How the workforce gap is created from the student side
Companies need to assess all the potential candidates for entry-level positions.
But, apart from that, they need to master a great number of communication methods to reach and engage with them.
This is why companies often hire for convenience rather than fit to meet short-term client deliverables.
What creates the workforce gap
The gap between companies and entry-level employees, therefore, has a few sources.
Companies are under lots of pressure with often limited resources to sort through an excessive number of candidates to fulfil an immediate client need.
As a result, companies refrain to reactive recruitment practices. This often prevents them from finding the best candidates that could fit in their brand.
The urge and the large number of candidates prevents companies from hiring the best.
But how is the gap between entry-level candidates and companies created from the other side of the spectrum?
How do students themselves contribute to the gap that exists between them and companies? Or do they?
Students and the workforce gap
One thing that creates the workforce gap from the student side is the way in which certain education strategies teach students to think about commerce and self-marketing.
Many students are taught very similar self-promotion strategies, which prevent them from being unique in the eyes of employers.
Students are shaped identically. That’s what’s making harder to stand out
This further hurts them as many entry-level jobs require a high level of uniqueness to stand out.
Those potentially outdated self-promotion tactics limit students’ ability to uniquely market themselves and think critically.
And this just makes them less visible to companies, and less likely to meet employer standards.
Self-marketing
The main ways that many students are taught to find a job and create revenue is very similar: write a strong cover letter, write a concise resume, create a portfolio and apply to companies.
This is seen in many cases at college and university education levels. As valuable as it is to learn how to create a portfolio and self-identify in writing, this method of self-marketing can work against students.
Industries become more complex and as HR departments receive lots of applications, being unique is the only way to stand out.
Students who market themselves the same can’t possibly stand out FROM brand-aligned individuals to that company
One of the main issues with the standard job application process is that companies never get to read most of the resumes.
The application trends in figures
According to Inc., on average, every corporate job opening attracts 250 resumes.
But only four to six of these applicants will get to the interview stage, and only one of those will get the job.
To add to this, according to author and career coach Martin Yate, companies never get to read the 95% of the resumes.
So, in essence, institutions teach students to market themselves the same way, which decreases their visibility amongst companies.
Additionally, the mechanism they are being taught to use to apply for jobs further restricts their chances of being noticed.
Limited creativity
Students’ limited exposure to creative self-marketing is making them all the same.
According to BBC, some studies show that students and employers have different standards when judging student job readiness.
In a survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 28% of employers believed students were not proficient in oral communication and working with numbers and statistics.
And only 23% of employers believed students could apply knowledge and skills to the real world.
In other words, companies don’t feel that students are always ready to be critical enough in their thinking to be effective in the workforce.
Job experience for entry-level jobs
Another factor that makes the gap between companies and potential employees wider is that standards to get a job are high.
According to Forbes, many employers require work experience for the entry-level jobs.
An outdated self-marketing strategy makes attaining a job even less likely for students
It is important to understand the value of a resume and a cover letter.
Many education institutions teach the same self-marketing strategies to students which limit their ability to stand out in the crowded job market.
In the future, educational institutions nee to teach students to more effectively stand out in the cohort of applicants and make it easier for companies to spot them.
What do you think? Have you noticed the same alarming trend? How do you prepare your job application? Let me know in the comments below!
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