Introduction

In future, many businesses will be faced with something which could easily be dismissed as a “first-world problem”. They will be anxiously looking for good, new staff. Many labour markets are becoming very tight, particularly in industrialised Western countries, as well as parts of Asia. We can now direct this problem to politicians, and demand a different family policy, relaxation of immigration laws, and, most importantly, investments in education for all ages. This is all well and good, and I would endorse it. But this book addresses the issue of what businesses can do in relation to recruitment. I will thus be adopting a micro perspective. I am often asked whether the “War for Talent” has arrived. And the answer is: yes, there is already an acute talent shortage, which is due to increase. But nowadays we only see a “war for talent” in isolated cases. Many businesses are still very ponderous, passive and unimaginative when it comes to their methods of recruitment. No one gets hurt; the focus is instead on the candidates’ interests. The right ones will come along at some point. Even looking at the latest literature on recruitment, you will see that most publications zero in on staff selection in this context. Yet the problem no longer lies in choosing the right candidates—it’s in getting the candidates in the first place.