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American industry is entering into uncharted ground with regard to workforce availability. There are approximately 21 million workers eligible for retirement in the United States and in 10 years another 31 million workers will be over 55 years of age. Only 6million young people are entering the workforce in the next 5 years. Any way you slice it, these numbers equate to a shortage of workers in the not too distant future. Employers will be looking for more employees from a limited resource pool. Conventional employment wisdom will not provide the workforce necessary for you and your business to remain successful in the not too distant future.

The severity of the shortage may depend on factors that we can't possibly foresee. World and national events and economy, new industry and enterprise will undoubtedly impact the availability of a qualified workforce for American industry. We will no longer be able to wait for someone to announce their retirement or to give notice of voluntary termination before recruiting a replacement. Our changing environment will require proactive, innovative solutions. Our new circumstances will necessitate us to develop a Strategic Employment Plan based on facts and statistical probability. Businesses, who fail to begin to plan now, may be caught in a reactive circumstance, competing with many other businesses for a limited number of people in the labor market.

An effective Strategic Employment Plan takes some time to develop and longer to successfully implement. The plan should first be set on a foundation of public perception. Your business must be considered a "Preferred Employer" to potential employees. It is easier to recruit employees who already want to work for you. Not just find a job, but really want to work for you and your company. Your organization should have a written Vision, Mission and Values and the character and work ethic of your management team and employees should reflect the standards set by the Vision, Mission & Values. You should develop a Job Family Progression based on qualifications that defines an employee's ladder of progression from the date of hire until they leave your company at retirement. And finally, raise the bar. By that I mean toughen the requirements of people coming to work for you. You don't want just anyone as an employee, you want the best. You only get the best by expecting the best.

The Strategic Employment Plan should include four categories: Workforce Analysis, Recruiting, Hiring and Retention. Each category is as important as the next. Workforce Analysis is simply determining the number of people your business will need to hire in the future to meet organizational growth or contraction, and attrition. Recruiting is the business's ability to attract a pool of qualified applicants to meet your business needs. Hiring will be defined as your ability to close the deal and get the person in the door that you are proud to have working for you. Retention is keeping the person once you get them in the door. Your strategy must be written for Recruiting, Hiring and Retention based on the data identified in your Workforce Analysis. For the purpose of this article, we will explore the Workforce Analysis and, in greater detail, the Recruiting process.

Your Workforce Analysis will determine how many employees, with what qualifications, you will need by when. There are multiple questions you should answer to accurately determine your business's future workforce needs. How much do you plan to grow or reduce in the next five years? What classifications will be affected? How many current employees in what classifications can statistically be expected to leave due to retirement? What is your attrition rate? The answers to these questions should result in your understanding of the number people you will need with what qualifications month-by-month, year-by-year. Understanding your employment need is first step to developing an effective Strategic Employment Plan.

Traditional recruiting processes are changing as I write this article. Some of my colleagues are already developing partnerships with high schools and community colleges in an effort to corner the local labor market. An effective Intern program will become increasingly important also. But before we dive headlong into the potential of Internships, lets discuss high school and community college partnerships. The purpose of the partnerships is two fold. The first may already be taking place as a public relations strategy and that is providing annual school presentations. A school presentation provides the students with an overview of the company's contribution to the community and an orientation of the company. Company's can provide Job Orientation Fairs that inform the students of wages and benefits they can expect in various functions of the organization and the qualifications necessary for the student to earn those wages and benefits.

Community Colleges Partnerships are more traditional. Businesses can provide Internships for Community College engineers, mechanics, welders, machinists, information technicians, and secretaries. Your organization will benefit by getting additional work performed, evaluating performance and begin tying up potential employees of the future. The final piece of the Partnership puzzle includes working with the Community College to ensure your future employees are learning the skills, knowledge and competencies necessary to work in your organization.

Internships from Universities are already pretty common place for many companies. Most companies, however, limit their Intern recruiting to local Colleges and Universities. By limiting your Recruiting venue, you are also limiting your ability to recruit this nation's best and brightest. If you and your company are shooting for world class, then you need to recruit world class future employees. Identify a few Universities and Colleges with good reputations and schedule a recruiting trip. I have found Interns prefer performing meaningful work. Assigning them to dig ditches by hand all summer may teach them lessons in hard work but will most likely motivate that employee to find another employer next year. The benefits of an effective Intern program are numerous. The employer should get additional work completed, will be able to evaluate the Intern as a future employee, allows the Intern to evaluate if they want a career in your company, orients the Intern into your business and improves the potential of recruiting that student after graduation.

It is naïve to think that your organization can prosper by recruiting entry level type people only. You will need to recruit