If you haven't done so, I would recommend running out and buying this month's Economist magazine - as it relates to the Search for Talent. The article covers every aspect of recruiting, retention, and the current and past states of the world workforce. Of course I was excited to read about passive candidate recruiting, as that's what our product does. But by far this has to be one of the best talent articles ever written.
I have summarized some key points from the article, but I encourage you to read and respond to the article, there are some very powerful statistics in it.
According to the Corporate Executive Board survey of 4000 hiring managers across 30 companies the quality of candidate has declined 10% since 2004 and the average time to fill a position has increased from 37 days to 51 days.
Accenture has calculated that intangible assets have increased from 20% value of companies in 1980 to around 70% today.
RHR International concludes that America's biggest 500 companies will lose half of their senior managers in the next five years or so.
The Yankee Group estimates that last year 2300 companies have adopted some form of technology talent management software and the market for the technology will double by 2009.
“Companies need to become more imaginative about recruiting and retaining talent. This includes paying more attention to passive-candidates those that aren't actively looking for a job but maybe open to seduction.
Deliotte calculates that typical America companies spends nearly 50 times more to recruit a professional on $100,000 then it spends on his or her training every year.
Every year India produces 2.5 million university graduates
The cost of an India graduate is 12% of that of an American one.
India graduates work an average of 2350 hours a year compared with 1900 hours worked in America.
You can buy almost 10 Indians for the price of one American.
University of California found that the number of incoming undergraduates planning to major in computer science is now 70% below it's peak since the early 1980's.
Companies need to focus on their Employment Value Proposition. A study completed by the Corporate Executive Board on 90 companies concluded that the rewards for managing a employment value proposition are huge increasing a companies pool of potential workers by 20%.
Companies need to spend more time to get their message out.
