By Shamecca Brown-Granite State News Collaborative
America says it has a worker shortage. I don’t buy it. What America has is a hiring problem.
Every day, employers post ads for jobs claiming they desperately need workers. They complain about staffing shortages, burnout and positions that remain vacant for months. Politicians talk about workforce shortages. Businesses hang “Now Hiring” signs in their windows.
Yet thousands of qualified people are submitting resumes and hearing absolutely nothing back. Not even a rejection. So let’s stop pretending this is simply about finding talent.
The real question is: Who are employers willing to see as talent? Because from where I stand, too many hiring decisions have less to do with qualifications and more to do with comfort.
Comfort with a person’s name. Comfort with their age. Comfort with their race. Comfort with their gender. Comfort with whether they have a disability. Comfort with their hairstyle. Comfort with their accent. Comfort with their criminal background. Comfort with who they love. Comfort with people who look, sound and think like everyone already sitting around the table.
The problem is that comfort is not a qualification. Experience is. Skills are. Education is. Work ethic is. Character is. And when employers prioritize comfort over competence, everyone loses.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
A 55-year-old applicant with decades of experience can be overlooked for someone younger with fewer qualifications. A person with a criminal record who has paid their debt to society can be denied opportunity before they ever get an interview. A person with a disability can be judged before their abilities are ever considered. A Black woman with years of experience, certifications, leadership skills and a proven track record can submit application after application and still be forced to wonder whether her qualifications were ever seriously considered.
At the same time, many of the jobs that are available come with another problem: the pay. Employers want bachelor’s degrees, certifications, years of experience, flexibility, evening availability, weekend availability, emotional intelligence, crisis management skills, and the ability to do the work of three people. Then they offer wages that barely cover rent.
Some positions require workers to carry the emotional weight of other people’s trauma every single day. Human service workers, recovery coaches, direct support professionals, advocates, behavioral health staff, case managers and frontline workers are holding communities together with determination, compassion, and grit. Yet many of these same workers struggle to pay their own bills.
Think about that. We trust people to protect children, support individuals in recovery, assist survivors of domestic violence, help people with disabilities, respond to mental health crises and guide families through some of the darkest moments of their lives. But we often don’t pay them enough to thrive. Then we wonder why positions stay vacant.
This isn’t a workforce shortage. It’s a respect shortage, a wage shortage, an opportunity shortage.
People are tired of being told they’re essential while being treated as expendable. They are tired of being told they’re qualified enough to do the work but not qualified enough to be hired. They are tired of hearing that nobody wants to work when the truth is many people are willing to work — they just want a fair chance and fair pay.
If employers truly want to solve staffing shortages, they need to start recognizing the value of the candidates already standing in front of them.
That means looking beyond assumptions, beyond stereotypes, beyond age, race, gender, disability, background and bias. It means giving people a genuine opportunity to prove what they can do.
The American workforce does not have a talent problem.
The talent is here. The question is whether we are willing to see it
Shamecca Brown is a New Hampshire-based columnist who is family-oriented and passionate about serving underserved communities. These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.