The war on talent is kind of a strange phenomenon. Occasionally, you’ll see statistics like the most recent employment numbers which say, “The U.S. economy added a modest 88,000 jobs in April, the slimmest gain in more than two years.” Or that the “Labor Department said the jobless rate ticked up to 4.5 percent from 4.4 percent in March” (both from the Labor Department via the Washington Post). Do those stats mean that the War on Talent is cooling off? Are employers going to be able to pick and choose from dozens of desperate candidates, hungry for a job, any job? Not even a little.

In March, Manpower released a study of 37,000 organizations from 27 different countries (2,400 of which were based in the U.S.). In the study 41% of the respondents said they were having trouble attracting and placing candidates, according to the Future of Work. They also reported that by 2010 the United States will have 10 million unfilled jobs. There’s your war on talent.

Part of the reason behind this war on talent is that organizations’ strategies for cost-cutting (offshoring, contract workers, etc.) are exhausting their effectiveness more quickly than anticipated. Business Week maintains that the “seemingly inexhaustible pools of cheap labor from China, India, and elsewhere are drying up as demand outstrips the supply of people with the needed skills.” That puts Quality Talent in the driver’s seat when it comes to employment. Consequently, it will become even harder to attract specialized talent and Quiet Working Professionals, who are especially desirable because of their experience, ability and loyalty.

In pointing out the demand for specialized quality talent, Jonas Prising, president of Manpower North America puts it this way:

“The reality is that the talent crunch is more complex than a shortage of people. To bridge the talent gap, we must dig deeper and consider issues such as skill levels, geographic dispersion and demographics.” (quoted on Diane Stafford’s WorkSpace blog)

That means dramatically broadening your efforts in sourcing and recruiting in ways that not every hiring professional can do.

That problem is one of the reasons we’re convinced our new network is going to revolutionize the recruiting and hiring process. It will facilitate one-on-one connections between recruiters/employers and the most talented candidates, and only by precisely matching needs with qualifications. In addition to doing much of the sourcing for you, the network will do the legwork too by putting you in contact with the talent and then getting out of your way. We think itz going to be a big help in the war on talent.

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