Peter Cappelli confronts the myth of the skills gap and provides an
actionable path forward to put people back to work.
Even in a time of perilously high unemployment, companies contend that
they cannot find the employees they need. Pointing to a skills gap,
employers argue applicants are simply not qualified; schools aren't
preparing students for jobs; the government isn't letting in enough
high-skill immigrants; and even when the match is right, prospective
employees won't accept jobs at the wages offered.
In this powerful and fast-reading book, Peter Cappelli, Wharton
management professor and director of Wharton's Center for Human
Resources, debunks the arguments and exposes the real reasons good
people can't get hired. Drawing on jobs data, anecdotes from all sides
of the employer-employee divide, and interviews with jobs professionals,
he explores the paradoxical forces bearing down on the American
workplace and lays out solutions that can help us break through what has
become a crippling employer-employee stand-off.
Among the questions he confronts: Is there really a skills gap? To what
extent is the hiring process being held hostage by automated software
that can crunch thousands of applications an hour? What kind of training
could best bridge the gap between employer expectations and applicant
realities, and who should foot the bill for it? Are schools really at
fault?
Named one of *HR Magazine'*s Top 20 Most Influential Thinkers of 2011,
Cappelli not only changes the way we think about hiring but points the
way forward to rev America's job engine again.
