Skilled workers in short supply warns Wyre Forest recruitment specialist

The alert comes from Paul Alekna, managing director of Kidderminster-based eResponse Recruitment.

He said employers must invest in apprenticeships and training to stay ahead of competitors at home and abroad.

Mr Alekna's warning was prompted by a survey released by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, which highlighted that the availability of skilled candidates for permanent roles had fallen at its steepest rate for 16 years.

“The recent economic growth and increase in the number of roles available has been fantastic but there is a downside," said Mr Alekna.

“Across the country, and across various industries, there is an obvious shortage of appropriately skilled people, which means that many firms simply cannot fill some key vacancies.

“That is exactly why we cannot allow the gap between supply and demand for skilled workers to widen further.

"Doing nothing could really take the steam out of the recovery, so employers need to start doing things differently when it comes to their people."

EResponseRecruitment, which employs 75 staff in Kidderminster, Redditch, Worcester, Coventry and Rugby, is preparing to launch a School to Skills programme, encouraging businesses to develop young talent.

Mr Alekna said: “What we need to see now is businesses thinking ahead about the types of skills and people they are going to need as their businesses or key markets develop.

“Investing now in proper training and development programmes will tackle the skills challenge head on.

"They have to be able to train up their existing workforce to meet the demands and challenges of their customers and ensure that all their staff move with developments in technology and working practices but firms have to be attractive to people too - both young and experienced.

"It’s not just a case of applicants competing for a job - employers are going to be competing for the right applicants as the search for the best matches intensifies.”