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The shortage of skilled professionals is clearly having an impact: 42 per cent of all interviewed executive managers in German companies lament that they are unable to find ideal candidates for new positions. Moreover, 41 per cent feel that the skill shortage results in a higher workload for their employees. 37 per cent have positions that are vacant for longer periods, 21 per cent even speak of decreasing turnovers. These are the results of a comprehensive study conducted by Hays among 1,000 executive managers from German companies of different industries, sizes and specialisations.

Despite the negative effects, the survey participants do not perceive the skill shortage as a general phenomenon. When it comes to their individual work environments, they consider the skill shortage as less significant. 40 per cent feel that skill shortage is limited to certain industries while 44 per cent think it is limited to certain fields of work.

According to the participants, the central causes are demographic change (53 per cent) and sluggish educational systems (50 per cent). However, the empiric data also show: Many companies have not done their homework when it comes to dealing with skill shortage. The participants regard the following three fields of action as the most important ones: employer attractiveness (54 per cent), strategic resource planning (49 per cent) as well as recruitment and promotion of young professionals (48 per cent).

“Skill shortage is not fate. Thus, it's no help to blame demographic changes or the educational systems. Instead, companies should actively tackle the shortage of skilled professionals.” According to Christoph Niewerth, board member of Hays AG, the IT industry took active steps against skill shortage at an early stage and has achieved significantly better results in our study than other industries.

Do you want to tackle the skill shortage by finding the right candidates for companies? Apply now and become an account manager or recruiter at Hays!