The so-called "war for talent" has been raging hot ever since the phrase was coined in a McKinsey report back in 1998. In the past 20+ years, not much has changed — in fact, unemployment numbers came in at just 3.5 percent, which means that you probably have several positions to fill, and fewer prospects than ever to step into key roles. 

For HR professionals, the war for talent is the new normal, and your department is held accountable for recruiting, retention, and even overall performance. Each of these responsibilities is fraught with difficulty: 

• Recruiting is harder than ever, with 62 percent of recruiters reporting that it’s harder to find qualified candidates than it was five years ago. What’s more, there’s a decline in promoting from within, which means there are more positions to fill than ever before. 
• Retention might be even more difficult, as the "quit rate" in the United States is at a historic high. According to Gallup, 2.3 percent of employees are voluntarily leaving their jobs on a regular basis, and a full 51 percent say they’re actively looking for work. 

Read the full article at: www.achievers.com

If you hope to recruit rockstar performers, you can't be amongst the 95% of companies that don't have a clearly-articulated talent strategy.

Even with COVID-19 reshaping the talent marketplace, companies are still challenged to make sure the right talent is in place for long-term objectives. Talent strategy is just as crucial as financial, marketing, or operational strategies in driving future success. The ability to develop, recruit and retain the right people—at high velocity—to fill talent gaps created by the evolving business strategy is a DEFCON 1-level priority.

When the Harvard Business Review recently asked 24 high-profile CEOs to name their biggest challenges, “talent management” topped that list. Having the right talent, fully engaged, in the right position with the right compensation, so their businesses can stave off competitors, has become a paramount concern for CEOs—an issue as likely to give them cold sweats at night as the prospect of missing their quarterly numbers. These leaders understand that their future success likely will be determined by an ability to transform their organizations not just once but continuously, and that rapidly recruiting or developing the right talent to drive those changes will be crucial. 

Read the full article at: blog.shrm.org