Productivity cannot increase without more skilled workers, and it will be difficult to hold inflation in check while both salaries and training costs rise in an increasingly competitive labor market. Effective recruiting and timely staffing are rapidly becoming critical to survival for many businesses. Many employers are taking off the gloves and becoming more aggressive in their recruitment efforts. Increasingly, employers are resorting to higher bounties to encourage both employees and non-employees to refer friends and coworkers. Even more alarming are the tactics some companies are using to penetrate and decimate other companies formerly considered to be off-limits for recruitment purposes.
Many employers erroneously believe the solution to the labor shortage is to hire more recruiters.
The demand for experienced recruiters is equalled only by the demand for high tech workers. However, there is clearly under-supply of seasoned recruiters, further limiting the ability of many companies to remain competitive in the labor market. Finally, there is evidence that companies, governments and academicians realize the severity of the problem and are beginning to lauch new programs to subsidize training programs to prepare workers with the skills in demand today. Although it will not be a quick fix, it promises some eventual relief. Until then, the labor wars will most assuredly intensify.