Talent Challenges: It’s a War for the Best.

A recent U.S. survey shows that 41% of companies named “competing for talent” as one of their top challenge in 2011. 

Conversely, 49% of employees say they intend to look for a new job when the economy gets better. 

Employers must expertly manage their talent life cycle.  That means they must consider succession, reward, global mobility, learning and development, orientation, workforce planning, recruitment, performance management and leadership.  We’ll take a closer look at a few of these key areas.

RECRUITMENT

When the most successful companies recruit, they consider current and pending corporate strategies in their hiring decisions.  They examine the tasks associated with deployment of each strategy.  This helps them determine what competencies are necessary for successful deployment of those strategies.  Then, they hire accordingly – select candidate that possess those critical competencies.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Companies that are winning to talent war also examine the gaps between readiness and promotability.   They ask themselves these key questions:

1. Do you have the talent we need in house or will you have to ‘buy’ it. 

2. If you have the talent already in the organization, how do you develop and nurture them to be promotion-ready.

DIVERSITY

Hispanics will be the majority ethnic group in U.S. by 2015.  Companies that are determined to recruit the best talent available are focusing on recruiting within this demographic.  Equally important, these companies are focused on gaining market share amongst the Hispanic population.  Consumers buy from companies that value and respect them.  When the companies’ landscape reflects the national landscape, consumers are more likely to buy that companies goods and services. 

Women are graduating from high school 69% more often than boys.  For the first time ever, women also have higher math, reading and science scores on average, across the U.S. and the world.  Companies that recruit the best are masters at attracting and retaining this demographic. 

Who are these best-in-class companies? 

Best Buy, Starbucks, AT&T, and Google are consistently attracting, retaining, and motivating top talent.