The skills gap in tech is virtually nonexistent — it's just that job seekers aren't building the right skills employers need

women coworkers tech laptop computer office

A report from Enhancv found that the skills gap is but a sliver.
However, the issue is that job seekers have too many skills that employers aren't looking for, and not enough skills that employers need.
In tech, the most underqualified job seekers are blockchain developers and junior software developers, while the most overqualified are Java and .Net developers.

The skills gap, it turns out, is virtually non-existent.

In an analysis of 114,000 resumes for 102 of the most common jobs in the U.S., resume-building service Enhancv found that when you compare the skills that employers are looking for to the skills listed by job seekers, the mismatch is only negative 0.5%. In other words, there are 0.5% fewer resumes with the skills employers are seeking than there are open jobs.

In a survey from Enhancv, a quarter of respondents said the toughest challenge was matching their skills with what companies are seeking. But actually, the problem isn't that job seekers don't have the skills that employers want. It's that job seekers have too many skills that aren't wanted by employers, and not enough skills that employers need.

Although there's a high demand for tech jobs, job seekers often aren't marketing the skills that employers are looking for. For junior software developers, there's a gap of negative 30.2%, and for blockchain developers, there's a negative 20.5% gap, meaning that people applying for both positions are underqualified.

On the other hand, Java and .Net developers are overqualified. Both jobs have about a third more skills than those jobs require, many of which employers aren't interested in.

The trick is to build skills needed for the job, rather than the industry. For example, let's say you want to be a software engineer. To find a job, rather than just learning general programming skills, it would be more helpful to look into the jobs you're interested in and develop the skills that those specific employers want.

There isn't a major experience gap either. The average employer only wants 1.5 months more experience than the average resume writer has. Even if a job seeker doesn't have that much experience, building skill sets will be more valuable in job seeking.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's how easy it is for the US president to launch a nuclear weapon