Book

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 wonOCOt accept jobs at the wages offered. In this powerful and fast-reading book, Peter Cappelli, Wharton management professor and director of WhartonOCOs Center for Human Resources, debunks the arguments and exposes the real reasons good people canOCOt 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 MagazineOCO"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 OCOs job engine again."

Why has median income stopped rising in the US? Why is the share of population that is working falling so rapidly? Why are our economy and society are becoming more unequal? A growing chorus is arguing that the root cause underlying these symptoms is stagnation in technology -- a slowdown in the kinds of ideas and inventions that bring progress and prosperity. In Race Against the Machine, MIT's Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee present a very different explanation. Drawing on research by their team at the Center for Digital Business, they show that there's been no stagnation in technology -- in particular, the digital revolution is accelerating. Recent advances, are the stuff of science fiction. Computers now drive cars in traffic, translate between human languages effectively, and beat the best human Jeopardy! players. As these examples show, digital technologies are rapidly encroaching on skills that used to belong to humans alone. This phenomenon is both broad and deep, and has profound economic implications. Many of these implications are positive; digital innovation increases productivity, reduces prices (sometimes to zero), and grows the overall economic pie. But digital innovation has also changed how the economic pie is distributed, and here the news is not good for the median worker. As technology races ahead, it can leave many people behind. Workers whose skills have been mastered by computers have less to offer the job market, and see their wages and prospects shrink. Entrepreneurial business models, new organizational structures and different institutions are needed. In Race Against the Machine Brynjolfsson and McAfee bring together a range of statistics, examples, and arguments to show that the average worker is not keeping up with cutting-edge technologies, and so is losing the race against the machine. The book makes the case that employment prospects are grim for many today not because there's been technology has stagnated, but instead because we humans and our organizations aren't keeping up.

There has long been concern that shortages sometimes develop and persist in specific occupations, leading to inefficiencies in the U.S. economy. This book will help readers understand why occupational shortages arise, how to know a shortage when it is present, and to assess strategies to alleviate the shortage. As the authors show, many economists, including several U.S. Nobel Prize winners, have studied occupational shortages, and this volume builds on their work.

In a context of dynamic and complex labour markets, gathering intelligence on current and future skill needs can support better matching of training and jobs, which is of paramount importance for every country in the world. In recent years, better understanding of labour market needs and skills matching have featured high on the policy agenda of many countries, driven by both rapid technological advances and global competition. Skills matching can also help reduce unemployment, particularly among young people. It helps build a better life for individuals by improving employability, social mobility and inclusion. The European Union (EU) places great emphasis on skills anticipation and better matching. The Europe 2020 strategy and, in particular, the Agenda for new skills and jobs, recognise that anticipation and matching approaches and methods can help develop a skilled workforce with the right mix of skills in response to labour market needs, in a way that promotes job quality and lifelong learning. The EU Skills Panorama, launched in 2012, supports the effort to provide better data and intelligence on skill needs in the labour market. The tripartite representation of International Labour Organization (ILO) Member States agreed that countries that have succeeded in linking skills to gains in productivity, employment and development have targeted skills development policy towards three main objectives: matching supply to current demand for skills; helping workers and enterprises adjust to change; building and sustaining competencies for future labour market needs.

This edited international collection of contemporary and emerging career development theories and models aims to inform the practice of career development professionals around the globe. It is also intended to be used as a text for undergraduate and graduate career counselling courses. In order to effectively serve clients and the public, career practitioners need to be equipped with the latest theories and models in the field. Ethical career practice requires practitioners to be up-to-date with their knowledge about theory - and how theory informs practice. This publication provides practitioners with a tangible resource they can use to develop theory-informed interventions. Contains 43 chapters on the theories and models that define the practice of career development today Contributors are 60 of the leading career researchers and practitioners from four continents and nine countries: Australia, Canada, England, Finland, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States Featured authors include the original theorists and those who have adapted the work in unique ways to inform career development practice Presented in a reader-friendly format, each chapter includes a Case Vignette that illustrates how a theory or model can be applied in practice, and Practice Points that summarize key takeaways for career practitioners to implement with clients.

Disruption by digital technologies? That's not a new story. But what is new is the wise pivot a replicable strategy for harnessing disruption to survive, grow, and be relevant to the future. It's a strategy for perpetual reinvention across the old, now, and new elements of any business. Rapid recent advances in technology are forcing leaders in every business to rethink long-held beliefs about how to adapt to emerging technologies and new markets. What has become abundantly clear: in the digital age, conventional wisdom about business transformation no longer works, if it ever did. Based on Accenture's own experience of reinventing itself in the face of disruption, the company's real world client work, and a rigorous two-year study of thousands of businesses across 30 industries, Pivot to the Future reveals methodical and bold moves for finding and releasing new sources of trapped value-unlocked by bridging the gap between what is technologically possible and how technologies are being used. The freed value enables companies to simultaneously reinvent their legacy, and current and new businesses. Pivot to the Future is for leaders who seek to turn the existential threats of today and tomorrow into sustainable growth, with the courage to understand that a wise pivot strategy is not a one-time event, but a commitment to a future of perpetual reinvention, where one pivot is followed by the next and the next.