Why can't employers find qualified employees?

Surveys of employers are saying that they can’t find qualified workers.  Why is this?

I see the problem as the result of several factors.  I am sure there are more, but here is what I see.

1. Companies are looking for unicorns. 
   1. They want the perfect match for every technical system or process they use.  The number of computer systems used has grown exponentially from ten years ago. Few have the experience in all the systems desired. "Like a young man or woman looking for the perfect spouse, they don't exist!"
   2. Gone are the days when employers wanted skill sets inherent to overall functions such as being technology adept, good communication skills, excellent educational backgrounds and quick learners. Jim Collins calls this “Getting the right people on the bus” in his well-read book Good To Great.  Now, in order to get on the bus, you need specific shoes, socks, shirt, belt, pants and hat.
   3. Usually, the person who desires to rise up in an organization is looking for jobs where they can add additional skills to their “toolbox”.  Sure, they must have some of the skills already, but if they are doing the exact same thing with all the same skills, why switch jobs?  What about stretch goals?
2. Technology has hurt the job market versus helping it. 
   1. I always say “looking for work is a contact sport”.  Automation will not hire the right employee.  I always talked to people to determine if they were the right fit. 
   2. How people will fit into a company’s culture isn’t shown on a resume.  That assessment is done by a conversation.
   3. With application tracking systems (ATS), many highly qualified workers never have an opportunity to “get into the batter’s box” for an interview, let alone “getting out of the dugout”.  If the resume doesn’t have enough key words, highly qualified potential employees don’t even get out of the stack of electronic resumes. You can’t hit the ball if you can’t get in the batter’s box.
   4. Adding all the “key words” to a resume to get past the ATS system to a human makes a resume look like a “word jumble”.  If and when a human in personnel looks at the resume, the layout looks terrible. “You asked for it. I gave you what you wanted!”
   5. It is too easy to produce and send resumes in.  Personnel departments are inundated with electronic resumes.  Once applicants get frustrated working through the “gantlet of the internet process”, they start applying for everything.  This causes even more backups.
3. Companies are hyper focused on their bottom line.
   1. Companies confuse cheap with value.  Hopefully, they aren’t investing in stocks as they would lose their shirt! I have bought things before that were cheap and they didn’t last. Other times I paid up and ended up with a great deal. You can sometimes get something cheap that is a great deal, but that is by far the exception.  Try investing in value stocks.
   2. As the economy is hot, the quit rate has been skyrocketing. Why? Real pay rates haven’t increased for ten years among many workers.  Happy and reasonably challenged workers are less likely to leave. If someone doesn’t leave, there is no hole to fill!

Maneuvering through the gantlet of hiring is proving a challenging task for both employers and potential employees. 

While I don’t know solution to the problem. I do know that it is not because qualified employees are unavailable.