That means the competition for some rather sorry talent is set to be fierce. CIOs whose employers run Graduate Recruitment programs can expect to do better than most. The rest will end up slugging it out to attract the best of what's left.

One way to differentiate yourself will be via culture - it's much easier to attract people to companies that look like employers of choice.

But there is also an emerging trend, identified by McKinsey recently, that could be an answer to some CIO's prayers.

McKinsey points out that as more and more sophisticated work takes place interactively online and new collaboration and communications tools emerge, it's becoming easier to outsource increasingly specialized aspects of work and still maintain organizational coherence. Much as technology permits them to decentralize innovation through networks or customers, it also allows them to parcel out more work to specialists, free agents, and talent networks.

"Top talent for a range of activities - from finance to marketing and IT to operations - can be found anywhere," McKinsey points out. "The best person for a task may be a free agent in India or an employee of a small company in Italy rather than someone who works for a global business services provider. Software and Internet technologies are making it easier and less costly for companies to integrate and manage the work of an expanding number of outsiders, and this development opens up many contracting options for managers of corporate functions.

"The implications of shifting more work to freelancers are interesting. For one thing, new talent-deployment models could emerge. TopCoder, a company that has created a network of software developers, may represent one such model. TopCoder gives organizations that want to have software developed for them access to its talent pool. Customers explain the kind of software they want and offer prizes to the developers who do the best job creating it, an approach that costs less than employing experienced engineers. Furthermore, changes in the nature of labour relationships could lead to new pricing models that would shift payment schemes from time and materials to compensation for results."

McKinsey expects the trend to gather steam in sectors such as software, health-care delivery, professional services, and real estate, where companies can easily segment work into discrete tasks for independent contractors and then reaggregate it. As companies move in this direction, they will need to understand the value of their human capital more fully and manage different classes of contributors accordingly, it says. They will also have to build capabilities to engage talent globally or contract with talent aggregators that specialize in providing such services. Competitive advantage will shift to companies that can master the art of breaking down and recomposing tasks.

Speaking as someone from a profession where freelancing has become increasingly the norm, and who has survived and sometimes even thrived as a freelancer for the last 28-odd years, even collaborating on a book with fellow contributors from around the world, (including, oddly enough, a free agent from India) I can fully endorse the sentiment.