Friday, December 03, 2010

Have we missed the directions?

One of the business magazines I read religiously from cover to cover each month is the latest edition of Fast Company Magazine. Several years ago in doing so I read an article by Dr. Richard Florida and got hooked on his concepts. His latest book, the Great Reset is no exception.

Then I picked up the St Petersburg Times this morning and the front page contains a larger article across the middle of the page entitled " New Reality in The US: Forever jobless." This lead me to contemplate whether we have missed the direction in which we are headed.

The nature of the workforce has changed but many of our politicians are still walking around with rose colored glasses. Many of our human resource professionals are in the same boat.So how do we need to change direction to resolve the unemployment quagmire we are in?

First, we need to come to the realization that we are no longer in a workplace that is governed by what we make. It is ruled, whether you accept it or not, by what we dream. This means that our way of viewing available talent. There was a reason why the founders of HP and Apple began in their garages.They did so because traditional business did not recognize the value of their ideas.

Second, the current trend to negate the inclusion of candidates who are unemployed means that you may be eliminating the very person who has the concept in his or her head that will catapult your organization to the next level.

Third, Charles Handy in his book "The Age of Paradox" suggested that we would end unemployment by everyone being self-employed. If that is true we need to be concerned where the knowledge bank of our organizations is going reside. Your organization depends on developing that knowledge base and having it available as needed.

While jobs are important and we would not dispute that we need to get as many people back to work as possible, we would also contend that the effort to concentrate on passive candidates is not helping the unemployment issue nor your organization.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

No comments: