How to Find Employees with the Right Skills

Key takeaways

• Finding good employees increasingly means looking beyond past experience and focusing on the skills that matter most
• For small business owners, prioritizing high-value skills that translate across roles can be especially impactful
• Using a mix of hiring channels — including online platforms like ZipRecruiter and local workforce training programs — can help you find qualified employees faster

The “skills gap” isn’t just about a shortage of workers — it’s about how quickly the definition of a qualified candidate is changing.

More than 70% of employers say they struggle to find candidates with the right skills, according to ManpowerGroup’s latest Talent Shortage Survey. The mismatch reflects a broader shift in the labor market: Evolving job requirements, driven in a large part by technological progress, are outpacing traditional hiring practices as rapid advances in AI and automation reshape some of the skills needed across industries.

“The skills gap is very real, but often misunderstood,” says Jason Leverant, president and chief operating officer of the AtWork Group, a national staffing franchise. In many cases, “It’s not that the talent doesn’t exist — it’s that the skills employers are looking for are evolving faster than traditional training and hiring models can keep up.”

For small business owners, the stakes are especially high, since tight budgets, limited time and small teams make every hire more impactful.

As a result, many are rethinking not just who they hire, but how they define and evaluate talent in the first place.

Rethink the balance between hard and soft skills

While technical or job-specific expertise is still essential for many roles, employers are increasingly finding that soft skills — such as adaptability and problem-solving — are just as critical.

ZipRecruiter’s latest employer survey suggests this extends to AI-driven roles as well. The top skills listed alongside AI requirements in job postings — collaboration, innovation, machine learning and Python — signal that even in highly technical roles, employers value candidates who combine specialized expertise with strong people skills, ZipRecruiter says.

For small businesses, where employees often wear multiple hats and adapt quickly to changing needs, these skills are especially valuable.

“Hard skills are important, especially in technical roles, but in today’s job market, soft skills are typically a bigger predictor of long-term success,” Leverant says. He points out that while mechanical or programmatic competencies can often be taught on the job, soft skills are much harder to develop — and can be the difference between a candidate who succeeds and one who struggles.

“The most effective hiring managers evaluate both,” Leverant notes. “You want to look for candidates who meet the basic technical requirements of a role, but you’ll want to place equal weight on whether that person has the right mindset and work habits needed to adapt as the role evolves.”

Don't overlook transferable skills

Many employers overlook talent because they make the mistake of focusing too narrowly on rigid job descriptions. Research shows that this practice can deter qualified candidates from applying and exclude workers with transferable skills.

For example, someone from a hospitality background might bring strong customer service, communication and problem-solving skills — all of which can translate seamlessly into sales or another customer-facing role.

Some job descriptions themselves also create unnecessary barriers. One common misstep includes setting overly specific or inflexible requirements that few candidates could ever meet. When the focus is too narrow, companies can overlook candidates who may have the right skills and the ability to adapt.

Expand where you look for talent

Finding skilled candidates often means posting openings across multiple online platforms. Technology-driven sites like ZipRecruiter distribute listings widely, and can help surface candidates who may not be actively job searching but are a strong fit.

Many of today’s job-ready candidates are being prepared through local workforce development programs, community colleges, trade schools and apprenticeships — pathways that have grown in recent years as alternatives to traditional four-year degrees. But these candidates may not be actively applying for jobs through typical recruiting platforms. Employers who tap into these nontraditional networks can access a broader and more diverse talent pool.

Internal talent is another resource many employers overlook. Promoting from within and giving tenured employees opportunities to upskill can help fill more senior positions without starting candidate searches from scratch.

“Focus on potential instead of perfection,” Leverant says. “When you make this change, you’ll discover that the talent pool is much larger than you originally thought.”

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