In the global talent supermarket, the old economic model of “undeveloped East versus developed West” applies less and less. Emerging economies, migration and offshoring lead to concentrated talent hotspots of skills and expertise. “We are moving from a bipolar world to a multipolar one,” says Peter Cheese, the head of global talent at Accenture.

So where does the UK stand out? Our expertise in financial, professional and legal services is no secret and some experts say that we are becoming the global leader. “In a lot of respects we are overtaking New York,” says Chantal Free, a senior consultant at Watson Wyatt, an HR consultancy. But in a recession, a dependency on these services could be damaging. “[Services] suffer in an economic downturn,” Cheese says.

The UK also exports its architectural talent, Free says: “Many fantastic buildings in Dubai and Hong Kong are built by British architects.” But despite excelling in creative and technical design, a lack of talent in engineering, manufacturing and science risks curtailing economic success.

The opening of Eastern European borders has led to clusters of back-office operations there. British banks are among those taking advantage. “A lot of our European clients are placing their shared services centres or outsourcing operations in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic,” Free says. Former Eastern bloc countries still bear the strengths of the Soviet education system in areas such as heavy industry, engineering and construction, says James Watson, a senior editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit. However, “Russia is incredibly strong in technical skills, but it’s not the easisest place to recruit from”, he says. Eastern Europe also lacks marketing, sales and MBA-level skills.

China is also a talent hive for engineers and heavy industry workers. But this dragon has ambition in its fire. “China doesn’t want to be known as the manufacturing capital of the world; it wants to be the financial capital of Asia,” Free says. She predicts that Shanghai’s stock exchange could overtake Hong Kong’s in ten years. With its massive workforce, a shortage of middle managers, accountants and lawyers could be an Achilles’ heel. But many Chinese educated at UK and US universities are returning to “endless opportunities”, she says.

In India, talent is increasingly specific at a city level. The sub-continent is overrun with IT companies looking for skills: IBM plans to hire 50,000 staff over the next five years. It will need to look carefully. “You can’t just turn up in Bangalore any more,” Cheese says. “Organisations have to understand talent supply at a micro level.” IT back-office operations are springing up in Malaysia and the Philip-pines, capitalising on workers’ good English and programming skills.

In the field of R&D, Japan and the US are likely to dominate for some time. Engineers and bioscientists in the US’s many pharmaceutical companies are plentiful, Free says – but still in demand.

Latin America is an emerging talent stronghold, particularly in commodities. In Brazil and Mexico a plethora of steel and mining companies have set up in recent years. An educated workforce and favourable physical resources make multi-nationals keen to go into these markets, Watson says. “[These countries] have a big local pool of experienced talent and they are exporting it around the world.”

So what can companies learn from this smorgasbord? “We have to think about talent sourcing in the widest context,” Cheese says. He has the same conversation with employers all over the world. “Everyone’s got the same problem: how to attract and retain the right skills,” he says.

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