Got a pulse? You can get the job
Qualifications less and less important in tight labor market
No degree? No experience? No problem.
With employers struggling to find workers in an ever-tightening labor market, many are hiring job candidates for both whiteand blue-collar jobs who lack skills or experience deemed essential just a few years ago.
“Companies aren’t going for 100% of the job description,” says Paul McDonald, senior executive director of staffing firm Robert Half. “They’re going for approximately 70% to 75% of the job description, but they’re going with individuals who have high potential and are a good cultural fit.”
Think of the marketing coordinator who’s a whiz at digital and social media but can’t write content. The aspiring warehouse worker with no prior experience. Or the sales vice president who previously worked for a technology firm but knows little about the consumer product industry she’s applying to enter.
Even big conglomerates looking for top executives are opening the door to candidates who don’t work at multibillion-dollar, global companies, says Jeanne Branthover, managing partner of DHR International, an executive search firm.
To fill in the gaps, more employers are launching training programs. Nearly half of U.S. employers provided such programs last year to deal with talent shortages, up from 12% in 2015, according to a survey by staffing firm Manpower.
Other companies are picking the candidate who meets most qualifications and then bringing on another worker to handle the rest — effectively splitting the job in two and paying each employee about half the original salary, says Tom Gimbel, CEO of LaSalle Network, a staffing agency in the Chicago area.
But, he adds, while businesses are increasingly coming around to the view that certain basic skills can be taught, job candidates must have innate “soft” skills, such as the ability to work well with colleagues and deal professionally with customers.
“They’re not going to sacrifice (on job requirements) for somebody who doesn’t have the interpersonal skills,” Gimbel says.
But candidates with some rough edges are becoming more attractive because employers have little choice. The low, 4.4% unemployment rate means there are few uncommitted workers. There were a record 6.2 million job openings in July, the Labor Department said last week. And nearly half of about 2,000 companies said they couldn’t find quali- fied candidates for their job openings this year, up from 41% in 2016, according to a CareerBuilder survey.
Del Toro Loan Servicing, of Chula Vista, Calif., traditionally hired customer service representatives who had prior experience servicing mortgage loans. But with the hunt for new employees stretching to three or four months from a normal six weeks, CEO Drew Louis decided to waive the requirement about 18 months ago. Instead, he targets job-seekers who may lack relevant experience but relate well to customers, including those who are delinquent on their mortgage payments.
“They have to have empathy,” he says. “We’re going after a much more available market.”
Still, there are employers unwilling to compromise on qualifications for some jobs. Ravin Gandhi, CEO of GMM Nonstick Coatings of Chicago, says chemists who make coatings must meet all of his requirements, including having previous cookware experience, noting the products must pass government inspections.
“Someone might make coatings for car mufflers,” Gandhi says. “That person probably isn’t the right person.”