The US unemployment rate fell by 0.4 per cent to 8.6 per cent in November, according to the latest report from The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). As US companies prepare for the beginnings of the recovery, more companies will struggle to find the right kind of employees, says Steve Trautman, Founder & Principal, The Steve Trautman Company, a solution provider at the upcoming marcus evans Corporate Learning & Talent Development Summit 2012. "They were lucky the last few years. There was a broad pool of talent available when they needed to hire. As the recovery begins and more people find jobs, fewer people with unique skill sets will be available. The role of the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) is going to become more and more important, for preparing onboarding and knowledge transfer programmes and bringing on talent with potential but not necessarily skilled in the tools that are needed for a particular position. CLOs have to prepare to work with the talent that is available." In addition, CLOs need to understand the risk profile of their employees. Trautman adds: "They should make some projections on employee turnover, as 10 to 25 per cent of their people are likely to change jobs as opportunities arise. There must be backups for the most critical employees. The knowledge transfer process should start today." Although 70 per cent of the skill set that employees take on in a new position come from co-workers, regardless of how much formal training is