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Why the 1990’s will soon be the second biggest talent shortage on record! by J.D. Burton I’ve been making this claim all year and I couldn’t find a better time to explain it than the New Year. I think all of us can agree that 2001 was not a year we care to repeat. For the New Year I offer this advice: I have recently been interviewed for several articles concerning my claim that a talent shortage is on the horizon that makes 1990-2000 look miniscule. Now is the time for you to review your recruiting process, tools, resources, and knowledge and prepare for this new challenge. Technology will continue to assist us but only if we know how to use it to our benefit. Recruiting and recruiters will become a priority in 2002. Companies will be forced to look at their recruiting investment with a microscope and those who can refine it will succeed. I actually have two simple reasons why we will see a talent shortage beginning in 2002. First is the economy. From 1990-2000 the world saw an economy unlike any before it. Record growth and prosperity abounded. Technology stormed corporate America and fed a growing hunger for top talent. Companies invested in enterprise systems, telecommunications, web initiatives and increased technical capabilities in order to stay ahead of the growing competition. One thing we all forgot over the 10 years was that it had to end sometime. It is the cycle that keeps our economy stable. History shows that these lulls in activity or “recessions” typically last a year. Improved consumer confidence and the massive surge in patriotism in the US are indicators that the economy is ready for a rebound despite global influences such as terrorism. The people today refuse to let the economy of the 90s fade away. As the economy comes back, projects and initiatives that were mission essential and then put on hold will resume. Laid off workers will be called back and those who do not return will need to be replaced. Companies will recover from the recent recession and new positions will be created. Despite economic conditions we have a much larger factor looming over us. We have all heard about it but many never applied it to recruiting. The baby boomer generation (born 1946-1964) is aging. The largest percentage of our population will begin to retire in 2002. In 1951 alone 3,823,000 baby boomers were born in the US. Over the next 10 years an average of 1 baby boomer will turn 50 about every 7 seconds according to Bill Geist, author of “The Big 5-Oh”. We all have seen the demographics for health care and funeral services touting the aging of the baby boomers. The part that affects our industry is that before you get old you retire from your job. This result sin a need to hire new personnel. To make the competition even tighter the next generation to fill these positions is dwarfed by the size of the baby boomers and the next is not much better. Over the next year we will see the beginning of this talent shortage. Expect to be immersed in it by 2003. That doesn’t leave us much time to grasp new technology, refine our skills, and prevent being caught behind like we were in the 90’s. For the New Year we have great things to look forward to. So let’s all put 2001 behind us, add it to our list of lessons learned, and prepare for the next great race! ---------- J.D. Burton is the President and Founder of Personnel Partners Network, Inc., and is a noted speaker and writer on recruiting, technology, and how they benefit one another. Combining that experience with the experience of top recruiters worldwide, PPN developed the "Return Oriented Recruiting Methodology." PPN operates several Web sites dedicated to helping recruiters succeed while taking advantage of the vast resources available and improving their benefits. Check out the NEW PPN site at http://www.gotresumes.com |
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