A survey of 1,350 European executives from 27 countries conducted by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the European Association for Personnel Management (EAPM) concluded that managing talent is the most critical challenge today. This quote from Hans Böhm, general secretary of EAPM, stood out for us:

"Human resources has never played a more important role in business than it does today…HR executives must face these challenges to draw on human capital as a major source of competitive advantage."

The Future of HR: Key Challenges Through 2015 lists talent management as their primary concern with this foreboding statement in the Executive Summary:

Talent shortages loom, both in Europe and in new markets abroad, and companies must take steps now if they hope to address these shortages—and avert disaster.

Based on our own research in careers site recruiting in the UK, and in France—where 75 percent of SBF 120 companies have a careers section on their corporate website, yet only a slim majority (55 percent) allow candidates to apply online through a structured application form that can support a fully automated end to end recruitment process—we believe there are unprecedented opportunities for European companies to use automated recruiting methods and establish competitive advantage.