Despite continued high unemployment, nine out of 10 U.S. employers find it difficult to fill key positions, according to a survey by Right Management. Twenty-seven percent of respondents report difficulty filling certain jobs, and 61 percent indicate they have such difficulty on occasion. Thirteen percent say they seldom if ever find it hard to fill key positions. Right Management surveyed senior executives at more than 600 firms across the U.S. representing government, non-profit, public and private organizations.

“We found an uptick in employers who report difficulty filling key positions,” said Bram Lowsky, group executive vice president Americas of Right Management. “This year it’s 27 percent , up from 23 percent last year. And there’s a corresponding drop among those who say they seldom face such a problem. This could be an indication of a strengthening job market. HR professionals know that it is usually a challenge to find and recruit top people whether in a weak or strong job market. And it varies by level, industry, requisite skills and geography. Even so, the findings suggest some shortfall among internal candidates who might be qualified.”

Participants were asked, “How are you able to fill critical roles in your organization?” Responses include:

• We have an ample leadership pipeline that will cover most of our needs (4% in 2012 — 3% in 2011).
• We rely on a combination of internal talent development and select external hiring (77% in 2012 — 81% in 2011).
• We routinely look externally before filling critical roles in our organization (19% in 2012 — 17% in 2011).

“Employers tend to have doubts about their management succession pipeline,” Lowsky believes. “They surely know their workforce is lean and internal development resources have generally been limited for some time. But now organizations are concerned they will be caught short in terms of leadership. They’re also deeply worried they’ll lose top performers to other companies.”

Source: Right Management; www.right.com.