Careers advice: Highly-skilled and still searching for a job ...

7 Jul

Posted in Career by Damien

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Recruiters are searching for a needle in a haystack, leading some to question
whether ?skills shortages? really exist, Louisa Peacock writes.

?Read our latest careers
advice column?

I?m in my early 60s but intend to work for at least another decade. I?m a
sales and marketing executive in the defence sector with experience all over
the world but have had no luck in trying to find a new job. Any ideas?

Paul, 61, via email

A group of readers like Paul have written to me this week saying that despite
their expertise and experience, they are struggling to get back into the
labour market. This is strange, because the recruiters I?ve spoken to on
your behalf Paul, say there are ?acute skills shortages? in business
development and sales roles in the engineering sector.

Something fishy is going on here. It is odd that the so-called lack of skills
we are constantly reminded of from employers and recruiters exist when
people like Paul, with the skills, knowledge and expertise to help companies
grow, are sitting on the sidelines, overlooked for key jobs.

Paul is a highly-experienced sales professional, having worked at major
companies including BAE systems (LSE: BA.L ? news) and the former General Electric Company. His
career spans senior sales roles in wide-ranging places from Ukraine to
Belarus and he has a good track record of delivering against targets. Why
should someone like him find it difficult to get a new job?

We know there are over 450,000 vacancies in the UK, the latest official
statistics show. Yet there are some 2.5m people out of work, with a growing
number of professional types struggling to find a job.

Only this week, Hay?s chief executive Alistair Cox launched a report on jobs
in the global economy, reminding us that companies have a ?continual
struggle? to secure staff with the appropriate skills.

Tom Cokill, the recruiter?s business manager, told me the struggle is not just
in engineering and hands-on roles, but in back-office and professional
functions too.

Recruiters repeatedly talk about it being difficult to find the right people
for jobs but, part of this difficulty, as I?ve mentioned before in this
space, is that they are under pressure to serve their clients who are
getting choosier about who they hire.

Employers see that thousands of people are out of work and so set
near-impossible requirements for interview short-lists, wanting to see only
people who have been at specific companies or had particular experience in a
niche area of the business.

This makes recruiting the right person like finding ?a needle in a haystack?,
one recruiter told me recently, with good candidates like Paul completely
ignored.

Part of the challenge for recruiters is to explain to their clients that they
may have to invest money in getting the right people. This means either
growing their own candidates from scratch just one in eight UK employers
offer apprenticeships or putting people like Paul on niche training
programmes to get them ready for a specific role. A more short-term option
could be to offer more pay to those experienced candidates who are already
in work and may be tempted to switch employers given the right benefits.

Simply complaining of a lack of skills without doing anything about it is not
going to get us anywhere.

Your best bet, Paul, is to go to the niche recruiters in your area which will
sell your skills and potential to employers rather than just expect you to
have everything at the word go. Alan Betteridge, a recruiter at Barclay
Meade, part of the Matchtech group (Berlin: MNZ.BE ? news) , says your contacts book alone should get
you through to the interview stage, while your experience and expertise will
shine through at interview. I?ll put you in touch.

Meanwhile, get your CV on social networking site LinkedIn, according to
Cokill, of Hays (LSE: HAS.L ? news) . He says he places 25pc of all new sales and marketing jobs
from the people he?s met on this site, so make sure you?re part of it.

Job vacancies and career
advice at Telegraph
Jobs

Article source: http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Careers-advice-Highly-skilled-tele-2192563659.html?x=0

Source: http://blogjobs.biz/jobs/2011/07/careers-advice-highly-skilled-and-still-searching-for-a-job/

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