'The War for Talent' has been raging for years, and it doesn't seem that it will let up. So the big question is, should we continue to focus on hiring the 'best' or should we spend more time and effort on training, to evolve staff into the best? I know Jim Collin's books 'Built to Last' and 'From Good to Great' both recommend the latter. What are your thoughts?

I have long been perplexed by the "war for talent" concept used to characterize China's predominant Human Resource landscape. I frequently read articles decrying the rising unemployment among recent graduates of China's top universities. In addition, those lucky enough to find work are typically grateful even to be underemployed, where they work in fields unrelated to their academic expertise or professional skills. Under "normal conditions", it is much more cost effective to train than to hire. However given China's abundance of unemployed or underemployed talent, perhaps a combination of the two is the proper strategy. Given that training can addess specific needs while hiring encompasses a vast range of abilities, a comprehensive approach should be adopted to ensure a well-rounded and adept workforce.

Eugene,

I think the issue is also related to 'misemployment' also. Many universities in China are not meeting the real needs of modern day business in China. After all, the field of HR is only recently being offered as a complete university course, rather than simply a subject in a general management course. There's also many graduates who work for multinational companies who simply graduated with a degree in 'English'. If universities _link_ed degrees with work experience (I had to work one year in a hospital before getting my microbiology/pharmacology degree) then practical skills would be higher on initiation of employment. My friend, an senior manager of a wind turbine manufacturing company, told me over dinner that he finds it hard to find engineers (doesn't China have more engineers than any place in the world?!) because most engineers want a desk job after graduating. He needs to send his engineers to Inner-Mongolia in winter, and few are intersted in that demanding job.