| Job seekers should take heart because millions of | | | | about those employers that are still without workable |
| great jobs could be on the way. According to the | | | | strategies for attracting new employees? |
| U.S. Census Bureau, the over 78 million baby boomer's | | | | Such companies face numerous difficulties. Consider, |
| who constitute more than a third of our workforce | | | | for instance, the story of the Hamill Manufacturing |
| are now beginning to retire. Since boomer's have had | | | | plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Despite having a |
| far fewer children than their parents, they are | | | | sufficiently large facility to complete work orders on |
| expected to leave a surplus of jobs to the | | | | time, the company has stacks of back orders. Hamill |
| generation that follows. In other words, those | | | | executive Jeff Kelly explains that there just aren't |
| needing better employment are about to be | | | | enough skilled laborers to operate the available |
| outnumbered by job openings. | | | | machinery. As unfulfilled work orders continue to |
| Sounds great--but there is a catch. According to | | | | mount, Kelly wonders why younger people aren't |
| Joshua Zeitz, a contributing editor at American | | | | getting the needed training. |
| Heritage, baby boomer's are as a whole more | | | | Though manufacturing work may not top many |
| educated than their children. While boomer's were | | | | fourth-graders' "When I grow up, I want to be" list, it |
| hard at work, they left little time to prepare young | | | | typically provides good pay, benefits, and the |
| people to succeed them. The result? Many employers | | | | promise of a stable career. |
| who want to hire young Americans find them | | | | #4: Experts look to immigrants for help |
| ill-equipped for the highly-skilled work of their parents. | | | | Given the overwhelming number of expected job |
| #1: Businesses complain of worker shortage | | | | vacancies, many social agencies are scrambling to find |
| "We have employers who are having a hard time | | | | and develop the skills of anyone who will listen. Roger |
| finding people across all industries," says Roy Krause, | | | | Herman of the Herman Group, a strategic planning |
| CEO of Spherion Corporation. Few people can feel | | | | firm in Greensboro, N.C., expects U.S. companies to |
| the pulse of U.S. employers like Krause, who runs a | | | | look more and more to immigrants for help filling job |
| nation-wide temporary employment and staffing | | | | openings. |
| company. According to Krause, the absence of | | | | Many experts and activists agree that gaining the |
| qualified younger applicants is contributing to an | | | | attention of immigrants is an important part of the |
| emerging pattern among employers of rehiring retired | | | | solution. Immigrants maintain huge communities in |
| boomer's as temps or consultants. | | | | important urban centers like Southern California, |
| But younger people are not just lacking skills to fill | | | | sometimes composing over half of their cities' |
| jobs vacated by retirees, says AT&T executive | | | | populations. By force of their numbers alone, they |
| Randall Stephenson--they are also unprepared for | | | | must recruited by local companies needing skilled |
| new high-tech jobs created by changing technology. | | | | labor. |
| Stephenson recently announced AT&T's inability | | | | Plus, immigrants' multicultural backgrounds and |
| to find enough qualified American candidates for all | | | | bilingualism make them increasingly attractive to |
| the outsourced jobs that it had hoped to return to | | | | businesses that in today's global economy find |
| U.S. soil. Addressing the complaint that foreigners get | | | | themselves needing more diverse teams. And yet, a |
| jobs because they accept less pay, Stephenson | | | | recent report by the Migration Policy Institute in |
| counted that foreign professionals are more | | | | Washington DC suggests that, like native-born |
| competent. "I know you don't like hearing that, but | | | | workers, immigrants are largely unprepared to meet |
| that's the way it is." | | | | the needs of today's employers. |
| #2: Companies work to recruit and train laborers | | | | #5: Businesses need skilled workers now |
| Azim Premji, recently ranked the world's 21st most | | | | While some experts and employers express |
| wealthy person, also chided the U.S. earlier this year | | | | pessimism about the increasing want for skilled |
| for failing to address its lack of talented workers in | | | | workers, this can be an exciting moment of |
| the high-tech industry. Like Stephenson, Premji plans | | | | opportunity for those who gain the necessary |
| to invest in the U.S. by strategically bringing foreign | | | | training. According to Arlene Dohm, a Bureau of Labor |
| operations to the states. He then hopes to partner | | | | Statistics economist in Washington D.C., technical and |
| with nearby universities to recruit employees, | | | | scientific jobs are the hardest for companies to fill. |
| believing that strong ties with schools and students | | | | As job seekers consider their options, training in |
| are vital for a forward-thinking company. | | | | science, math, technology, and skilled labor deserve |
| For some companies, though, the need for hirable | | | | special notice. Such classes may not be the most |
| workers is so immediate that they must take | | | | popular, but when it comes to finding a good job, |
| matters into their own hands, devising their own | | | | they are likely to deliver. |
| apprenticeship-style training programs. Though | | | | The U.S. Department of Labor suggests that |
| apprenticeships are common in union trades, they are | | | | retirements may leave the greatest need for pilots, |
| becoming so necessary among private companies | | | | special education teachers, welfare workers, postal |
| that they sometimes become an industry-recognized | | | | clerks, and police supervisors among other |
| practice. | | | | professions. Still, all industries are beginning to feel the |
| Take the shipping industry, for instance. Gregory | | | | pinch of insufficient talent. One survey by the |
| Lewis, who analyzes shipping for the New York | | | | National Federation of Independent Business suggests |
| Credit Suisse office, admits that worker shortfalls | | | | that 25 percent of businesses cannot fill at least one |
| have forced many shipping companies to open their | | | | position. From universities to manufacturers to |
| own schools. | | | | hospitals to tech service companies, everyone seems |
| #3: Unfilled job vacancies hurt business | | | | to need more qualified help. |
| In the absence of skilled U.S. candidates, international | | | | The good news is those willing to adapt to |
| businesses can often rely on foreign workers, and | | | | employers' needs by furthering their education should |
| some companies have the luxury of funding their | | | | enjoy unprecedented odds at securing desirable |
| own education and recruitment programs. But what | | | | employment, advancement, and promotion. |