There have been countless demographic studies predicting an increasing shortfall of qualified candidates to fill the growing employer needs for top talent. Some predict that the US shortfall of qualified candidates could reach as high as 10 million by 2010. Others predict the effects will begin to be noticeable within the next 12 to 18 months.
If the predictions are true, the high tech sector will be heavily impacted. Similar to the environment of the late 90’s tech boom, companies will be scrambling once again to become the “employer of choice”.
So what can companies do now to prepare for the coming challenges of attracting top talent? What components will be essential for employers to offer in order to capture and KEEP the ‘A’ players? Retention will no doubt be critical part of this equation. And what about the start-ups? They are most often the driving force of discovery and innovation in technology. How will they compete?
As a candidate looking for work, what can you do right now to position yourself to be one of the highly sought talents? What will the high-demand skills of the future be? If you are one of those who are in high demand, what qualities will you look for in a potential employer?
There seems to be no end to amount of questions about how all this will play out. But it’s not all doom and gloom if we start addressing these questions and making the necessary adjustments sooner rather than later. Being proactive now will help increase your chance of success later. Thoughts?
