The War for Talent in the age of the Millennial - are you ready?

As Attraction, Retention and Motivation are fast becoming the 3 most common words used by our clients when discussing their recruitment strategy, it would appear that in 2015 the cost to any business of not hiring far outweighs the cost of hiring. Fast-forward twenty years from when Stephen Hankin first coined ‘the war of Talent’ and many of the boardroom conversations of today will have a familiar tone. Skills shortages still keep HRD’s and CEOs up at night — and whilst changes in the patterns of recruiting have been influenced by the speed of globalisation and relentless advances in technology, what is causing real seismic shifts is the most recent generational influx, as the millennial cohort become the next demographic set to impact the landscape.

The onset of the economic crisis and near collapse in employment that followed marked a sudden end to the war for talent. A global armistice was informally declared as companies and employees alike embraced a sit-tight attitude. Consequently, after years of negativity surrounding the job market, in recent times a fantastical perception has permeated the attitude to recruiting, a development that Darren Connolly of Morgan McKinley describes as ‘recession recruitment’ mentality. This is where hiring managers across the globe believe that with the help of an on-line advert , a word with some ex colleagues and an update on LinkedIn, there will suddenly appear a plethora of flawless candidates all chomping at the bit. However, in 2015 this is far from reality, because this time round the war for talent is being fought on different fronts, as a glut of Millennials flood the workplace, armed with a new set of ideals that demand a new set of artillery.