I was pleased to be a panelist on the HCI webcast, Finding and Grooming Top Local Talent. As more companies venture into more and more locations worldwide, stories about the challenges of global talent management take many twists and turns. Here’s one.

What happens when a country quickly becomes the #1 location in the world for the automotive industry? Anthony Stainer, VP Learning & Talent Sourcing at Faurecia, described this situation in Slovakia: 400,000 jobs with only 100,000 Slovakian workers capable of filling them. That’s not a war for talent – that’s a firestorm!

Ultimately, the efficacy of a global workforce strategy is determined by the local workforce demographics, along with the decisions of other industry players competing for the same talent. Are execs paying enough attention to this in the planning stages – or will Slovakia just be one example among many?