The war of the talents: better to prefer internal or external resources?
17 December 2019War for talent is a concept well known to those dealing with human resources.
The expression was used for the first time in 1997 by three consultants of McKinsey Quarterly, an American magazine dedicated to senior executives and focused on the management and organization of companies, to indicate the competition among companies in capturing, hiring and retaining new talent functional to the growth of the project.
But does the war only concern new resources to be identified from outside or even internal personnel?
At the heart of the matter, there are the strengths of the individual, in an equation such that the best dependents constitute the competitive advantage for the companies that hire them. But when a new position opens up within the company organization chart, is it preferable for the company to focus on the growth of internal resources and seek new candidates from other companies?
We talked about it with Marcello Russo, Co-Director of the Master in Organization & Human Resources and Director of the BBS Global MBA: “Until a few years ago the war of talents concerned the concern of companies to resort to outside to grab the best profiles, while now companies have started to focus on a series of actions to enhance internal resources. Naturally, each situation is a case in itself, but just as recruiting profiles from the outside with new backgrounds can bring new perspectives and a breath of fresh air fresh to the company, focusing on the enhancement of internal human capital can be a winning strategy”.
The right people for business growth can therefore also be employees who are already part of the structure, on which to invest by relying on two factors. On one hand, focusing on known skills and corporate culture, on the other hand accompanying them in a path aimed at change, functional to face the challenges in progress. Growing with the company and not only within it, requires constant training, able to align the new needs of the company with the individual’s background. This is why Bologna Business School offers a diversified and highly targeted offer, able to develop visioning and execution skills necessary to trace the course of a company of value.
