Recruitment used to be a simple business and once upon a time, it was safe to assume there would be an adequate supply of good talent, which would translate into loyal, long-term employees.

It was a buyers' market, with more job seekers than jobs.

That was then. Now, the number of workers with transferable skills is steadily increasing and people are willing to change jobs more often. In short, we're in a sellers market - a market where talent matters, and talent wins.

Take China, for example. The new hotels we are opening will create over 30,000 jobs there.  The job market there is extremely fast-paced, and quality candidates have a range of opportunities. We are competing with major multi-national companies for qualified and experienced staff across different skill sets, including HR, finance, sales, marketing and engineering.

Around the rest of the world, one of our biggest challenges over the next three to five years will be to find another 90,000 people to support our planned growth.

To meet this demand and to deliver our core purpose to create 'Great Hotels Guests Love' we not only need to attract new talent.

We need to engage our existing employees.

We're focused on developing skills and leadership, providing competitive rewards, measuring progress and giving employees the opportunity to shine.

We've made a commitment to our people that we will create an environment where they can give their best and make a difference - Room to be Yourself.

In turn, our Winning Ways define what is expected of all employees by IHG.

This is what we call 'the deal.'

'Room to be yourself' encourages our employees to bring the same passion to work as they do to their hobbies and celebrates individualism by featuring their real-life stories in our communications.

Winning Ways is the set of values that describe our personality as a company and the way we behave. They were drawn up in consultation with employees in 2006 and are designed to guide our everyday actions.

We launched 'the deal' to employees worldwide in 2007 and began to see encouraging progress in our staff engagement results.

Nine out of 10 people say they are proud to work for IHG and 82% say they would recommend the company as a great place to work - 11% higher than the industry average.

One in two people take career progression opportunities within the company.

That's our strategy for winning the war.

www.IHG.com