# What 'the fight for talent' actually means

- **Episode:** [03](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/03.md) (2022-07-15)
- **Type:** other
- **Tags:** talent, recruitment, hiring
- **Time:** 1:41–3:53 (start 101s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/03?t=101](https://truthliesandwork.com/03?t=101)

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[1:41] Leanne Elliott: Yes. I don't think, Al, I know. I know how good it is
[1:47] Al Elliott: So let's kick off a little bit, sort of taking back a step and go, I've heard about this, this phrase called the fight for talent. Will you explain to me what that means and how it's different to 2 years ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago?
[2:02] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, the fight for talent is talked about a lot in the media, in industry, online, you're going to find lots of different things about it. And I guess there's 2 kind of key streams to the fight for talent. One is skill shortages. You know, there are some industries where skills are short and work is being done at government level to increase skills in said areas, such as technology as an example. The other fight for talent really comes down to the competitiveness of an organisation and also their ability to recruit. There is talent out there and you will not have to dig too deep on LinkedIn or even Google for organisations and business leaders who are very happy with the caliber and quantity of talent that they are attracting in their recruitment drives. So, is the fight for talent real? Yes. Yeah, it is. But ultimately, there is a lot of work you can do on your recruitment process alone to significantly enhance your ability to find great talent
[3:11] Al Elliott: Now, I want to, I want to touch on, um, on Gen Zs, on millennials a bit later on in Because I feel that obviously I, what am I? If I'm 45 now, I was born in '77. What does that mean?
[3:23] Leanne Elliott: A boomer?
[3:23] Al Elliott: Am I? No, I'm not a boomer
[3:25] Leanne Elliott: No, you're not. You're Gen Y
[3:29] Al Elliott: Gen Y. So there's a lot of differences between when I was applying for jobs and obviously people who are half my age now. Um, but the thing I do want to kick off with is asking you about freelancers. Now, as a business owner, I have a choice of either recruiting someone to do the job or using a freelancer. Now, can you think of any reasons why using a freelancer would be a better idea than recruiting someone and vice versa?