I strongly believe that employees are a company’s best asset. Yet, even though we hear of record figures of achievement by University students and school leavers, and despite rising European unemployment figures, anyone in the business sector will easily confide that finding the right people to employ is indeed a challenge.

It is not unusual to interview University graduates who cannot hold a decent conversation

This is even a bigger challenge in certain sectors, such as hospitality, catering and retail.

My immediate reaction to addressing this issue is that it is about time that we rethink the education system from various angles, including tackling individuals differently as well as employers.

The education system needs to adapt and change to assist students, from a young age, to also focus on self-development and personal skills.

The huge workload on young students is taking away precious time that could be devoted to include arts and sports, for example.

Through these disciplines, individuals acquire tools to learn commitment, hard work, dedication, failures and successes.

This is what life is all about. At a tertiary level, stipends have helped students depend less on their families but they would benefit even more if they depended less on stipends for their sustenance.

Part-time work helps in developing life experiences, like interacting with people and appreciating the value of money.

It is not unusual to interview University graduates who cannot hold a decent conversation.

It is a common fact that most parents subconsciously or consciously push their children to achieve higher educational grades, at times missing the wood for the trees.

In extreme cases, it is a rat-race to have their child achieve better marks than their friends.

These parents are sometimes seeking to obtain, through their children, what they failed to achieve themselves.

Sadly, this is repeated in sports and the arts.

From a young age, children are subjected to unnecessary pressure that diverts them from developing confidence and personality, which we find lacking in most candidates.

To compound matters, what we call a social network, such as Facebook, becomes more of an anti-social tool and a paradox in itself when used in excess, which is usually the case, keeping children glued to their PCs and tablets.

As employers, we do not look for someone who can just do the job and has good grades on their CV.

We look for people who have the passion to work and do things right.

Communication and respect are two important traits that are highly sought after, many times more than job experience.

An employee, including University graduates, must be ready to work their way up through the company or grow by moving across companies.

The fundamental rule is that whatever role an employee has must be fulfilled with passion and commitment, even if they are juniors in the company.

Most employers, including myself, at times get carried away by the misconception that it is hard to find good employees and we fall into the trap of just considering candidates who are already in the required role or job.

Over the years, I have learnt that in today’s world a potentially good employee actually chooses the employer as much as an employer chooses the employee.

Attracting good employees is not a piece of cake and requires hard work, starting with a structured and positive interview and followed through by the promotion of training, growth and job enrichment.

Finding the perfect employee for the job must not be a priority, even if it may look like a quick fix.

The focus should be on finding candidates with good communication skills, passion and willingness to be trained.

Retaining good employees is another story.

Like in many other situations, it takes two to tango and employers need to ensure they treat their employees with respect and remunerate them justly.

Moving forward, this issue can be tackled from various angles and bridging the gap between the expectations of employees and employers could be one of them.

Business institutions, constituted bodies and trade unions should allocate more resources and efforts with the aim of addressing the situation.

The Government’s role as the country’s major employer should not be overlooked and this also applies across the various government departments and agencies.

Individually, some of these organisations have, from time to time, raised the issue which, unfortunately, still remains unresolved.

It is now time to take action and to come up with a national strategy for human resource development.

In today’s dynamic and demanding economic world, employees are a critical factor to any business which, in the bigger picture, contributes to the overall performance of a country.

Everyone has a role to play and as employers we have a larger responsibility in finding the right employees than we think.

Jonathan Shaw holds a Master’s degree in business administration and has interests in the retail and entertainment sectors.