Top 5 Skills Gaps in the Workforce
Top 5 Skills Gaps in the Workforce
Skills gaps are a fact of life in business. As business evolves so do your skills needs and this can feel like a never ending mountain to climb. Understanding your skills needs and realising that soft skills and hard skills both need to be addressed and maintained can help you stay on top. No matter what your business is, you’ll find the same areas of training needs apply. So, here are our top 5 skills gap examples.
Marketing
No matter how great your product or service is, if you don’t market it right no one is going to care, or even know it exists. You face stiff competition in today’s markets, even if you think your idea is unique, so marketing is a vital part of your business. Learn to see this as fun and get creative with your marketing ideas. The arena of marketing is huge, but the trick is to find your potential customers and sell your product to them effectively. Get this right and you have an invaluable skill.
Leadership and management
Leadership and management can be especially difficult for small businesses and start ups. You had an idea you are passionate about, but you might not feel like you are a natural leader.Being a good leader and knowing how to manage your team effectively is a skill you need to master if you want to succeed. Hiring managers is a positive step, but you still need to understand leadership for yourself. Get comfortable with this role and understand it so you can find your leadership groove.
Project management
A thriving business knows how to deliver fast and high impact results and to do this you need effective project management. Project management is a more important skill to have right now than ever before, and it’s becoming increasingly vital. To be able to plan and work closely with a team to achieve results is an area of training that can’t be underestimated. Find the project management employees who will execute and control your projects, and understand what this role means for your business.
Finance
Finance can be a polarising skill. While some people love number crunching, others steer clear of it with an intense aversion. But finance is one of the most important areas of your business and if you don’t do numbers you need to find an employee who does. Even if you intend to let someone else deal with your profits and cash flow, an understanding of finance is important. Don’t get left behind when it comes to your money, make sure you know what’s going on in your finances.
Tech
Arguably the backbone of modern business, tech has never been so important in the race for success and as it continues to evolve the importance of tech only becomes more immediate. Educating yourself and your employees can transform how you run your business, and having tech professionals as part of your team can transform your life. Tech is perhaps the number one example of a skills gap that must be filled.