IN THE NEWS
the
recurring
war for talent
By Margaret Brown
The war for talent continues to challenge HR
professionals
so we asked three certified
HR professionals to share their thoughts
.
on
the causes and how to combat them
T
he “ war for talent ” or the
“shrinking talent pool” has been
in the news regularly and refers to
the lack of qualified candidates available
to fill jobs today and to fill openings
projected for the future. The vulnerable
industries are as diverse as banking,
engineering and truck driving. At a recent
Air Force Association conference, a
speaker noted that more than half of the
United States’ elite military engineers
and scientists are eligible to retire, and
there aren’t significant numbers of young
science, technology, engineering and math
specialists to take their place.1
Whatever one chooses to call it, this
is a recurring and troubling refrain for
HR departments around the globe. I
asked several certified HR professionals
to weigh in on the topic. William Tincup,
Senior Professional in Human Resources
(SPHR®), CEO of Tincup & Co. and
co-host of DriveThruHR, said the war for
talent is a real problem that organizations
need to approach strategically.
“The Great Recession of 2008 masked
our talent problems,” Tincup explained.
“Finding software engineers in Silicon
Valley is near impossible. Finding truck
drivers in rural Arkansas is equally
impossible. Talent shortages are all over
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the place. … We need to determine how
we’re going to replenish our talent pools
... offshore, outsource, harvest talent,
free agent talent, etc. We need to think of
talent management like we do portfolio
management.”
John Baldino, SPHR, president of
Humareso, also mentioned the Great
Recession as H