The shortage of skilled workers is still a pressing problem in many industries and regions. Companies are faced with the challenge of filling vacancies with the best employees, while the selection of candidates is getting smaller. One would expect companies to adapt their recruitment practices to the reality of the labor market. Zero Gap describes a phenomenon in which applications are consistently rejected by companies that do not have ideal qualifications and professional experience. In many cases, this happens just a few hours after the application has been submitted and without ever having spoken to the person. Although not explicitly mentioned, applications are often not pursued further due to the demographic characteristics (such as age), professional history or social characteristics shown in application documents.
One possible reason is that those responsible want profiles that fully meet the hard skills requirements. Such profiles promise faster and less risky training. Hard skills do provide a technical basis. It is too short-sighted to conclude that training is faster and less risky. No matter how qualified a person is, if they do not fit into the team, they will not achieve top performance in the employment relationship.
Another reason could be the increasing use of digital recruitment systems. Digital recruitment tools reduce applicant profiles to formal criteria, i.e. hard skills, which can be compared without much effort. With the focus on hard skills, the recruitment process seems very efficient.
There is no doubt that digital recruitment systems make recruitment more efficient. However, zero gap means that potential employees and talents with potential for development are not recognized. Companies are thus wasting labor potential and exacerbating the shortage of skilled workers themselves.
In the era of digital recruitment systems, it is therefore crucial not only to pay attention to the quantifiable hard skills, but also to consider the soft skills that are crucial for success in the employment relationship. Personnel diagnostics offer opportunities to enable a more holistic assessment of candidates to ensure that companies select the best possible talent who not only have the necessary qualifications but also the soft skills that are essential for success in today's working world.
360-Talents enables soft skills analyses and AI-supported aptitude diagnostics. Interested? Register or contact us.
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