Jobseekers Fail to Qualify

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development says there are over 100,000 unfilled jobs in Tennessee’s
95 counties.
In other words, jobs–but problems finding people qualified to do them.
The issue is not always a lack of education or skills.

According to the Tennessee office of workforce development there are unfilled 7500 unfilled jobs in Hamilton county. And the department says there are 7500 hundred more in Bradley county.
It’s true that some require more training and education than others, but that’s not why most are not filled.
A lot of job seekers can’t qualify.

TAMARAH R. DANIEL, AREA MANAGER, MANPOWER “One of the things that we have an issue with is either a background check- that’s an issue, they can’t pass a background check. Or our particular client, some of our clients are more lenient than others.”

The job climate in this area is bright because of big companies like Volkswagen and Wacker. There are dozens of their suppliers always looking for employees.

TAMARAH R. DANIEL “Another issue is that we can’t find people that can pass the drug screening as well. Sometimes its just a simple drug screening, 5 panel or 10 panel, and we still cannot find people who can pass that test”.

Its a more positive story from the Greater Chattanooga Chamber of commerce which spends a lot of time booking job fairs and otherwise promoting job growth.

MATTIE MORAN, DIR. OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, CHATTANOOGA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE “Well, from the last couple of job fairs we had …the employers there said that they found good qualified workers from the event that came out to apply for positions.”

But Mattie Moran admits it’s hard to keep up with those jobseekers after the initial contact.

MATTIE MORAN “Once the employer gets the applicant we have no way of tracking or knowing if they got the job or what caused them not to be hired.”

The take-away is that the jobs are there—-just waiting for qualified people.