What is the greatest challenge at the outset of the new century? Some strategic corporate executives agree it's establishing proactive, continuous staffing practices.

Coincidental hiring, or replacing departing staff with someone who at that moment happens to be actively looking for a job, is increasingly a competitive disadvantage. Instead, replacing substandard existing staff and identifying quality candidates for possible future positions must be done on an ongoing basis.

Proactive managers have to adopt strategies that anticipate tomorrow's needs, not just fill today's, and are constantly looking among all sources for outstanding talent. As executive recruiters, we can work with these clients to identify top-notch candidates who are currently employed, and form strategies for hiring them, or someone like them.

Recruiting exceptional persons who are leaders in their field can take years as top talent are most often those who are currently, and often happily, employed. When they do actually start looking to move, they usually are the hardest to attract because they will have multiple options.

Several factors are pushing organizations toward continuous staffing, including the unemployment rate, which has dropped to new lows, even among population groups with historically high unemployment. Demand for certain skills is historically high, especially in manufacturing technology, which continues to suffer from high turnover and an inadequate talent pool.

Continuous staffing assumes that employees are assets, not costs, and that companies must invest in these assets over time and with deliberate planning. This new equation says that Human Resources should be the builder of a critical asset base, much as R&D is in charge of building the intellectual capital of a company. Continuous staffing encourages HR to ask how person X, or someone with X background, can help the company be more competitive now and in the future.

It's important to have "talent scouts," such as proactive internal managers and executive recruiters, who are highly familiar with individuals who can be your next star employee and really make a difference to your company.

Presenting the best candidates to our clients involves first of all knowing where to look as many of the best candidates are not actively looking for a job change. Then, we stay in contact with hundreds of candidates until they are ready to make a career move.

Staffing professionals can help you focus your human resources planning and proactive recruiting, which will continue to grow as a priority in this turbulent labor market.