Let's Talk of Talent

Let's Talk of Talent
I must have heard the word 'talent' ten times through last night's news broadcast. It wasn't in reference to any outstanding atheletes or poets or artists or novelists or anyone like that, it was in a story about Canada's 'red hot job market.' Apparently, employers call it 'seeking talent' when they're advertising a lot of available positions. Maybe this is meant to flatter their applicants, indicating an admiration for the work being done by their staff, but I don't like it. I think it distorts reality by making talent appear common when it is rare.

Talent certainly exists in the workplace, but it is more the exception than the rule. For instance, operating a forklift is a skill that anyone can develop through time and effort, but few may ever know how to scoop and flip a coin with their forks. Fewer still would be able to call it 'heads' or 'tails' in the air and get it right most of the time. Talent is an inborn superior capacity for a certain task. Excuse me, I don't mean to sound condescending.

Talent makes one outstanding. One can't be outstanding if everyone else shares one's talent. It's the difference between a potential Olympic medalist and a Sunday jogger. However, while mere skill may be common, I think it is underappreciated. After all, we build up our skills by choice and dedication and can be proud of them, while we're simply stuck with our talents.

Since an employer cannot possibly know whether or not an applicant even possesses talent, at least initially, and this news item was about employers and applicants, I really found that word overused. The poets must be turning over in their graves.
  
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