I can't find qualified employees

Although millions are unemployed, some small business owners are having a hard time finding employees with specialized skills.

College is not the be-all end-all
College is not the be-all end-all
Owner: Matt Sher
Location: New Hyde Park, N.Y.

Too many people have turned up their noses at trade school to go to college, and now I am paying for it.

I am a principal owner in a second-generation company providing installation and servicing for commercial refrigeration, cooking systems, HVAC and plumbing.

I need workers who have gone through trade school and have taken certain courses. But I see a lot of unemployed college graduates saddled with huge student loan debts. They don't have the skills that I need.

We have 140 employees, and we are still growing. Even during the challenging economic times of the last five years, we have added three locations and a new plumbing division.

We offer great salaries, benefits and pensions that can support families in their latter years. Yet, we are not seeing the right candidates.

The lack of skilled technicians is slowing our growth to add markets as aggressively as we may want.


As told to Andrea Williams, contributing writer @CNNMoney - Last updated April 25 2012: 10:55 AM ET
Join the Conversation
Most Popular
 
 
 
 
 

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.