The New Dictionary of Hiring

Talent Scarcity

/TAL-UHNT SKAIR-SUH-TEE/

NOUN

Talent Scarcity is the condition in which too few realistically accessible people have a capability the market urgently needs.

MEANING

Four applicants doesn't prove Talent Scarcity. There may be very few people who can do the work. Or your ad may be hopeless, your location rules unrealistic, your reputation invisible or your interview process a museum exhibit.

‍

Before deciding that the people don't exist, find out how many do and why you aren't reaching them. True scarcity calls for one strategy. Making an otherwise accessible market want nothing to do with you calls for another.

Defined by:
James Ellis,
Employer Brand Labs

Category:

The Talent Market

Related Terms:

Compensation Substitution

The New Dictionary of Hiring card: Talent Scarcity, noun. The condition in which too few realistically accessible people have a capability the market urgently needs. Abstract iridescent glass shape on a white background.

MAKE THE CHANGE

Instead of:

Calling every difficult search a talent shortage.

Ask:

Is the capability truly scarce, or are we simply failing to access the market?

EXAMPLE

A job gets three applications. Leadership calls the skill impossible to find. A market check shows plenty of capable people, but most cannot accept the location requirement or see little reason to consider the company.

HOW TO USE IT

Check the size and accessibility of the actual capability market before declaring scarcity. Test compensation, geography, requirements, message and hiring friction as alternative explanations.

SAY IT TO LEADERSHIP

We have low response, but that doesn't yet prove there are too few people. I want to know whether the market is scarce or whether our offer is giving the market a reason to ignore us.

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH

Choice Problem: Talent Scarcity means too few people have the capability; a Choice Problem means enough people have it but aren't choosing you.

Other terms

The New Dictionary of Hiring card: The Capability Receipt, noun. A one-sentence test of a hire's business impact: “Because this person is here, the business can now ___.” Abstract iridescent glass shape on a white background.

Talent Scarcity

Talent Scarcity is the condition in which too few realistically accessible people have a capability the market urgently needs.

MEANING

MAKE THE CHANGE

EXAMPLE

HOW TO USE IT

SAY IT TO LEADERSHIP

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH

Other terms

The Capability Receipt

The Twelve Clause

Employer Sameness

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