There’s a war for talent in the U.S., but the battle can be won from within. While employers continue to be challenged by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and The Great Resignation, evidence now suggests these seismic disruptions only exacerbated existing trends that forecasted widening skills gaps in the labor market.

Companies across a myriad of industries are increasingly facing talent shortages and skills gaps that hinder their competitiveness. According to the Wiley report, Closing the Skills Gap 2023: Employer Perspectives on Educating the Post-pandemic Workplace, nearly 70% of organizations report having skills gaps, which is up from 55% in 2021. According to a Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), about 50 million Americans left their jobs in 2022 — in addition to the nearly 48 million workers who did so in 2021.

Despite some recent high-profile layoffs at big tech companies, many employers are facing an especially acute shortage of skilled technology professionals. For example, there are currently more than 750,000 job openings for cybersecurity workers in the U.S. with 3.4 million cybersecurity workers needed globally. The median cost to fill a tech role is now $30,000, according to The State of Tech Talent Acquisition 2023 report by General Assembly.

There simply aren’t enough professionals within the tech pipeline to fill in the gaps. These pervasive market challenges, coupled with economic uncertainty and the rapid pace of digital transformation, are actively working against employers’ workforce strategies and require a change in course.

That change begins by addressing the root causes of the war for talent, rather than only treating its symptoms. Companies can start by unlocking the potential within their workforces and strategically creating a talent pipeline of skilled professionals.

Sourcing and Skilling Solutions

Hire train deploy.

First, employers need to unleash the power already within the market by implementing new sourcing and recruitment solutions, such as hire-train-deploy (HTD). The HTD model sources emerging tech talent from all backgrounds and universities to hire and train college graduates in high-demand technology skill sets before deploying them to real-world career opportunities.

HTD is especially practical now because it removes the burden of competing for talent and provides a level of control and predictability that traditional recruitment programs can’t always offer. It also diversifies tech teams by providing graduates from historically underrepresented groups with the same opportunities to succeed in good-paying tech careers, regardless of academic pedigree.

As a complement to HTD, corporations can tap the potential within their existing workforces through upskilling and reskilling programs. These cost-effective strategies address a company’s specific talent and skills shortages while improving retention rates since employees can now access new pathways for internal mobility.

Expanding these pathways is particularly important for the tech industry in its years-long (and largely disjointed) effort to increase diversity among its ranks. In fact, white workers make up 62% of the high-tech industry, with Hispanic and Latinx workers accounting for 8% and Black employees, 7%. The disparity in women in tech is also a current issue with only 28% of women in computing and mathematical roles.

Role development and role transition.

Upskilling and reskilling workers to fill tech roles can not only help your business meet talent demands, but also promote a sustainable workforce. These learning interventions can be broken into: role development and role transition. As the name implies, role development upskills and equips current tech teams with the specific skills and capabilities they are missing, such as in Java, Python, AWS and Linux.

Role transition can reskill employees currently working in non-technical positions in the effort to move them into technical roles. Reskilling develops and trains employees to take on roles outside of their current position and skill set. For example, a customer service representative could train to move to the information technology (IT) helpdesk.

Upskilling and reskilling strategies not only create opportunities for employees to advance their careers but also help employers save on onboarding costs while achieving short- and long-term business goals.

The Path Forward

Another path toward success: Connect learning content with employees’ careers. Unfortunately, what workers learn in higher education and on the job, especially in tech, is often a step behind to what they need in the real world. We need to design and deliver training so that it meets the evolving market demands of an increasingly global economy.

While there are many self-paced learning platforms with extensive content libraries that can facilitate upskilling and reskilling to learners, employers can also partner with universities and higher education institutions to offer reskilling and upskilling opportunities, like employer-sponsored continuing education courses and apprenticeships.

Alignment between skill development and business demand can futureproof workforces through times of disruption to enable sustainable success for years to come.

There are many fronts in the struggle to secure talent, but the most effective strategy may be for companies to better utilize the resources they already have until the supply lines are flowing again.

Register for the next in-person Training Industry Conference & Expo (TICE) to hear Dennis Bonilla’s session, “Unlock the Potential Within Your Workforce: Reskilling Solutions to Close Skills Gaps.”