The world is entering a new era in which employers are forced to work with the talent that is available rather than have access to the talent they need, according to Stephen Gilbert, the UK practice lead, recruitment process outsourcing at ManpowerGroup Solutions.

Gilbert told the Recruitment Process Outsourcing and e-Recruitment Forum 2011, organised by Symposium Events in London earlier this month, that a “just in time approach to recruitment” no longer worked. “The talent no longer exists,” he said.

Gilbert explained how Manpower helped Jaguar Land Rover find 80 highly skilled engineers for a new production line. Because of insufficient applications from candidates with the right skills partly due to these candidates also being in demand from other employers Gilbert said Manpower had helped the vehicle manufacturer to identify “the basic critical skills” required. It also identified other elements of the work that workers could be developed and trained in after beginning the job.

Gilbert said Manpower had identified a number of converging trends that had major implications for recruiters:

• the growth of individual choice was contributing to a shift in power from the organisation to the individual
• increased customer sophistication was accentuating the pressure on companies to deliver fast and complex solutions, and this in turn depended on talent
• technology was allowing employers greater access to talent, but also gave workers and organisations more choice about how work was organised and performed
• an ageing population was heightening the talent mismatch.

“Those with the [stand-out] talent will benefit, while those with general skills shared by many will be marginalised,” said Gilbert.