Jobs Without People & People Without Jobs – How to Bridge the Skills Gap

President Obama’s 2013 budget reportedly includes $8 billion to fund workforce training through community colleges.

That’s a start – and certainly community colleges are prime collaborators with local industry, so deserve the cash. But it’s not enough to set up workers with a toolbox of today’s skills. Employees know they need to string those skills into a coherent path so they never again end up in a career dead-end.

A study released in November by Accenture found that 55% of U.S. workers believe they need more skills to be successful at the jobs they have now, or that they want to have. And 68% of employees say it’s up to them to pursue that triaining.

Employers may complain about the skills gap, but, guess what?  They perpetuate it.  Fewer than half of employees get employer-provided formal training, according to the Accenture Skills Gap Study.

Here’s how employers invest in training, according to the types of training employees told Accenture they got:

52% – technology
31% – problem solving
26% – analytical skills
21% – management skills

Employers don’t even inventory the skills their current employees have; instead, they assume that they have to start advertising for someone with new skills.

Latticing links the people employees have with the skills they need to qualify for the jobs employers need to fill. That’s how it solves the skills gap. Community colleges can build long-term relationships with local employers by weaving career paths into their curricula. And that will bridge the skills gap.