Employees are not just numbers; they bring to the organization a variety of skills. When the skills an organization needs are in high demand, hiring new people can be difficult and expensive. An approach that may deliver results more efficiently is to find needed skills in new places. Here are some ideas for doing so:

Develop skills in existing employees. Some employers struggling to find tech workers avoid hiring older workers, on the assumption their skills haven't kept up with technology. Sometimes that assumption is accurate, but those workers still may have other strengths. Companies that invest in training them in the latest programming language can end up with highly qualified employees who can help out with older technologies as well as the new ones.

Train workers in hard-to-find skills. IBM, for example, has an apprenticeship program that teaches coding to interested workers. It has hired 90% of the people it trains. The e-commerce business Shopify has a program leading to a degree in computer science; it combines education and on-the-job experience, and students earn a salary while they learn.

Broaden your search area and search criteria. IBM expanded its search for computer programmers beyond universities to find motivated people at community colleges and coding "boot camps." This effort has the side benefit of helping the company meet diversity objectives.

Locate where the talent is. High-tech companies may assume they have to locate in Silicon Valley or Boston to be near enough talent. But this view fails to take into account the stiff competition for tech workers in those locations. Turnover may be high, as tech workers hop from one opportunity to another. At the same time, schools around the country (and world) are teaching technical skills. Virginia's Crossroads, a region in the south central part of the state near the intersection of Interstates 81 and 77, is an example of an area that is less expensive than Silicon Valley and has a pool of talent. Some companies, including Zapier, founded in Missouri, are able to let most employees work remotely, from the location of their choice. Co-founder Wade Foster notes that this gives the company a "worldwide talent pool."

Questions

1.What do you think are the risks of the options described here?

2.What do you think are some advantages of increasing the talent pool with each option?