In certain fields, recruiters can easily access highly qualified applicants. They can choose between hundreds who have the skillset they’re searching for. But in others, skills gaps exist and recruiters struggle to find candidates that match their requirements. 

Skills gaps are often triggered by technological advancements. There are many cases where organizations are eager to leverage the latest technologies but workers aren’t equipped with the skills required to leverage their benefits. Adding to the problem, technology advances at an ever-increasing rate. McKinsey estimates a tenfold increase in the rate of change with developments in machine learning, robotics, and other technologies gaining momentum and transforming the world of work. This article examines prominent skills gaps in the US in 2025 and strategies to counter the shortage of trained personnel. 

Key Workforce Skills Gaps in 2025

IT Skills

50% of business leaders see a shortage of Information Technology (IT) skills as a challenge in 2025. Emphasizing this, the World Economic Forum observed that more than half of the workforce should have reskilled by 2022. Since this did not occur, the current IT skills shortage is likely to intensify over time, costing businesses billions of dollars in lost opportunities. 

Of course, the term “IT” is something of a catch-all, covering fields ranging from cloud computing to hardware and software development. For the average organization, however, there are specific IT areas that will prove challenging in 2025 and, as you may have expected, AI skills are among these. 

AI Skills and the IT Skills Gap

AI is advancing rapidly but IT professionals aren’t keeping up. A survey found that over 80% thought they could use AI effectively, but only 12% had the necessary ability to do so. Other reports corroborate this skills shortage. For example, a report published by Reuters predicts a 50% gap between available posts requiring AI skills and the number of candidates able to bring those skills to the table. 

Big tech companies are taking the challenges presented by the AI skills gap very seriously. Amazon undertook training programmes to prepare around 2 million of its employees for an AI-driven 2025. Microsoft and IBM are also seeking to address the skills gap by upskilling existing employees. 

Cybersecurity and the Technical Skills Gap

Technological skills gaps are both revealing and compounding a shortage in cybersecurity talent. Even before AI became a significant trend, organizations used data to guide their strategies. With AI tools relying on data, more information than ever before is being gathered, analyzed and used. Where there is data, there is a need for cybersecurity to protect it from bad actors.

It’s also worth mentioning that new technologies can be abused and AI is no exception. It serves as a useful tool for legitimate businesses, but it can be weaponized by cybercriminals. This presents an ever-more challenging cybersecurity landscape and organizations’ concerns are exacerbated further by the cybersecurity skills gap. 

The World Economic Forum reported an estimated shortage of 4 million people with cybersecurity skills in 2024. As a technologically-driven economy, the US accounts for a significant percentage of the shortfall: an estimated 400,000 cybersecurity posts remained unfilled in 2024. 

The “Green” Skills Gap

Technology is changing in other ways too. In an effort to mitigate the effects of climate change, green technologies are on the rise. They span almost every sector from energy generation and manufacturing to the automotive and construction industries. Trained people at every educational level are required to meet and exceed decarbonization goals, but many people are not aware of green technology as a career direction. 

According to researchers at Nesta, a UK-based social good organisation, organisations are partly to blame for this lack of awareness. For example, the term “green jobs” does little to indicate the skills that can be leveraged in this area, and organisations fail to highlight transferable skills that can be applied in the sector. When combined with little information on career prospects, the advantages of adopting a career in green technology are not widely recognised.

The Boston Consulting Group estimates that the green skills gap will approach the 7 million mark by 2030. To mitigate this, it calls for global recruiting and funded training to fill vacant posts requiring green technology skills. The alternative, it notes, will be an inability to meet climate-related goals and a potentially catastrophic delay in slowing global warming. 

Why the Technology Skills Gap Continues to Grow

Rapid Change

Rapid technological change leads to skills gaps. New technologies gain traction quickly, but people may not adjust their career planning to match the pace of change. It takes time for them to assess the value of new skills, and resistance to change may discourage them from exploring new directions. 

Education Systems Fail to Keep Pace

New technologies require new skill sets, but it can be difficult to acquire them. Educational institutions are often slow to respond to the need for new curricula that equip graduates with in-demand skills. In a SHRM survey, 50% of employers said that higher education institutions are doing little or nothing to address the skills gap. 

Academia is aware of the issue and University World News notes that organizations are hiring people based on individual qualities rather than education and are providing the needed training themselves. It calls for educational institutions to develop short courses that will provide “just in time” training for people who are already full-time workers.

Lack of Workplace Training Opportunities

Global learning company D2L says that 80% of working adults are interested in upskilling, but only 35% have ever attended a training course. However, from an employer’s perspective, external training programs are costly and may not be fully relevant to their needs. Workplace training programs could offer an alternative, but organizations may lack people with the necessary skills to conduct in-house training. This leaves them with a need to recruit new employees who already have the skills they require – only to find themselves struggling to fill the posts they advertise. 

Workforce Demographics

According to the Pew Research Center, the proportion of older adults in the workforce has been rising since the 1980s and will continue to do so. While this has the benefit of a workforce with a growing proportion of experienced individuals, a widespread lack of training in the latest technologies can lead to their knowledge becoming outdated. 

Overlooking Relevant Soft Skills

Recruiters and human resource managers are inclined to focus on hard skills and might overlook soft skills that would allow for the rapid adoption of new work methods. For example, a person with strong problem-solving skills may only need a little extra training to develop in a new direction in which their existing ability would be extremely valuable.

Closing Skills Gaps: What Employers Can Do

Outsource

There are often opportunities to outsource tasks to companies who have identified a skills gap and have tailored their businesses to specialize in a single function. Cybersecurity is among the fields where outsourcing is widely used. Deloitte found that 81% of organisations were already outsourcing cybersecurity in 2022 and a 2024 survey indicated that this figure was likely to increase.  Be sure about the deliverables you will expect and evaluate service providers accordingly. 

Train Existing Staff

There may be more applicable talent in your organization than you realized. Professional development programmes benefit businesses and employees alike. Harvard observes that businesses that offer professional development programs are better able to attract and retain talent. Research suggests that training employees is more cost-effective for businesses too, with training costing between 70 and 90% less than recruitment. With skills gaps to address, equipping established employees with the knowledge they need to mitigate the problem makes excellent sense. 

Implement eLearning

Training your people could be easier and more cost-effective than you expected it to be. With eLearning, there’s no need to shuttle workers off to training locales, and since trainers aren’t only serving your business, costs can be lower than you expected. Employees can benefit from very practical lessons including simulations that allow them to test their new-found skills. This helps you to assess when they’re ready to put their new abilities to work – a huge improvement on the old-fashioned training course with its “certificate of attendance.”

In New Zealand, e-learning was evaluated in industries ranging from retail to dairy product processing. Researchers concluded that e-learning environments overcame traditional gender, prior education, and age constraints, addressing much-needed workforce capabilities effectively. 

Expand Recruitment Reach

If you’re recruiting locally, you may find that the skills gap is accentuated because of your lack of access to a wider talent pool. Extend your reach beyond your city or state, and if that isn’t enough, consider international recruitment. SHRM notes that expanded advertising and international recruitment are among the strategies companies are attempting as they seek to remedy the skills gap. 

Recruit to Train

Internships and apprenticeships are a great way to acquire, train and assess promising talent. When recruiting, look for foundational skills like analytical thinking. Boost retention figures by being transparent about the skills gaps you hope to address and providing clear information on trainees’ opportunities for advancement. 

Support Diversity and Inclusion

When recruiting, actively encourage a diverse pool of applicants. Once again, ad placement options will have a role to play in your success. Incorporate job boards that reach underrepresented demographics into your advertising mix. This will allow you to attract a larger number of applicants. With an extended talent pool, you may attract applications from individuals who already have the scarce skills you need. 

Bridging Skills Gaps With Broadbean

Broadbean is a leading job aggregator that helps organizations and recruiters distribute their job postings to over 7,000 job boards in 100 countries as well as a range of search engines and social media channels. 

We also offer a suite of tools to help you find and hire the right people, from extending your advertising reach to searching a ready-made resume database and assisting you with ranking the best candidates. This allows you to close skills gaps and optimize your recruitment funnel for long-term success. Request a demo today to find out more!