Local stakeholders need to join forces to attract and retain young talents

The TalentMagnet partnership has already mapped up the state of the art in the field of talent attraction and retention, the findings of which local stakeholders – representing companies, academia, NGOs and public administration – and talents have just confirmed during the first in-person meeting of the TalentMagnet project in the city of Nyíregyháza, Hungary. It turned out that one of the most challenging tasks for the municipalities is to create innovative policies, new job opportunities and a functional business environment in order to stop the outflow of the skilled youth. Furthermore, the invited young talents also highlighted those personal and career development opportunities, and a welcoming support system is of utmost importance.

Based on the main findings of the panel discussion with local talents, we can conclude that it doesn’t worth holding back talents from moving out from the city to gain new knowledge and experience in the capital or even abroad. In fact, we should encourage them to do that, and afterwards persuade them to come home and use what they have learnt for the benefit of their hometowns. To achieve this, comprehensive and coherent marketing and development strategies are needed with a strong emphasis on city branding.