CHICAGO, April 9 (UPI) -- U.S. employers having difficulty finding a perfect match for a job opening might do well to think outside the box, CareerBuilder said Tuesday.
CareerBuilder said nearly half of all employers -- 47 percent -- indicated that they almost always hire a candidate who has had the same job title in the past. Meanwhile, "Nearly three-in-ten employers currently have open positions for which they can't find qualified candidates," President of CareerBuilder North America Brent Rasmussen said.
That adds up to frustrated employees and employers -- those who just miss out on a job because their qualifications don't match up perfectly and employers with production goals unmet because the perfect candidate has yet to fill a job.
CareerBuilder suggests "pursuing alternative talent pools."
"Instead of waiting for the perfect hire, we see more companies hiring workers from closely related occupations who won't require a great deal of training and can get up to speed quickly," Rasmussen said.
For example, an opening for an electrical engineering technician could be filled by a candidate with backgrounds that include audio and video equipment technician, camera and photographic equipment repairers or computer user support specialists, CareerBuilder said.
Economic Modeling Specialists International, a CareerBuilder company, has developed a compatibility index that can help employers fill jobs when the perfect candidate has yet to appear, the company said.
An employer could hire an automotive body and repair technician to fill a job as a machinist, CareerBuilder said.
Another might hire an occupational therapy aide to work as a medical assistance.
To fill an accountant position with a median salary of $62,483, an employer might hire either a tax examiner and collector, a position with a median salary of $49,961 or a credit analyst, which has a median salary of $61,672, CareerBuilder said.
