Growing skills gap: 80% of small businesses can't find qualified staff

Businesses are struggling to tackle the widening disparity between staffing needs and qualified applicants, some are coming up with creative solutions

Last year, Traci Trapani needed employees for her sheet metal fabrication company. None of the applicants, however, had experience in the industry. So Trapani did something unorthodox: she hired a woman who had been working in a fast food restaurant and invested in teaching her the sheet metal business.

"We took a risk and hired this person," said Trapani, co-president of Wyoming Machine in Stacy, Minnesota. "She's been here now for a year and she's been doing a great job."

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