The Talent Crisis and the State of Education

What is it about Los Angeles schools and the caliber of education in this city? It’s difficult to tell whether the phenomenon of producing poorly educated individuals is unique to the Los Angeles schools, to particular zip codes within the sprawling city, or whether it should be attributed to the caliber of teachers who are employed here. With a small turn, it seems the problem isn’t isolated to just Los Angeles. It’s a state problem. It’s a national problem. It’s epidemic. Approximately half of those who enter high school will graduate four and a half years later. Of that number, there will be the usual spread of achievement and proof of quality education.

Some give up in deference to the many external pressures impacting them. Some are the usual profile of get by with the minimum amount of effort. Some of those numbers will blossom at a later time, when they realize the importance and value of knowledge and the path to achieving their goals in an acceptable way.

Our Mayor proposed a solution to the issue of education. After all, it impacts the quality of product one can expect from the City, it’s a form of interstate commerce, this “Made in Los Angeles” stamp that graduates of our schools carries. And the lackadaisical attitude impacts other products that are actually manufactured and marketed in other states and cities, in other parts of the world. So much so that employers are still reluctant to hire individuals from a particular zip code.

Quite a flurry was started when last year the question was put to the recruiting industry as to where the responsibility for education our youth should reside. The question arose out of the controversy started as the Mayor sought to have control over the School Board, to supplant the Superintendent of Schools with himself. Villaraigosa has succeeded in his striving to take over the running the school district and he did so by making an ally of his potential rival, Superintendent Brewer.

It was announced on October 1 that Villaraigosa will have oversight of two “families” of schools, which turn out to be the lowest performing of all the schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, 44 schools in total (27 high schools, 17 middle schools that feed into those high schools).

I’ve delayed addressing the October 10 announcement of the school district’s spin-off district because there was a need to research which are the affected schools. That information is not easy to ascertain using the resources I was initially able to access. It seems another report from the District’s site should have been used.

But one thing seems to be consistent: There is no one, single solution to the education (therefore talent) crisis. Impacts are multiple and that means solutions also need to be wrought from many areas that work toward the core. However, one study conducted by a California State University at Los Angeles Assistant Professor, a Ph.D. candidate, and a representative from LAUSD found that teacher confidence in their self and the abilities of their students had a direct correlation to the success those students achieved. This “get what you expect” syndrome has been researched at other times in management and human resource areas. The results are consistent.

It looks like the reminder needs to be given on a repeated basis. You get what you expect. Expect the best and treat the candidates as you would want to be treated. Those are just two steps in overcoming the talent crisis as it is affected by the education issue.

education, “workforce preparation”, “school district”, management,

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Continued Hiring and Raises in Spite of Tight Labor Market

News reports say we’re in a tight labor market. In spite of that, hiring managers will not be firing workers. Instead, they will continue to hire and will offer salary increases. The logic — once you’ve got the good ones, why not do what’s necessary to keep them.

Isn’t it nice to be able to spout off all of that official sounding information? But who understands what it really means? Few, very few. So what is this “tight labor market” rhetoric? First, it isn’t rhetoric. It is a fact that annually, fewer people are prepared to step into the workforce and deliver the type of performance that is required as measuring up to “good work” or “quality performance” for the employer’s needs. What this means for those who are already employed is they have done what’s necessary to prove theirselves; they’re now in the desirable position of being able to ask for (and probably receive) a higher salary. They’ve shown that they have the right stuff to make it.

In doing research for this post, a Federal Reserve publication called The Beige Book was found. It looks at all parts of the economy across the country and examines the various pressures and dynamics that are happening to cause growth or contraction. You’ll want to add this to your industry and company research links tools so that you can learn more about what’s happening in your target industry. Then you can make your entrance with knowledge and insight. You may even want to spout a few of the statistics during the interview, just to show that you know what you’re talking about and would make phenomenal talent.

But let’s get to the nuts and bolts of what’s happening in the labor market. According to the Beige Book, the economy is tight. We don’t have enough well qualified, well educated, properly prepared workers coming into the market to offset those who are leaving for retirement. In fact, the labor market looks very much like it did in 1999.

The underlying message also includes the fact that it takes more to train the new worker than it did before. Adding to that is the slap-dash attitude that whatever it takes to get product out the door is okay; quality can be sacrificed. Indeed, pressures to deliver on time sometimes demand that the “little things” be let go for the sake of living up to the reliability factor. This, many times, is a very short-sighted attitude in consideration of the long-range possibilities of product failure and consequent consumer lawsuits for personal injury or death.

Ah, that legal background causes all manner of detours. Forgive me. Back to tight labor markets and the impact on hiring and raises. There will be less hiring but less than in the previous quarter. There is a reluctance to fire workers because firing tends to create gossip that makes people worry and reduce morale. Reduced morale means lower productivity while workers are checking out want ads in case they are one of those on the block. And lowered productivity means less work that gets delivered to the client — who pays the bills.

Sounds a bit like a Catch-22. It’s actually a fact of Life and part of the business life cycle.

If you’ve got a job, do whatever is necessary to keep it. If you just can’t sweat it out, hold on until you find something else that’s a better fit.

More importantly, this is a critical time to purposefully network.

Productivity and spending in nearly all sectors is up; one exception is residential mortgage origination and refinancing as well as construction. People are willling to spend. They desire product. The news is that wages are increasing.