Have you struggled to ‘speak the language of business’ or to meet business needs efficiently? Knowing how to work well together is a key skill for successful business partnerships, as discussed in Diversity Partners Module 4.2, Perception is Reality: Building Your Professional Identity.

Understanding the Labor Market

Employment service professionals can acquire information on labor market trends that may reveal opportunities for job seekers with disabilities to obtain a job, or to attain appropriate skills and experience to upskill or change careers. One of the biggest challenges for business is the fact that there are not enough skilled workers to meet industry demands. How significant is the current skills gap? It depends on who you ask and what industry you are evaluating. Some talent shortages are likely due to less desirable jobs although most are driven by a skills gap. Emerging workforce trends validate middle skill jobs are in high demand creating opportunity for employment service professionals and the workforce development system to integrate competency-based curriculum as an essential tool for employer engagement.

Enhancing Your Value to Employers

Development and support of sector partnerships and career pathways can create mutually beneficial partnerships to meet business needs, make job-driven investments, and establish employer-connected on-ramps for candidates. Employers need to find qualified candidates, reduce costs, and enhance programming and training, all while meeting compliance and diversity goals. Establishing credibility to be relevant to business is critical and highlighted in Enhancing Your Value to Employers. Setting realistic expectations is also essential for business, employment services, and job candidates. Partnership is key for addressing workforce needs and employer pain points or what may “keep them up at night”. Often employers are looking for quick results with trusted partners to identify potential resources available for hiring and service delivery solutions. Supporting businesses through the entire recruitment process of preparing, sourcing, screening, selecting, hiring and onboarding requires building collaborative partnerships to deliver comprehensive services.

Additional Employer Engagement Resources

Diversity Partners tools and resources are designed to provide the skills and confidence of employment service professionals to improve knowledge of business practices, leverage labor market demands and build business and industry partnerships. For more information on employer engagement, see The Dos and Don’ts of Employer Engagement webinar archived on Diversity Partners’ website.