‘Skills gap’ leaves firms without worker pipeline

But the president of Ultra Scientific Analytical Solutions has found himself in a vexing spot, struggling to fill openings that require specialized training in a state where the jobless rate is close to 11 percent, the third-highest in the nation.

"It's very difficult to find the right person, and there's all walks of life trying to find jobs. I honestly think there's a large swath of unemployable," said Russo, whose firm manufactures and supplies analytical standards. "They don't have any skills at all."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43590587/ns/business-personal_finance/


Invest some time and a little money and TRAIN THEM!!

DesperateInRI wrote:

But the president of Ultra Scientific Analytical Solutions has found himself in a vexing spot, struggling to fill openings that require specialized training in a state where the jobless rate is close to 11 percent, the third-highest in the nation.

"It's very difficult to find the right person, and there's all walks of life trying to find jobs. I honestly think there's a large swath of unemployable," said Russo, whose firm manufactures and supplies analytical standards. "They don't have any skills at all."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43590587/ns/business-personal_finance/


Invest some time and a little money and TRAIN THEM!!

I think this is complete hogwash, going back to incompetent HR. If there are that many unemployed people AND they require specialized skills to work at their company, then they should invest in their employees- provide the training.

Employers have been waiting for this for over 20 years. A job market where they feel they can pick and choose from a huge pool of candidates. And boy are they taking full advantage of the situation!

I really hope I see the day when the pendulum swings back in the other direction.

I just loves these kinds of company representatives "spouting" off about "they don't have any skills at all". Too many of them will HAPPILY take FREE MONEY OR NO TAXES from State and Local Economic Development Bureau's and then make these insulting comments. Here is what they could do instead of "spouting off" to the media. HIRE A CONSULTANT OR NON-PROFIT EXPERT to join with local Community Colleges and capture a portion of the $240MILLION in Grants under H-1B Technical Skills Training through ETA (Employment and Training Act). There is a $5MILLION dollar ceiling for each awardee. That translates to his company getting up to $5MILLION in FREE GRANT TRAINING MONEY!!!

These grant funds are available to ANY business that is forced to hire H-1B Visa Holders to INSTEAD train their existing employees NEW SKILLS to NOT HIRE H-1B Visa Holders. He's made his "case" that he's going to look to "other types of employees" thus making him eligible under grant solicitation regulations. Once those existing employees are trained and promoted business can then HIRE NEW employees and TRAIN them with same funds. This company may be able to "plug into" media to COMPLAIN but it can NOT "plug" into ALL funds available to them to FIND AND TRAIN the employees they need. Here is link to 2011 Grant Solicitation for $240MILLION and previous grants that trained THOUSANDS and hired THOUSANDS of NEW employees.

But yes, it's always easier to COMPLAIN rather than "LEARNING THE NEW SKILLS" of finding sources of money for training elsewhere!!!

http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=91173

2001 Grant Solicitation and Outcomes

http://www.doleta.gov/grants/awards/01-105award.cfm

What really bothers me about Mr. Russo's problem of not being able to find unemployed people with "skills" in RI is that there are 66,000 unemployed, not counting the 99ers in this small state. On top of that, the RI Dept. of Labor and Training offers a "Work Share" program that pays one half of the worker's wages in a training program for one year! Why doesn't this loudmouth take advantage of that? He is certainly eligible and would be overwhelmed with applicants for his "open" positions (if there really are any).