Mapping Global Talent: Essays and Insights - Heidrick & Struggles

universities and business schools will be unchanged
from 2007 with the US, the UK, Sweden, South Korea
and Australia scoring 78, 44, 38, 37, and 36 in 2012
respectively (out of a possible 100 points). However,
there will be significant movement below these top-
ranked countries, with Germany, France, Russia, Japan
and Poland all moving up two places to 6th, 7th, 11th
12th and 16th respectively (out of the ranking of thirty
countries). Russia’s advance stands in stark contrast to
the lower quality of its compulsory education, where it
ranks 22nd in the 2012 ranking, down two places from
20th in 2007. The two measurements underline Russia’s
growing commitment to higher education, with junior
and high-school facilities receiving a lower priority.
Given the advances of both Germany and France,
Canada and Saudi Arabia will both drop two places
to 8th and 9th on the 2012 ranking of the quality of
universities and business schools. Lower down the
ranking, China will hold steady at 21st place with India
moving up one level to 25th; these figures are naturally
distorted due to the size of the population and the
method of assessment, which is spread per capita. While
both of these countries will continue to support high-
quality higher education over the next five years and
will have tremendous talent pools, the sheer number
of their populations pulls down their ranking in the
expenditure per student measurement.
As the developing world continues to pile into the
offshoring business, the range of industries “hiring”
capital will continue to grow over the next five years.
Even the most conservative, security-conscious sectors
will be seeking to reduce costs by moving their more
routine businesses to offshore facilities. In the legal
profession, for example, more highly skilled work
such as litigation research, traditionally carried out by
paralegals in-house, and intellectual property work
involving patent research, analysis, and drafting
of patent applications, is expected to move to
offshoring facilities.
Given the continued need for versatile, talented staff for
both sides of the professional services sector – offshore
and onshore – firms will need to do the following:
Think globally regarding talent
pools and talent competition
They will need to source globally for roles that they
have previously looked to fill locally and they will need
to keep in mind that the talent competition is leveling
out with the traditional competitor and the offshore
company looking for exactly the same talent but with a
different value proposition.
Think creatively on channels
for talent acquisition
One of the key resources in the years ahead will be
the industry’s own employees. In particular, employee
referral programs will become more popular. These
generally offer cash rewards and prizes to employees for
successfully referred candidates. For KPMG, nearly 39%
of the firm’s experienced hires came through employee
referrals. For smaller firms the percentage will be less
but just as valuable, particularly considering the low
cost of acquiring talent in this manner.
Innovate the HR function
With talent in short supply, organizations should elevate
HR to the highest levels, acknowledging that talent is
the only competitive advantage. Leading companies
need to customize their HR processes to align with
business objectives and create a results-oriented,
performance culture. Be ready – the global talent war in
professional services is just beginning to heat up.
Global Talent Index, developed in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit