‘We’ve got job openings here … anybody want ’em?’
Roughly one-third of every small business is dealing with this headache right now:
They have an important job position that needs filling, but don’t have qualified candidates waiting in the wings.
One-third of 848 small business owners and chief executives report they’re having trouble finding skilled candidates, according to a Wall Street Journal and Vistage International survey.
Small companies’ biggest struggles are filling managerial slots and jobs that require technical skills and experience.
It looks like the problem’s getting worse too. For small companies with fewer than 250 employees, the average open job slot went unfilled for 20 days, according to data from Dice Hiring Indicators. Back in 2012, it took only 15 days on average to fill a job at a small firm.
What’s going on? The big picture answer is the job market’s changed while the pool of candidates isn’t keeping pace.
For small companies with limited budgets, the solutions aren’t cheap. They can try:
- increasing in-house training so B-level job candidates can be brought up to speed
- hiring temps for the temporary crunches, and
- paying already overworked staffers overtime.
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