71 per cent challenged by skills gaps: survey
While job candidates may be high quality, recruiters are struggling to fill positions, according to a global survey.
Ninety-five per cent of recruiters say they are confident they can find the right candidate for open positions and 77 per cent consider active candidates to be high quality.
However, 71 per cent say they struggle to fill a position because of candidate skills gaps, found the Monster survey of more than 1,700 recruiters in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
And many recruiters (85 per cent) say that candidates exaggerate skills and competencies on their resumé. As a result, recruiters need to adjust expectations to consider the candidates with the most or some (70 per cent) of the necessary skills to find the right fit.
"Today's tight labour market is making it increasingly challenging for organizations to find and hire outside talent that has all of the necessary skills and is the right fit," says Scott Gutz, CEO of Monster.
"Upskilling is critical to not only retain top talent, but also to attract qualified candidates from competitors. Companies need to evolve how they view the role upskilling plays within their own organization. Further, it's crucial that recruiters think about the impact the skills gap has across generations. Millennials, in particular, have been most affected by job and workforce evolution over the last decade, to the point that they can no longer rely on their previous education to prepare themselves for future success. We understand how important it is that companies like Monster understand both sides of the employment market to better help both sides find the right fit."
Highlights from the survey:
- Only one-third of recruiters think candidates are very honest about their skills throughout the job hiring process, with 85 per cent agreeing global candidates exaggerate skills competencies on their resume.
- More than a third of recruiters (35 per cent) acknowledge that candidates are not happy during the job process when they aren't told why they didn't move on to the next stage.
- Nearly half of recruiters say candidates (45 per cent) are looking for a flexible schedule. Recruiters say they are most challenged to answer candidate followup questions about work-life balance (38 per cent) and work schedule (28 per cent), with only salary-related questions being almost as challenging (37 per cent).
- Recruiters also rank paid time off (35 per cent) and work-from-home options (32 per cent) high on the list of benefits candidates look for most often.
- Recruiters say email (40 per cent) and social media (33 per cent) have been the most effective channels for communicating with gen Z.
