Comments on: Other Countries Are Gaining in the War for Talent

By: Opening New Channels : AllianceQ Blog

Opening New Channels : AllianceQ Blog — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:55:39 +0000

[...] of needing to open our collective aperature in the hiring paradigm and create new channels is from Rahgav Singh, who points out; Many countries have liberalized their immigration policies for high-skilled [...]

By: Jeremy Samuel

Jeremy Samuel — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:09:37 +0000

In speaking to a wide range of employers and recruiters while developing 2Vouch, we certainly found that companies are having difficulty finding skilled people.

It is interesting, because the “skills shortage” has been a hot topic of discussion in the media. More recently, we seem determined to talk ourselves into a recession here Downunder, so there is a lot of chatter about a “slow down”. Now, both threads are running in parallel.

What our clients are telling us is that is it not uniform. In highly skilled fields such as IT, engineering, accounting, medical and legal there will be strong demand for talent for the foreseeable future. In less skilled areas, demand is dropping. So policy responses need to focus on the areas where the demand exists.

Jeremy Samuel
General Manager
http://www.2vouch.com

By: Simon Evans

Simon Evans — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:49:12 +0000

I agree with the writer’s assessment of the blinkered vision shared by the political elites with respect to this issue. I was able to attend a briefing held by one of the top economic advisors for the Obama campaign recently (one of the advantages of living near DC!) I asked for information on the stance Obama was taking with respect to highly experienced immigrants, in particular considering his comments on the need to drive “Green” innovation. The advisor admitted he had seen no papers or statements on the matter and on reflection was equally perplexed. To his credit this advisor contacted the chief campaign advisors that evening and by the morning had a response for me….it was depressing reading.

Basically Obama is taking the stance preferred by the “old guard” in the IT related unions, basically blaming H1 foreigners for the scourge of outsourcing and salary reductions in the IT industry. He does not support expanded immigration for top talent although they did have some vague meaningless platitudes about wanting to build up an innovation eceonomy through retooling the US workforce…as if!

The sad thing is the McCain camp is just as bad on this subject.

So much for change :)

By: Ross Clennett

Ross Clennett — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:39:54 +0000

As an Australian I can validate Raghav’s comments. The Australian Government has recently announced its intention to increase immigration by approximately 60% in the next two years (from, already, a record high) with a clear emphasis on skilled immigrants. South East Asia and Southern Africa countries are likely to be the most aggressively targeted regions.

By: Bryan StLaurent

Bryan StLaurent — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:07:10 +0000

The US approach to Talent is a train wreck coming down the tracks. One can only conclude a few things, most people in power are too stupid to see it, or entirely irrational, or at some high ‘conspiracy’ level, the superclass of this country has no problems with 78 million people retiring and ultimately vacating jobs because all those jobs will be outsourced to India, China, and whatever other location is most desirable from a labor arbitrage POV. The result is the US will be downsizing like we can’t imagine over the next 25 years. On top of that they want to build a fence across the southern border to make sure no low skilled people slip into the country.

Make no doubt about it, innovation and economic growth will follow talent, and talent is as a-national as capital.

Bryan St.Laurent
HireVue.com