Employers

Employers in Texas need to identify and recruit talent with the right skills, but the information that could help them meet their workforce needs is not collected in a precise or standardized way.

We aren't collecting the necessary location and skills data for employers to determine what skills employees attain through education and training programs or to know who possesses the skillsets they need at the regional level, making it difficult to target recruitment efforts.

The data we do collect on the actual skills present in the workforce and learned in schools and training programs is not collected in a standardized way. Employers struggle with identifying the precise skills needed for a given job, or they lack training on how to write skills-based job descriptions. While third-party organizations collect skills data using job posting descriptions and organizations like Credential Engine have created a standardized credential registry, neither of these practices of categorizing and recognizing skills has been widely adopted and used to their full potential.

Employers often use the completion of specific credential or training programs to tell if a potential employee has the required skill set. However, the completion of certain programs is not a good indicator that the person has acquired the requisite skills or that they will be successful in a specific type of role.

GPAs and program completion are also used as proxies to signal skills attainment and to compare skills and learning outcomes across different institutions, even though its usefulness is limited. Class structure, grading, skills obtained and teaching methodologies and skills vary across institutions, making it a poor metric to compare students from different schools on their competency or job readiness.

A manufacturing company wants to expand, but the management team has trouble finding regional data on the specific skills required for high-need roles. They can’t tell if the talent in the regions they are looking at hold advanced skills in project management software or basic carpentry techniques.

Employers in Texas need to find workers with the right skills, but information about those skills are imprecise and not linked to other relevant data about jobs and industries.

We collect data on industries of employment, but not on specific jobs within those industries, making it difficult to link job data to other critical data that would help employers find workers with the right skills.

Employers use job descriptions and postings to communicate what skills they need and third-party organizations collect job and skills information that employers can access to understand the job market better. However, skills categorizations are not widespread and these reports are not well-linked with employment outcomes or education data, and terminology used to define skills can vary between employers and educational providers. Employers struggle to verify whether candidates possess the necessary skills for their jobs and to compare candidates’ skill levels.

When reviewing job applicants, an HR team encounters resumes that list various skills. Because the data on skills is not collected in a standardized way, there aren’t widely adopted standard definitions, and credentials aren’t linked outcomes, they struggle to identify what precise skills candidates possess and compare them. One candidate may list a "CNC operation" credential while another describes their experience as "operating milling machines," making it difficult to gauge their true competency level in the specific skills needed for the job.

Employers need detailed information on regional labor market conditions to understand labor availability, trends and gaps, but they have limited access to timely and comprehensive labor market data. Without timely data, it’s difficult for employers to conduct accurate labor analyses and know where to focus recruitment efforts to find talent that fits their needs.

The data that does exist on skills attainment, like badges and certifications, and detailed data on trends in graduation outcomes, like salaries and job placements, is also not always available to employers. Without this information, it is difficult for employers to assess different programs and their candidates to determine if they fit their needs.

Manufacturers may want to partner with a local training program or technical school that offers a welding certificate to recruit new talent. However, without information on educational outcomes for the program, such as their job placement rate, it’s difficult for employers to decide which programs to invest in to fulfill their hiring needs.