Are talent shortages real – or the result of flawed recruitment processes?

Welcome to this, my first entry for what promises to be a hugely exciting new project. Deciding what to write about for a first blog can be a challenge. Fortunately, the APSCo conference took place this month, and has been a major talking point, so my dilemma has been solved!

One of the most interesting parts of the conference is always the panel discussion, which involved a very frank discussion about talent management strategies. The question of whether recruitment had become more process-driven during the recession elicited some fascinating responses, and raised an interesting question: are talent shortages genuine, or are recruitment processes too often incapable of finding those diamonds in the rough?

Peter Whitehead, Editor of Executive Appointments on the Financial Times argued that, outside very specialist areas, such as science, skills shortages were largely a product of flawed recruitment processes. Talent shortages, he alleged, were often a myth. It’s the difference, he said, between ‘mowing’ and ‘cherry picking’.

It’s certainly an interesting idea. In areas such as IT or engineering, sourcing in-demand skills has always been a challenge, but it’s contentious to suggest that that challenge is in some way artificial, a product of a flawed recruitment process (too much ‘mowing’!) Peter was right in saying that the problem is often too much choice rather than too little, and that the sheer volume of candidates can sometimes make talent acquisition akin to finding a needle in a haystack. What’s the solution? Make job applications more demanding, which will filter out those candidates who apply for every job on a speculative basis. That way – according to Peter – recruiters should find it easier to sort the wheat from the chaff. He has a point – albeit a controversial one – but one thing is for sure: the huge influx of candidates onto the market has in some ways made talent acquisition more difficult, not less.