. There are long term factors that have forced a major focus on sourcing off shore, rather than domestic sourcing. The very visible incremental loss of domestic manufacturing has likewise reduced the appeal of training for manufacturing jobs. We may not be educating in the math and communication skills needed to be productive in our critical manufacturing and supply chain functions. More attention has been going into training for the jobs in the recently growing fields of public service and healthcare administration.

Hiring officials may not have advanced beyond the superficial and ineffective selection practices that fail to evaluate the whole applicant. They may reject a candidate based upon what could be minor or even unimportant attributes. It is true that there are companies that will not consider an applicant who is unemployed, and there is a growing stigma the longer the person is unemployed. With this generalization they may be missing an individual whose personal absence from the work force is unrelated to his own job performance or capabilities.

Hiring officials are looking for quick and obvious indicators of qualifications. A four year degree, an Associate degree, a specific certification by an industry association, even membership in the right association might satisfy that requirement in the hiring official’s checklist without probing to find actual capabilities.

Sometimes that unemployed worker’s lack of success finding a job can be credited to something as simple as a poorly focused resume, or a resume implying unrealistic goals, or a resume that diminishes credibility by including ambiguous statements or omitting important data. As an executive recruiter, I am working with a candidate today whose resume has caused him to be rejected by several potential employers for being a classic ”job hopper”. Upon discussion, his experience has been with twelve divisions of the same company and he has only had two employers in his very successful twenty year career, but that is not how these hiring officials have read it.

There are also individuals who just interview poorly, who probably should not be hired as a public relations specialist or even as a salesman, but who are very capable of performing outstandingly in a technical or an analytical environment. A preemptive rejection based upon a poor first impression will not be overcome by a resume full of accomplishments. Although none of these candidates who just interview poorly are likely to qualify as having a disability, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has done much to encourage hiring officials to look beyond the superficial trait or limitation and see the overall potential of the candidate. While deeper evaluations would likely uncover many more, good job/candidate matches, in my opinion our track record of actually seeing the less obvious matches is not strong.

A preemptive rejection based upon a poor first impression will not be overcome by a resume full of accomplishments.

So, in conclusion: Supply vs. Demand is having an impact in the market place, even to the point of forcing supply chain salaries up somewhat, and some jobs are going unfilled. But the shortage is not so severe that it can’t be overcome by fresh and improved hiring practices and more effective recruiting.