The War for Talent

If you subscribe to a business magazine, then you have likely read about the war for talent more than once. Popular magazines have featured stories on the topic including Money Magazine, "Engineers Wanted: The War for Tech Talent March 2011;" CIO Update, "2011 and The Looming War for IT Talent January 2011;" and McKinsey Quarterly, "The War for Talent May 2011."

It is on the mind of every company, and we are seeing it firsthand. As companies look at the Triangle area, they are putting more emphasis on the available talent pool and their ability to attract talent when selecting a new site for their business.

So where does the Triangle stand? We are probably most well known for the Research Triangle Park, the nucleus of the area that is a hotbed for innovation and research and development and is home to some of the world’s largest companies. We are nationally known for our top universities: North Carolina State University,University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and Duke University. We also have a robust and diversified economy that is fueled by the life sciences and technology industries made up of companies that are at the forefront of research and development. Not to mention, by 2020 Wake County is projected to grow by more than 27 percent or an additional 253,000 people and is projected to surpass Mecklenburg County (home to Charlotte) as the most populated county in North Carolina.

With all the educated college graduates in the area, as well as becoming the largest county in North Carolina, it’s no wonder thatKLG Advisors just released a study that named the Raleigh-Durham area No. 1 in available IT tech talent and No. 4 in graduates in IT. While we are No. 1, we are not taking it for granted. We know this talent war goes beyond national rankings and is really a global war. In order to win in the war for businesses to locate here, you have to create and maintain an environment that is attractive to lure the best and brightest people to move to your area.

Over the past year, Wake County Economic Development has been working on a talent attraction blueprint that will be the foundation of an aggressive talent attraction marketing campaign to recruit highly skilled talent to the Triangle. Through our research we know that people love living here and there are a variety reasons why. We also know that that unless you live here, it is hard to see behind the trees and truly know all of what this area has to offer from both a personal and professional perspective.

We plan to change that and we invite you to join us as an ambassador of our community. If you’d like to learn more, please contact me, Jennifer Bosser.