This story reflects the views of these authors, but not necessarily the editorial position of Fast Company.

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The Unwavering Allure Of Entrepreneurship Younger workers especially tend to be disenchanted with traditional career paths and are seduced by the idea of becoming entrepreneurs instead. But the notion that activating all these entrepreneurial ambitions will prove a useful weapon in the war for talent is dubious. A decade ago, author Scott Shane estimated that only 30% of startups live longer than 10 years, fewer than 10% ever grow, and just 3% grow substantially. None of this has stopped corporations from trying to attract entrepreneurial talent, though. Juggernauts from GM to Goldman Sachs are experimenting with embedding startup-like cultures inside large corporate structures, hoping to draw in disruptors who can change the status quo and drive innovation. Yet even when big companies like these are able to recruit entrepreneurial talent, they often struggle to manage and engage them. Turning Things Around Instead of winning a war for talent, organizations appear to be waging a war on talent, repelling and alienating employees more successfully than harnessing their skills. The result is a highly inefficient job market where most companies complain about their talent shortages while most employees complain about their pointless jobs. The definition of a bad deal is when both sides lose. So what can organizations do to improve the situation? Three things. The result is a highly inefficient job market where most companies complain about their talent shortages while most employees complain about their pointless jobs. 1. Get better at measuring and understanding talent. This means shifting from intuitive toward scientific assessment methods. It also means refocusing on the proven predictors of job performance, such as the raw ingredients of talent: being rewarding to deal with, and able and willing to work hard. Instead, most organizations either go by gut instinct or they overcomplicate things, coming up with long and incoherent competency models that omit the essential drivers of job success. Shoddy, bias-prone selection methods like unstructured interviews, resume screening, and performance reviews end up taking precedence over more rigorous tools, like scientifically grounded personality and cognitive ability assessments and structured job interviews.

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