Get the Training You Need to Perform the Jobs that are Available

The job market has changed. You need to change, too. Get the skills required for the jobs available. Otherwise, you're putting a square peg in a round hole.

In an August 2012 Inc. article entitled, “Jobs Are Available; Workers Aren’t Trained,” writer Michael Alter suggests that we’re in the middle of what he calls an “economic Catch-22.” There are employers ready to hire and workers ready to work, but never the twain shall meet. The reason is that what employers need, workers can’t do. He writes:

Curing what ails this economy is more complicated than simply inspiring growth to lead to hiring. We have to go deeper than that. Having a more skilled workforce won't just make it easier to fill open positions. It will make our companies stronger, smarter, and more versatile, so they can build on their successes.

Matching Old Skills with New Jobs is Old News

In a article I wrote two years ago at help write essay for me site, “Unemployed Workers Need to Match Their Skill Sets to Future Jobs,” I noted the problem of structural unemployment. Structural unemployment occurs when the jobs available don’t match with the skill sets of the unemployed workers.

In addition, I suggested that workers needed to think about how to acquire the necessary skills to do the jobs available, while employers needed to think about how to hire and train the best and the brightest to do the jobs they need to fill.

How does this migration from what you can do now to what you can do in the future look? It’s a matter of your current skill set and your area(s) of interest.

Finding the Right Path that Leads to Trained Workers

The best way to move into a new career is the same as it has always been.

• Determine your areas of interest. Whatever you’re passionate about in your personal life – sports, art, music, cooking, helping others – may apply to a possible career. Find something that interests you. Check out the Wall Street Journal how-to to get some additional ideas about finding the right career path for you.

• Use the skills you have. First, use your research and analytical skills to figure out the best career transition for you. Then determine how all your other skills – project management, technical, communication, or whatever – fit with your new career choice.

• Find out what types of jobs local employers need to fill. By researching the jobs available in your area, you’ll find out what employers need. Equally important, you may find a career you never knew about. Don’t be afraid to explore areas of work you never considered before, as those mentioned in the May 2012 Reuters article, “Older Americans learn new trades in tough jobs market.”

• Check with local training centers. Community colleges, technical and trade schools, state employment offices, occupational centers, and community-based employment services all offer classes that can teach you the skills you need to move into a new job. In addition, some employers offer on the job training for the right general skills and work experience. Ask the human resource department of the company where you want to work whether they have in-house training or if they have training agreements with local schools or government programs, like those mentioned in the Rueters article or this Goodwill program for seniors.

It won’t be easy. It will take time and perseverance. However, there are jobs available if you take the time to look at what you’ve been doing and consider how to make your skills and knowledge work for you.