Finding what right looks like, part 9: The war for talent (1/2)

This post series comes to you courtesy of our cofounder and co-managing partner Jeff Wilson. For more information on how Jeff can help you discover “what right looks like” in your hiring, please contact him at 317-598-1950 x102 or jwilson@kcsllc.net.

Previous posts in series:

In this series thus far, I’ve been talking about our process, which we believe distinguishes us from other executive recruiting firms. I haven’t talked yet, however, about why choosing the right recruiting firm–or choosing one at all–is so important in today’s environment. We’re going to take a look at this issue in this post and the next.

In the midst of headlines that remind us of the high unemployment numbers that have plagued this country for the past several years, we have a “war for talent” in the technology field, with companies across the nation vying to hire an increasingly smaller pool of qualified applicants. In fact, the unemployment rate in the technology field is less than half the national rate. As a result, competition for the best talent is fierce.

But it’s not the job candidates who are at war. It’s the companies who need to fill positions with highly educated, highly talented persons. If you are one of those companies, are you winning the war? And if you are not winning, what should you do?

The aging of the millions of baby boomers is a major cause of this war. The generations that follow are smaller in number, providing fewer people to take those jobs left vacant by boomers who have retired or who will soon leave the workforce.

This gap between jobs and job-seekers in technology is also already evident in the medical field. Further, the oil and gas industry’s exploration and production areas are slated to lose at least 40 percent of their workforce over the next five to seven years. Employers have to fight harder–and smarter.

In the scramble to hire the best and the brightest, companies are challenged to offer the most attractive compensation and benefits packages. But in the haste to fill seats, the war that seems to have been won may be lost if care is not taken to insure that the candidate– the one who holds the advantage in this employment scenario–is a good fit.

That’s why we have developed our unique and highly effective system to find what right looks like for each particular company and position. Defining “right” precisely and then finding the person that matches that definition means higher productivity, bigger profits, and an even more attractive work environment for the next hires.

In my next post in the series, I’ll have some tips on what motivates top talent to join a company in the current environment.

Matt
The Key Corporate Services Blog Team
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