A Quick Message Before We BeginThe world of work has changed profoundly in the last two years. Take a look at my assessment of what it means at www.higheredjobs.com/blog. It's the Author in Residence blog at HigherEdJobs.com.
Here's how the site describes the blog: "Imagine a good, old-fashioned book club, combined with the academic staple of a scholar in residence. Now add the cutting-edge technology of a blog with regular blog postings and comments, and you've got HigherEdJobs' newest feature, the Author in Residence! Unlike any book club you may have joined, this one is led by the author and is focused on helping YOU in your career."
Please stop by and join our conversation.
Why Employers Don't Hire Perfectly Qualified People
Today's turbulent economic environment has changed the way employers fill their vacant positions. Instead of using their traditional approach-hiring a person who is qualified for a job-they have turned to a new strategy that is best be described as "talent staffing." As a result, tens of millions of decent, dedicated and capable people-men and women who have successfully worked their entire lives-are now unemployed, unsuccessful in their search for a new job and unable to figure out why. No one has told them that the rules of the game have changed.
In the past, employers were willing to hire those who had modest skills and train them to perform a job. Today, they will only employ individuals who have all of the skills to do a job and the state-of-the-art knowledge required to use those skills effectively on-the-job. In the past, employers were happy to hire qualified workers to fill their open positions and accepted that only a few would exceed their expectations, most would meet them, and the rest would need remediation and support. Today, they seek better-than-qualified persons-people of talent-to do a job, and they expect superior performance from them and from their first day of work.
What Makes Someone a Person of Talent?
In practice, employers have defined a person of talent to be someone who has one or both of two attributes:
" They have a skill that is critical to organizational success and a track record which demonstrates their ability to use that skill effectively on-the-job.
and/or
" They perform at a superior level on-the-job which sets a standard that encourages their coworkers to upgrade the caliber of their work, as well.
Ironically, even though millions of Americans are now in the job market looking for work, a large percentage of employers believe there is a shortage of individuals with such talent. While their email boxes and mailrooms are filled to overflowing with resumes, they see themselves as increasingly challenged to find, recruit and retain workers who have the critical skills and/or the commitment to superior performance necessary for organizational success in the global marketplace.
In essence, employers are convinced that only a very few people have talent and that talent is, therefore, in critically short supply. While this view is their accepted wisdom, it is actually only half right. The truth is that every human being is born with talent-it is a universal attribute of our species-but. sadly, only a very small percentage of people actually work with that gift. And because so few of us build our career on our talent, there is-for the moment, at least-a real and persistent shortage of that resource.
What Can You Do if You Are in Transition (or Worried That You Might Be Soon)?
First, make sure you know where your talent lies. Talent is not skill. Talent is an inherent capability-an endowed capacity for excellence-which can be taught to do a certain kind of work. Talent may be a universal attribute, but it cannot be universally used. No talent is compatible with all work, but every talent can be expressed in more than one career field. It can be trained to perform as one skill today and another skill tomorrow. But before you can do that, you have to know what you're talented at.
Second, make sure you are working in a career field and for an employer that enable you to express and experience your talent. Why is that so important? Because employers aren't hiring your skill, they're hiring what they think will be your performance. They want to hire all stars. Not people who are good at what they do, but people who are the best at that endeavor. And the only way you can be an all star-the only way you can excel at your work-is if you are working with your talent.
Yes, it's unfair that the rules of the game have changed. And yes, it's even more unfair that employers never bothered to tell anyone about it. But no, that change does not handicap you or put you at a permanent disadvantage. Quite the contrary, this shift to talent staffing is actually your Emancipation Proclamation. It frees you to find the work you love to do and do best and build a career with it. It liberates you to be a person of talent.
Thanks for reading,
Peter
Visit my blog at Weddles.com/WorkStrong
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