New Delhi: In order to build a sustainable talent pipeline, government, academic institutions and employers should collaborate to develop the workplace competencies that are lacking among many job seekers today, global workforce solution provider ManpowerGroup has said.

According to ManpowerGroup's 2013 talent shortage study, 39 percent of U.S. employers are having difficulty finding staff with the right skills. The figure is much disappointing in India, where 61 percent of employers struggle to fill jobs, compared with the global average of 35 percent.

Employers need to invest in creative solutions to have access to the skilled talent they need for future growth.

"We're seeing more and more employers focusing on building training centers and offering internships and apprenticeships to develop those technical qualifications and workplace competencies that are lacking among many job seekers today," ManpowerGroup President Jonas Prising said.

Employers need to invest in existing employees to help them advance, and in sourcing new skilled talent -- to avoid the strain of the talent shortage.

"In the end, collaboration between government, academic institutions and employers is the answer to developing training and education strategies that are critical to providing a sustainable talent pipeline for the future," Prising said.

Some of the new practices that can build talent pipeline include providing additional training and development to existing staff, redefining qualifying criteria to include people without formal qualifications and increasing starting salaries, the report said.

Meanwhile, employers can also seek new talent sources by adapting talent sourcing to recruit more from untapped talent pools, appointing people who don't have the skills currently, but do have potential to learn and grow and partnering with academic institutions to create curriculum aligned to talent needs.

The top 10, hardest jobs to fill in U.S. this year are -- skilled trades, sales representatives, drivers, IT staff, accounting & finance staff, engineers, technicians, management/executives, mechanics and teachers, the report said.

Employers in India have the most difficulty filling jobs in accounting and finance, IT staff and engineers, as compared to last year when IT staff, marketing/public relations /communication and engineers were the most difficult positions to fill, it added.

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