The "Skills Gap" is a Lot of Hooey

It's mostly employers who put in ridiculous job requirements and then use screening software to weed out good applicants who would be perfect for the jobs.

Let's not forget about those credit and background checks, either, or those Likert questionnaires which ask the same questions five or six times.

I'll have to get the book mentioned in this article:

Much of what is broken in the U.S. job market will take a lot of work and time to fix. The current approach to training needs repair, for instance.

But some fixes are easier. Employers could, as Mr. Cappelli puts it, "back off the strict requirement that applicants need to have previously done precisely the tasks needed for the vacant job" and "see if they could do the same with some training or ramp-up time." And employers could insist that vendors redo the software so it isn't so picky and flags for personal consideration—rather than discards—an applicant who doesn't quite fit the specifics but might be able to do the job.