Guest Post By Dan Vigdor, ThriveDX Founder and Executive Chairman
Closing the skills gap for underserved, lifelong learners is about listening to trends and understanding the market. Highly skilled tech workers are in demand more than ever with a multitude of cyber threats everywhere.
There is a tremendous skills gap as untapped talent pools seek to upskill and reskill in the shortest amount of time possible. In-demand fields include cybersecurity, UX/UI, and digital marketing.
Closing the skills gap is essential to businesses and higher education institutions.
Gone are the days when Silicon Valley was thought of as the only tech capital. Today, places like Austin, Miami, Denver, and Indianapolis have seen a large uptick in startups and new office locations for major companies. This opens up a much wider recruitment pool, but many companies are taking it as an opportunity to recruit from nontraditional talent pools. Think workers over 50 or economically disadvantaged students. After you’ve identified a new talent pool, you need to make sure you’re implementing equitable hiring practices and offering training.
Implement equitable hiring practices
Resumes aren’t everything. Hiring managers need to focus on transferable skills, certifications, and course completions rather than just previous experience. Despite what many think, digital jobs such as those in cybersecurity are primed for recruiting from academically disadvantaged communities. Anyone can be a cyber analyst.
You don’t have to have a genius IQ or be excellent in mathematics and physics, you just have to have the motivation. There are some 600,000 open cyber security jobs in the US. Many could be filled with the proper training and passion to learn from potential employees.
Offer training programs
Offering workforce-development programs that work for everyone is key to closing the skills gap. Not everyone has a four-year college degree. Companies should create partnerships with local community colleges, technical schools, and certificate programs.
Addressing the skills gap will also close the wealth gap
Companies that focus on non-traditional locations, address the skills gap, and offer training programs are all doing their part to reduce the wealth gap from city to city and create employment opportunities for people to develop generational wealth.
By presenting opportunities to someone who knows about technology but doesn’t know how to get a foot in the door, you can help that person into a digital skills program.
Teaching people about the industry and opportunities and helping them to get reskilled will ultimately help them secure a job outside their community. A natural cycle begins to happen. People are able to come back and share the opportunities and experiences they had.
It brings economic increase into the community and allows the community to advance. The individual is amplifying the opportunity within their community. Technology jobs are changing the way we live and work virtually, and are within reach for anyone who has the drive and desire to train for them.
