对人才的追求

No major HR-conference is complete without the talk of the lack of staff and the war for talented specialists. Why has competition between employers aggravated? Who are the "talent", and why do companies need them so much?

你可以用两个因素来解释工作人员的短缺。第一个是教育水平的下降。毕业生需要学习和适应商业的现实，但公司在这里和现在都需要专业人士。

第二个因素是 "人口的冬天"。当老一代人离开劳动力市场时，年轻人无法取代他们，因为他们的数量太少。

Good young professionals in the labor market are rare, but specialists with good professional training are twice as rare. A competent HR-manager should come to the following conclusion: "If a talented employee does not work for us, then he or she works for our competitors."

"Twenty or thirty years ago equating human resources to other resources of the company (production, finance, etc.) was already considered to be quite a progressive trend, by today the situation has changed, - says Brandon Valdez, a leading business coach, head of career management department in HRPartners, - “This is due to demographic processes, plus the unstable economic situation in the world which demand new approaches."

What is the new approach? Practices of talent management are coming to the foreground. "This new strategic approach to human resource management, which includes a set of measures from hiring required candidates to leadership development, coaching in the workplace, assessment of potential and so forth," - Brandon explains.

因此，人才管理包括招聘、发展和保留员工。

"In many companies, the focus has shifted from the employment to the personnel reserve. Rather than re-educate beginners, companies want to hire the right candidates, not wasting resources on adaptation but spending them on the development of highly productive employees and leadership programs," - says Brandon Valdez.

这里的关键概念是高生产力的员工。只有当公司期望在未来获得费用回报时，它才有能力投资于职业发展。因此，投资于那些能够成为独特的专家、行业领袖、优秀管理者的人是有意义的。

"Nowadays simply hiring staff is not the biggest challenge. Now we need to recruit those who can adapt as quickly as possible to the culture and main goal of the company", - says the expert from HRPartners. In order for the talent management practices to be productive, you should pay attention to its first phase – selection.

Who are the "talent"? Harold James, the CEO of consulting company TalentPuzzle is convinced that HR-managers are too attached to this word. "This term "the talent" nowadays every company understands differently, - says the expert. - Many imitate Jack Welch, who singled out 20% of the best employees in each department and called them the "A" category. I think he is the originator of the fashion of sticking labels on people. But Welch clearly knew what he was doing and what would follow. As often happens: the shape is much easier to copy than the essence."

Talent should not be understood in the enthusiastic/mystical sense: as a gift, which only the chosen ones have. "Most companies need people with normal abilities and normal management system to manage them. In order to pump oil, extract resources and prepare for the heating season in time, we need not the talent, but the clear plan for work and responsible attitude to it," - says the CEO of TalentPuzzle. - "It is not about how to attract talent – the talent will always be of great value – but about the fact that any employee is supposed to be in the right place and bring maximum benefit to the company and develop professionally," - agrees Brandon Valdez.

"For me, "talent management" is more of an idiomatic expression denoting primarily, HR-processes, allowing the company to saturate itself with the right people and keep itself in a good shape," - sums up Harold James.

所以，当前环境中的人才是指无论他或她在什么岗位上工作，都能在此时此地为公司带来利益的人。此外，该人才还具有很高的进一步发展潜力。这种员工是招聘人员在不久的将来要争取的对象。

重要的是要明白，仅仅雇用一个有才华的员工是不够的。有必要把他或她留在公司并帮助实现他或她的潜力。