In two years, the oldest Baby Boomers will begin to retire (in their own Boomerish way), which means that job opportunities are beginning to open up – big time – for younger workers, and managers are getting nervous about finding enough good talent. This means that those people within Gens X and Y that have desireable skill sets (most notably technology and creativity) will have their pick of jobs. Instead of college graduates sending out dozens of resumes, it’s likely employers will be lining up on campus to entice the best and the brightest. The paradigm of supply and demand has shifted, and the onus is now on employers to beat out the competition for the best talent (and keep them happy).
Google raised its profile (like it needed to?) when it started recruiting engineers by placing algorithmic problems on billboards. If you could solve the puzzle, the ads said, you’re the kind of person we want.
That’s pretty cool, but not nearly as cool as this: a personalized pitch from the CEO of a company, explaining why you would be a good fit. The iPod nano, Russian nesting dolls and Matrix references show that the company knows the psychographics of the people it wants to hire.
Moral of the story: If you (we) want to work with the cream of the crop, we can’t wait for them to find us, because other companies are already out there wooing them.
How can we actively seek out the top talent that will keep us at the front of a growing industry, rather than waiting for them to come across our ads?
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