The War For Talent Is Alive And Well
During the past couple of years, many companies have not been focused on recruiting new leaders for their organizations. Furthermore, as we emerge from this economic downturn, there is a lot of publicity about the fact that business may be picking up, but hiring continues to remain slow.
Unfortunately, the recession and the high unemployment rate have given businesses the false impression that finding key management team members will be easy; thus, many companies have continued to delay these key hiring decisions.
On the other hand…
Some companies have management replacement needs or growth oriented needs that can not be delayed. During the recession and since the improvement in the economy, they have gone to the marketplace to find the right hires for their particular positions. These companies are learning that finding the right person for a key role in their organization is not nearly as easy as thought it would be.
In other words – The War For Talent is Alive and Well.
Most of us are familiar with the reasons for the challenges of finding key people for our organizations. Some of the reasons for this talent challenge include:
- Demographics, including the retirement of the Baby Boom generation
- Number of trained professionals in many fields is not adequate to fill the needs
- Many foreign nationals are returning to their native countries
- Less emphasis on management training and management development
- Many experienced professionals and young people are pursuing entrepreneurial alternatives
So what do you do if you either have, or you anticipate, a need for a critical position within your company or your department? Is there an internal candidate who is ready to take on this role? If not, it seems that the obvious answer is you need to look outside of your organization to find the right person for this position.
The next set of questions center around – do you have the experience and capability to identify and attract the right candidates for the position(s) you need to fill? Are your internal recruiting resources familiar with recruiting senior level or one of a king professionals? In today’s market, is an advertisement or job board posting going to attract the right person for this role?
These are critical hiring decisions which will impact your organization for years to come. The market for recruiting may seem to be easier than before, but it is not.