Demographonomics

Recent discussions have centered around the future of work and employment assuming a coming labor and skills shortage, as well as a skills mismatch between the characteristics of workers and the needs of employers.

This is evident in Kingston. We often hear that people are struggling with recruiting the right people. But step back for a moment and consider this – is it really a skills and labour shortage or is it more a demographic shortage? Or are the people who are looking for meaningful work slightly older than the demographic businesses are looking at. This may mean we have to change our thinking when it comes to recruitment.

For Kingston and area, the stats show an 18% drop in the number of 20 – 34 year olds comparative to that of the 40 – 54 year olds. This percentage drop would be even higher if we took out the Queen’s students who are included in the census data but then leave the city upon graduation (this is another issue which is being addressed).

KEYS often invite us along to give labour market and economic trend talks to those who are unemployed and looking to re-enter work. Consistently we see well qualified, highly exprerienced people, sitting round the table who are struggling to find jobs. What is the age range of these people? 40-50 years. There are engineers, medical secretaries, computer programmers, manufacturers, managers to name a few.

These people offer a myriad of transferable skills, 20+ years experience, willingness, and commitment to the job. What if employers were to think outside the ‘we are looking for this perfect person’ box and thought about ‘shaping the square peg to fit the round hole’. Looking at the foundational elements, the core competencies, rather than what direct experience they have in that sector helps to widen the pool of talented people.

You should not fail to see beyond the 20 year old degree of the 40 year old worker. Yes, it is not a relevant today as maybe a young student graduating with their degree. Recruitment thinking needs to go wider than education. Strongly consider work record, employment experience, needs, and goals of the employee.

Don’t get me wrong – younger people do offer fresh thinking, fresh perspectives, and have not been embedded in organizational culture before. But there is a talented group of people out there who could be the stars of your organization and become the mentors to the youngsters who form the workforce of tomorrow.

We just need to be creative and forward thinking in how we view the older demographic.