Is your company one of the lucky ones with enough staff? Congratulations, then you are pretty much on your own. Because for many companies and businesses, the depleted labour market poses an existential challenge. Companies are now reacting, for example, by either extremely simplifying application processes or specifically looking for skills instead of degrees. And then there is the third way: the targeted development of certain knowledge and skills among existing staff.
If you’ve been reading my blog posts for a while, you may remember the January 2022 post about finding talent within your own company. Reskilling and upskilling are moving in a similar direction. Through targeted support such as further education and training, employees are prepared for the next career step or are to be retained in the company through attractive (further) education offers.
Reskilling and upskilling: what is the difference?
Reskilling focuses on learning new competencies that employees need for a new task or position. Upskilling, on the other hand, focuses more on specialised knowledge and additional qualifications to be able to meet new requirements. Lifelong learning has always been an issue, but with digital transformation, automation and AI, many jobs are changing so quickly that I would urge every company to prepare existing staff – and not just professionally.
As we know, the half-life of knowledge is only a few years and not all employees are aware of the scope of this development. In my view, companies therefore have the task of changing the mindset and improving the openness to lifelong learning. This includes, among other things, a different error culture, spaces for experimentation and “wild thinking” and learning to learn, because the process of absorbing and processing information has become more important than the information itself. What brain research has found out about this in recent years is really exciting…
Skill Based Hiring: Farewell to the Testimony Culture?
Hardly any other country is as focused on formal degrees and certificates in recruiting as Germany. This is felt by skilled workers who come from other countries and have problems getting their qualifications recognised. I therefore welcome skill-based hiring, which focuses on skills and competences, all the more. The challenges for companies and businesses are obvious: when advertising a job, you have to define in advance what the company needs in terms of actual skills and competences for this position. And in personnel selection, new tools are needed to determine whether the applicants actually have these skills.
Open Hiring: First come, first served…
A very exciting new trend for jobs with simple task profiles comes from the USA: open hiring. Whoever applies first gets the job and is thrown in at the deep end. Those who make it can stay, those who don’t unfortunately have to leave. You can be critical of this method, but I find it exciting that people who usually always fall through the cracks can find a job this way. In Germany, six percent of people now have no school-leaving qualifications, but they urgently need a job. I, for one, am curious to see whether and how this form of recruiting will prove itself in our labour market.
I am happy to support you in making these strategic decisions:
- Core business: How can you define which skills your company / business needs? What options are there if some of these skills are not available in-house or through recruiting? What options are there to change production processes in companies or to use other, less personnel-intensive solutions?
- Supply: How will your offer (have to) change due to the mega trends? Against this background, what skills do you actually need in the long term?
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