Recruitment, retention and skills shortages have been identified among the five key business challenges facing managers today, putting recruiters at the heart of the modern corporate agenda.

HR think tank Roffey Park questioned 1,000 bosses for its Management Agenda 2006, and says recruitment is now a key battleground for most companies.

More than a third of managers highlighted recruitment and retention as their biggest business issues, while skills shortage were also deemed a major problem area.

“This survey seems to indicate that not only have we got increased competition for the best candidates, but that also candidates today are far more sophisticated. Money is not the main consideration,” said senior researcher Claire McCartney (pictured).

Recruitment Society chairman Steve Huxham says recruiters must use 'joined-up thinking' to deal with the shrinking pool of talent.

“It's a recruiter's duty to look at a candidate's potential, not just at their present attributes,” he said. “Retention strategies should be interlinked with recruitment and developing skills.”