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Many startups agree that one of the major difficulties in getting off the ground is finding talented workers. Startups that are unable to find... Why It’s Difficult to Find Talent For Startups

Many startups agree that one of the major difficulties in getting off the ground is finding talented workers. Startups that are unable to find workers with the right skills may be unable to grow their businesses. Tech startups are usually looking for workers with a specific technical, scientific, and engineering skill set.  According to this year’s results from Silicon Valley Bank’s Startup Outlook survey, the majority of startups report difficulty with finding the right workers.

Why It's Difficult to Find Talent For Startups

Startups are even more affected by this problem than larger technology companies, as they often are competing for a very small subset of workers, and with far fewer resources than most of the larger companies. However, competition isn’t the only factor at play when it comes to lack of skilled workers.  While some could point to immigration issues as a factor of why startups are unable to attract the right workers, many startups actually place more of an emphasis on education.  Immigration reform is, without a doubt, one piece of the puzzle.  However, education reform is certainly needed in order to boost the skills of the American workforce.

Most respondents to the survey indicated that they found that it was either challenging or extremely challenging to find workers that had the skills that they required.  Survey respondents were in the fields of Cleantech, Hardware, Healthcare, Enterprise Software, and Consumer Internet. In order to compete with the global market, America needs more skilled mathematicians, scientists and engineers.

It is a fact that startups create jobs.  Often, startups have plans to manufacture their projects in the United States.  In fact, high growth small companies have a huge impact on the economy. They create approximately 11 percent of U.S. private sector employment and 21 percent of the U.S. GDP.  That’s about 12 million jobs and over $3 trillion in annual revenues.  Improvements in education can clearly have an effect on the entire economy.  In order to build the talent pool, changes need to come to both immigration and education.

[Image via bostinno]