Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
In the great debate over the respective merits of technical and liberal educations, James Albert Michener (1907-1997), American writer, sided with the generalists.
"In 1942," he once recalled, "the United States Navy was hungry for talent, and four of us were taken into a small room where we sat around shivering in our shorts. A grim-faced selection committee asked the first would-be officer, 'What can you do?' and the man replied, 'I'm a buyer for Macy's, and I can judge very quickly between markets and prices and trends.' The selection board replied, 'But you can't do anything practical?' The man said no, and he was shunted off to one side.
"The next man was a lawyer, and when the board asked him if he could do anything practical, he had to confess, 'I can weigh evidence and organise information,' and he was rejected.
"I was the third in line, and when I answered, 'I know language and a good deal of history,' the board groaned and I was sent shivering away.
"But when the fourth man said boldly, 'I'm from Georgia Tech and I can overhaul diesel engines,' the committee jumped up, practically embraced him and made him an officer on the spot...'
"At the end of the war, the buyer from Macy's was assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, in charge of many complex responsibilities requiring instant good judgment. He gave himself courses in naval management and government procedures until he became one of the nation's real experts.
"The lawyer wound up as assistant to Admiral Halsey, and in a crucial battle, deducted where the Japanese fleet had to be. He came out covered with medals.
"I was given the job of naval secretary to several Congressional committees who were determining the future of America in the South Pacific. And what was the engineer doing at the end of the war? He was still overhauling diesel engines."
Things have changed now and someone who can overhaul diesel engines is more sought after these days than generalists, especially when a severe skills shortage is hitting the world in general and the GCC in particular.
The situation in the GCC is so bad that Saudi-based Zamil IT has established an offshore development centre (ODC) in India, in order to circumvent the chronic skills shortage in the region.
"We feel Indians are not keen to come to the Middle East, mainly because of currency fluctuations, and the high demand on their skills. Also, the challenge in visa processing and hiring in Saudi Arabia is considerable - sometimes it takes up to five or six months, if a visa is even available," says Zaki Sabbagh, CIO of Zamil Industrial Development Corporation (ZIIC), Zamil IT's parent company.
"Skills availability in India is higher, at a time when the demand is high and the supply is low, when it comes to highly skilled people," he adds.
Meanwhile, a serious shortage of skilled professionals is threatening to stunt growth of the Gulf's booming real estate market, according to a study by the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD).
The study found developers were struggling to recruit enough qualified professionals despite offering high salaries and attractive benefit packages.
Another area where a significant skills shortage is being felt is the oil and gas industry and that is threatening to stall the oil and gas boom that is occurring. The industry has stretched its resources to breaking point, say consultants at Booz Allen Hamilton.
"From the industrial platforms of oil rigs to air-conditioned design offices, the oil and gas industry is confronted with a shortage of brawn and brains so severe that it threatens to stall exploration and production growth around the world," argue Booz Allen's Karim Sabbagh, head of marketing, Middle East, and Ren Stephan, who is leading marketing for the firm's energy practice.
"The importance of the oil industry to Middle East economies cannot be underestimated," says Mr Sabbagh. "The oil and gas industry in this region cannot afford to be stunted by something as basic as acquiring a competent workforce. This is a problem that can have considerable consequences to this region."
The talent challenge is not new. At the end of the 80s, skills shortages in the North Sea oil and gas industry hit the headlines, the close of the 90s saw major lay-offs particularly in the US, but it is over the last 12 to 18 months that a confluence of events, including oil prices, planned investments and industry demographics have stretched industry resources globally to breaking point, the consultants explain.
Management teams need to recognise and acknowledge the inter-dependence of the methods used to build human resources capability.
They say companies must recruit against business needs, resource individuals to balance personal and business needs, develop individual skills and retain valuable workers. If all of these different aspects are not pursued simultaneously the result will be only a short-term respite for a company.
Meanwhile, a white paper, based on a data survey of over 120 CIO-level respondents in seven countries in the Middle East and Pakistan region, and IDC's proprietary IT skills model, shows that organisations face an increasing shortage of people with networking skills.
Demand for networking skills clearly outstrips supply in the countries surveyed, and is accentuated by high economic growth in the Middle East and Pakistan region. In addition to networking skills, significant gaps were found in the areas of the more advanced networking skills such as security, IP telephony and wireless networking skills.
