Our profession is going to be profoundly influenced by a force that we pay very little attention to.

A new report by the Economist on the state of global ageing paints a grim picture.  By 2050, one person in three in developed countries will be a pensioner.  The fiscal costs of dealing with an ageing population will dwarf any other expenditure governments incurred (Listen to an audio interview with Barbara Beck).  Read more...

How does Australia fares against the rest of the world in terms of nurturing and attracting talent?

The Global Talent Index, produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit  in collaboration with Heidrick and Struggles, ranks countries according to the availability of talent, and predicted the likely supply scenario in five years time.  Read more...

At any given time, close to 1 million Australians are living overseas.

For a country grappling with skills shortage, having roughly 5% of the populace living and working overseas is a huge drain of precious human capital. Nevertheless, the flow continues. Ingrained in our culture, travelling and working overseas is a ‘rite of passage’ for many Australians. As travelling becomes easier, and with the rapid globalisation of trade and business, it is likely that Australians will continue to leave the country in search of better opportunities and adventures overseas.  Read more...

Talented people are valued not just for their skills, experience and expertise, but also for their networks. Often, the adage ‘good people know other good people’ is true (see slide 11).

Referral programs in different forms has been in place to attract and recruit talent for a long time. The recruitment industry, in particular, thrives largely on networking and referrals. Lately, we have seen lots of variations in how candidates are compensated for their time (paying candidates to attend interviews) and networks (recommend and be rewarded), and the trend is gaining grounds.  Read more...

We have written on untapped indigenous talent pool. The newly proposed ‘Australian Employment Covenant’, if successful, will create 50,000 jobs for Aboriginals over the next two years. This will solve two major problems – high unemployment rate amongst the indigenous community, and also ease the skill shortage faced by businesses across Australia.  Kudos to corporate Australia for taking the lead. If you are an employer, do sign up for the program.

A major economic reality of modern day Australia is almost all industry sectors are plagued by a shortage of skilled staff.

Take a quick scan of the media:

• Mining industry needs 87,000 new workers by 2010
• One in three vacancies by 2012 will be in the property/construction industry
• Regardless of the state of the economy, demand for accounting talent never seems to cease

Not one sector seems to be immune from the scourge.  Read more...

MIS is igniting fresh debates on the perennial issue of IT skills shortage in Australia.

It is clear, supply side problems are caused by a combination of myriad factors (I previously took part in a similar discussion here) and rightly so, there is no ‘one solution’ to the problem . Any serious attempt at addressing IT skills shortage, at the very least, will require a collaborative approach by various stakeholders – employers, the business community, professional associations, industry bodies, talent service providers, education & training houses and public policy makers.  Read more...