will scarcity alone change the landscape?

We took a bit of a break over the festive season - but still the topics of 'skills shortage' and 'mature age employment' rage on. With every new employment study released, there are two groups of commentators: one concurring and one conflicting with the findings.

Standing here in the middle - one thing is for sure. The employment landscape is changing. Candidates and employers need to shift their mindset. The constant factor is that the job and the person has to match. And this may look different to how we've operated in the past.

Reading the various responses to the latest skills shortage study you can get the picture. Here's one we support:

This "skills shortage" is only the the tip of the iceberg. Baby boomers have only just started retiring, the bulk of the baby boomers will be retiring in the next 10 years and then there might actually be a skills shortage.

Employers are just starting to cry "skills shortage" as they have taken for granted the labour surpluses of the past and continue to expect to have long lines of applicants begging them for a job.

The boom time is over for employers and they have to think and recruit differently focusing on the values, ethics and learning abilities of applicants, so that the organisation can mould the job to the employee and the employee to the job. Having varied employee skills can only add value to any organisation, as long as they identify, and harness them.