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"Dan Finnigan is CEO of Jobvite, an SaaS  platform for the social web that companies use to find and hire people. You can follow him on Twitter at @DanFinnigan and read his Jobvite Blog.\nIn 1997, McKinsey, the leading business consulting firm, published its famous study and book \"War for Talent,\" predicting a multi-decade shortage of skilled talent in the U.S. economy. We all know that wars are most often fought over scarce and important resources. Talent is certainly one of them.\nAutomation, reengineering the organization, outsourcing/off-shoring work, freelancing, allocating work online and crowdsourcing have not eliminated employer dependence on hiring full-time, high quality talent. Despite the recent prolonged period of high unemployment, companies still see a limited supply of, and a rising demand for the talent they need. And they can expect this \u201Cwar for talent\u201D to last a long time.\nNowhere is this clearer than in the San Francisco Bay and other pockets of innovation across the country like Austin, Texas. Last month, the news was dominated by the story that Google offered 10% pay increases and holiday bonuses of $1,000 for every employee. Google\u2019s arming up for this \u201Ctargeted\u201D war for talent as new startups continually try to poach talent from top companies \u2014 taking a page out of Google\u2019s playbook from five years ago.  \nAmong my company's San Francisco Bay Area customers, new job openings on a company by company basis are up an average of 17% in the last three months. The technology sector is not the only one ramping up hiring. Corporate profits are back near an all-time high, and companies are sitting on nearly $2 trillion in cash. As businesses gain confidence in the economy, some of this cash will be translated into jobs. Skirmishes are breaking out all over as a result of a long-term struggle for high-value resources that isn\u2019t going away.\n\r\nGood News for Some\r\n\nEven during the recession, we\u2019ve seen unemployment is not an equal opportunity. The unemployment rate for workers with less than a high school diploma has typically been three times that of those with a college education. A recent report from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) shows where we are headed: In 1991, fewer than 50% of U.S. jobs required skilled workers. By 2015, 76% of U.S. jobs will require highly-skilled workers, e.g. those with special skills in science, technology, engineering, or math. 60% of new jobs will require skills held by 20% of the population.\nThat adds up to a targeted war for talent in specific occupational, educational, industry and geographic sector \u2014 good news for the in-demand workers but not for the businesses that need to hire them. \n\r\nJob Seeker Nation\r\n\nThe talent shortage is combined with a new attitude among the most in-demand sectors of the workforce. To understand more about job search intentions and practices in today\u2019s new employment climate, my company recently conducted a nationwide survey of 2,000 people called \"Job Seeker Nation 2010.\"  \nThe results make it clear that workers conditioned by a long recession do not believe in job security and now feel they need to be prepared at all times to find a new job. We\u2019re rapidly evolving into a nation of free agents where \u201Cplayers\u201D jump from team to team within shorter time periods. In fact, 53% of all working Americans surveyed -\u2013 representing about 63.5 million people \u2013- aren\u2019t actively looking but are open to a new job. These are not \u201Cpassive\u201D job seekers; they're active in networking and positioning for advancement. They\u2019re \u201Cproactive,\u201D laying groundwork for their next professional opportunity before they have to look. \n\r\nWho are \u201CProactive Career Managers?\u201D\r\n\nProactive career managers are younger, more educated and earn higher salaries than other segments of the workforce. 73% are age 18 to 44, 52% are college grads or post grads and 34% earn $75,000 or more annually.\nThey are more active in social networks (77% use Facebook, more than one third use Twitter and/or LinkedIn) and have more social network contacts than other groups. They are more likely to have found their last job through a referral (36%) or social network (16%)\n\r\nAlways Be Recruiting\r\n\nNow that job seeking is a constant activity among high-skill workers, you as an employer need to generate a similarly proactive attitude toward recruiting in your company. Early on, one of our investors advised me to \u201Calways be recruiting.\u201D In practice, it means investing less in short-term fixes and one-off searches, and more in long-term assets and your own pipelines of talent.\nIf you approach hiring now no differently than you did two or 10 years ago, your company will lose the battle. Like today\u2019s workers are always looking for the next gig, you need to adopt some new methods to ensure a steady pipeline of talent. You can\u2019t just post jobs online and hope great people apply.  \nThe good news is that the Internet has made identifying and finding people easier than ever before. However, it\u2019s also easy for your competitors. Some thoughts on winning the talent war:\n\nCompanies have to build relationships with a large number of people, networking in the same way individuals have to network.\nTarget the sectors of talent you need in the same way marketers know they must target prospects, then stay in touch until the time is right to hire.\nSet the tone for hiring from the top \u2013- the most successful company talent networks are headed by executives who make it a priority to recruit for their companies and motivate others to do the same.\nJust as it\u2019s usually cheaper to keep a customer than acquire a new one, it\u2019s more cost-effective to retain good employees than search for new ones. Companies have to keep recruiting their own employees, because if you don\u2019t, someone else will.\n\nThe real key to winning is engaging your prospects \u2013- and your current employees \u2013- with a mission, a culture, and a sense of ownership. The targeted war for talent is a battle for hearts and minds. Are your troops and weapons trained to win?\nMore Business Resources from Mashable:\n- 4 Web Apps For Managing Job Applications - HOW TO: Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile- 4 Top Employers for Social Media Professionals- What Does Web Design Say About Your Small Business?- 7 Tips for Building a Better Branded App\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, Daft_Lion_Studio"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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