The War for Talent or A War on Talent?

I've come across a good number of social media posts and articles lately broadly related to talent management. The vast majority of these comments and articles focus on the following themes:

1. The inability for companies to find employees with the right backgrounds, experience, competencies and skill sets
2. Frustration and anger from job seekers (particularly those over 40) towards recruiters who many feel lack the experience to actually recognize and recruit knowledgeable, talented people.
3. Accusations of "ageism"  by older workers towards the recruitment industry
4. Frustration from younger, highly skilled workers at not being able to find work in their chosen field because of the number of experienced and highly qualified workers competing for jobs for which they are vastly over qualified.

Given the obvious contradiction between these perceptions, what is really going on? Is there a war for talent or is there a war on talent?  Is there a dearth of talent in the marketplace?  Are there too many jobs seekers and not enough jobs? Are there too many new jobs for which there are a lack of qualified applicants? Has the recruitment industry replaced talent and knowledge with technology in an effort to fulfill the recruitment needs of their clients in the most expedient way possible? Has the education system failed to meet the demands of the marketplace?

Over the next few weeks this blog will be devoted to exploring these questions and themes. I have no illusions that I know the answers, however I hope by advancing some theories,  supported by my experiences as well as the experiences of others, we will come closer to understanding the nature of the problem.

 If anyone reading this has stories, theories or data they are willing to share, feel free to send me an email - bmelnick@kminstitute.ca or simply comment on this blog.

The Next Installment - "A Backdrop to Understanding the Current Conflict"