Tight Labor Market: No College Degree? No Problem
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Your Money Matters from The Wall Street Journal. Welcome to Your Money Matters. I'm J.R. Whalen in New York.
How is a tight labor market creating hiring challenges for employers?
The nation's unemployment rate has dwindled to near 4% and has created a tight labor market, leaving many employers scrambling to find workers. Wall Street Journal reporter Lauren Weber joins us to discuss how employers have to get creative to recalibrate workers' skills to fill open slots. So Lauren, the good news here is that there are a lot of jobs available for workers. The bad news is that there is an ever-growing list of open slots that are needing a more up-to-date skill set.
That's right. Employers have a lot of job openings, and that's a good thing for America's workers. On the other hand, for both workers and employers, we have to make sure that there are the right matches between the jobs that are available and the workers who are looking for jobs. That has become an issue as we move into a more and more digital economy.
And it's a crucial responsibility on the part of employers and hiring managers to come to a stop and think outside the box as to how they're going to find workers because simply publishing job listings, whether online or in print, if that happens anymore, that really is not a solution in a tight labor market.
It's true. And one problem that came during the recession in terms of the way employers thought about their job openings was they could afford to be very, very picky. As a result, you found a lot of employers started asking for a college degree for jobs that didn't really require one, or they started weeding people out by looking for people who had industry experience. Unfortunately, they haven't taken out a lot of those same requirements. So partly what needs to happen is that if employers really want to fill their jobs, they have to look again at those job descriptions they might have written a few years ago and think about whether or not the things that they're asking candidates to bring to the table are really requirements.
So in some cases, the search by employers might mean relaxing some of the qualifications to be considered for a job. So like tangible skills are given a focus and an apprenticeship might fill in the absence of a college degree?
That's right. Although I think saying relaxing requirements suggests they might be lowering their standards. It's not so much lowering their standards.
Why are employers asking for college degrees and industry experience they may not need?
It's trying to think more creatively or more precisely about what's really required for somebody to either do a job or learn the skills needed for a job. So, for example, I spoke to somebody who hires software developers and she has an apprenticeship program. Like you mentioned, that's a really good way to offer both a job and some training along with it. Well, she told me she likes to hire people from the local Verizon retail store because they have the customer service training she needs for people who are going to be working with her clients. They also have some of the technical training, and then she can fill in the gaps. So it's sort of being able to think, okay, hiring more for potential and for some basic or transferable skills rather than expecting the perfect candidate to walk through the door.
And you spoke to somebody who needed tech skills in an employee, and she found the perfect hire in someone who was a catering employee at a school where she made a presentation.
Yeah, that was actually the same employer. In fact, it was that employee who led her to think about creating an apprenticeship. In that case, it was somebody who was literally at the back of the room setting up the coffee and food while she was giving a presentation to some students at a vocational school that she was interested in drawing some job candidates from. He heard her talk. He went up to her afterwards. He said, I don't even have a high school diploma, but I have been teaching myself some programming. And she decided to give him a chance, and he turned into a really good hire for her.
How can employers rethink job descriptions to hire for skills over credentials?
And this process of taking employees and transferring their skills or finding employees in some very unusual places, it's not just a one-off thing.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:13
2
How is a tight labor market creating hiring challenges for employers?
0:13–2:08
3
Why are employers asking for college degrees and industry experience they may not need?
2:08–3:31
4
How can employers rethink job descriptions to hire for skills over credentials?
3:31–5:06
5
What role do apprenticeships and transferable skills play in filling tech roles?
5:06–5:45
Speakers
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