I own an online PR agency that specializes in web-content writing. This is our second year in business, and we're on track to bring in $500,000 in revenue. It would be more, but I can't find talented writers I want to hire.
Actually, that has been the No. 1 barrier to the growth of my company.
Lack of interest is not the problem. We accept applications on a rolling basis and get around 50 per week when we don't have a Craigslist ad up. When we do post an ad, we get at least 200 responses.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of the applicants have no business calling themselves professional writers. When we sort through the cover letters, we get the literary equivalent of William Hung from "American Idol." Hung became famous for giving an off-key performance of Ricky Martin's hit song "She Bangs" on the show. Those applicants should know better.
Some small business owners say they're hiring but they can't find employees.
