The War for Talent.

• Author: Ashbaugh, Sam
• Position: Book Reviews

Beth Axelrod, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Ed Michaels

Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press (200 pp)

While attracting and retaining quality employees has long presented a challenge to organizations of all shapes and sizes, demographic trends and other forces have converged to make the development of human capital a strategic imperative for the 21st century. The War for Talent is the culmination of five years of extensive research that included surveys of some 13,000 executives from more than 120 companies, as well as case studies from various industries. This combination of quantitative and qualitative research led the authors--all executives of consulting firm McKinsey and Company--to recommend a fundamentally new approach to talent management.

Using examples from companies such as General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, and The Home Depot, the authors identify five imperatives that form the backbone of their recommendation. Each of these elements is briefly discussed below.

Embrace a Talent Mindset. The notion of embracing a talent mindset refers to the fact that organizations must recognize that they cannot succeed without great talent. This philosophy must permeate through the entire organization, from the CEO on down. All managers--not just those in human resources--must be held accountable for strengthening the talent pool.

Craft a Winning Employee Value Proposition. Although most organizations have developed mission statements and philosophies for how they view customers, few have completed the equally essential task of creating an employee value proposition. Interestingly, the authors found that monetary considerations represent only part of a winning employee value proposition. Accordingly, executives and managers must recognize that employees also value such things as interesting and challenging work, career advancement opportunities, organizational culture and values, and work-life balance.

Rebuild Your Recruiting Strategy. Although most organizations tend to focus on recruiting only when they have vacancies to fill, the authors argue in favor of new, proactive recruiting strategies. In stark contrast to organizations that limit recruitment to the filling of vacancies are those that hunt for talent on a continuous basis, tapping diverse and non-traditional talent pools. The authors correctly point out that an effective recruiting strategy must target all levels of organizational talent, not just entry-level positions.

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