Employers finding it difficult to fill jobs

Thirty-one percent of employers across the globe are finding it more difficult to fill jobs.

The top three job candidates most in-demand are those in skilled manual trades, sales representatives and technicians (technical workers in the areas of production/operations, engineering and maintenance), according to Manpower Inc.’s most recent talent shortage survey.

“Globally, skilled manual trades edged out sales representatives for the No. 1 hardest job to fill this year,” Jeffrey A. Joerres, chairman and CEO of Manpower Inc., said in a press release. “There is no magic formula: Employers and governments must continue to look for new ways of recruiting, training, managing and retaining their current employees.

“This dramatic decrease is a reflection of the recent downturn in the U.S. economy; however, the talent crunch is still a very real concern, and employers must continue their diligence in developing their employer brands and honing their talent strategies during 2008.”

Having too many jobs and not enough workers might come as a shock to Pee Dee residents, mainly because the unemployment rate in the area remains lackluster. Six out of seven counties in the Pee Dee, as well as the state, showed an increase in unemployment in April compared with March, according to the S.C. Employment Security Commission’s monthly report released Friday.

The state’s unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose slightly to 5.9 percent in April from 5.7 percent in March. The nation’s unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a point to 5 percent in April, from 5.1 percent in March.

So what do you do when you have jobs open and people not working? You train.

“We have an internal training program here at Anderson Brothers,” said Dale Tripp, vice president and general manager of ABCO Anderson Brass Co. “We take people from the tech schools. After two years there ... they come to us, and we train them for five to 10 additional years.”

ABCO specializes in low-cost valve manufacturing using high-speed motive machines. Tripp said most technical schools don’t train on that type of machinery.
“Although people are still training with us, their pay is competitive to their training level,” he said. “We currently have four people in the program now, but I wish we had more like 10, because when it comes down to certain skills, like screw machinery, we end up having to relocate people from other areas. That is one of the only skills where we can’t find people locally that have training.”

The Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology (SiMT), located on the Florence-Darlington Technical College campus, offers training in multiple manufacturing areas, including quality, machining, rapid prototyping, fluid power, robotics, electronics, maintenance and programmable logic controls.
Max Welch, associate director of SiMT, said the institute tries to match students with industries in the area.

“We have placement for the programs that they are in,” he said. “Like with welding, for example, we have a lot of companies looking for welders, so when they complete courses, we try to get them interviews with some of those companies. We try to give them leads to where they can apply for jobs.”

Welch also said such industries as Sonoco, Nucor and ESAB work with the school to train current and prospective employees.

“They’ll come to us and say they need some more people trained for a certain type of job, and we’ll do the training for new people coming into the company or people already working that need it,” he said. “There is that skilled worker shortage, and that’s what we are here for.”