War for Talent...there wasnt one for awhile, but now it's back!

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article on the latest craze showing that all employers are in for a big shock on this rebound, the 'war for talent' it's finally happening.  The first tell-tale sign is the number of new job postings which stand at 4.7 million compared to 2.7 million only one year ago.  So employers ask, so what, the unemployment rate is going down, the economy is still not creating more jobs than it losses and no one is spending money shopping.

Well, this portends a new paradigm: employees ARE going shopping, the better ones that is.  They are looking for new jobs while they work, talking about better pay, better total rewards and opportunities for advancement.  The theory makes sense because those who were more fortunate have been sitting on their hands for the last few years, slugging through it, holding down their fort and keeping the paychecks depositing into the bank.  Now that the pent up demand for skilled workers is evident - many companies can't even fill their most coveted open reqs with the right people - employees are looking at making that move.

So how do employers deal with this?  Talent acquisition tools and talent management tools that attract and engage employees are a must.  Companies must allow employees the opportunity to manage their longer term careers and establish personal roadmaps from the time of hire.  Acquisition tools must manage candidates for the longer-term, building up a potential job bench and not just look to fill yesterday new req.  Talent management must allow employees the chance to develop and expand their scope and skills.  Skill building for today's business strategy is just as important as building those skills to address tomorrow's newer strategic direction.

Interested to hear thought from those hiring managers?  Maybe, this should be a leading indicator...