LONDON, September 26 /PRNewswire/ --     The UK will be ranked second among thirty leading countries for
attracting and nurturing talent by 2012, according to the first ever Global
Talent Index (GTI).

Only the US will outstrip the UK as a location for talent in five years'
time, the index produced by executive search firm Heidrick and Struggles in
co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit reveals. In 2012 the UK
will have the highest quality compulsory education system in the Index, the
second highest quality universities and business schools, and the second most
open labour market, the GTI shows.

It will replace the Netherlands as Europe's highest placed country, which
is pushed down to fourth place from its ranking for this year. Sweden,
Germany and France also feature in the top 10.

The GTI is the first survey of its kind to be undertaken. It is aimed at
providing businesses with comprehensive evidence of where talent is located
across the world, both now and in five years time. Thirty countries were
chosen for the survey based on a representative geographical spread and the
quality of available comparative data.

David Peters, Managing Partner of Heidrick and Struggles EMEA, said: "The
Global Talent Index shows that it is not just in the Square Mile that British
industry is a world leader. The openness of our labour market, combined with
our excellent schools and universities, prove that the UK is one of best
business locations in the world - and is becoming even better."

The US will retain its position as the world's biggest talent hotspot in
2012, the survey shows. However, it faces increasing competition from China,
which will move up from eighth to sixth position in the index of 30
countries. The Global Talent Index reveals that China is becoming a much more
positive environment for nurturing talent as the quality of its compulsory
education improves.

Despite the strong performance of the US overall, its labour market is
set to become less open and flexible by 2012 amid fears of terrorism. It will
rank 9th worldwide on this measure -only one place above China.

The GTI shows that the much fabled 'BRIC' (Brazil, Russia, India and
China) phenomenon should more accurately be expressed as 'IC' when it comes
to talent. While China and India rank among the top 10 talent hotspots
worldwide, Russia will fall from sixth to 11th place by 2012, while Brazil
will slip from 18th to 19th.

Kevin Kelly, CEO of Heidrick and Struggles, said: "Until now, companies
may have sensed which countries attracted and developed talent most
effectively, but objective data to support their impressions was simply
unavailable.

"If talent is the oil of our future, we need to pinpoint the hotspots,
identify the reserves and know how fast the pipelines can get up and running.
The Global Talent Index will enable us to do this."

Overall, the survey confirms that talent follows where money leads. After
the US and UK, the next best countries for attracting and developing talent
are the relatively open economies of Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Another noticeable trend is that several of the least promising performers do
not yet boast fully functioning democracies.

Asia performs strongly overall, with Malaysia, South Korea and Japan
accompanying China and India in the top 15 by 2012. Ukraine will overtake
Russia and Argentina will fall dramatically over the next five years.

The Index is the result of a collaboration between Heidrick and Struggles
and the Economist Intelligence Unit. It measures each country's potential for
producing talent and the conditions necessary to realise this potential.
Seven measures were used in assessing each country: demographics, quality of
compulsory education systems, quality of universities and business schools,
quality of the environment to nurture talent, mobility and relative openness
of the labour market, trends in foreign direct investment and proclivity to
attract talent.

About Heidrick & Struggles

Founded in 1953, Heidrick & Struggles (NASDAQ:HSII), is recognised as one
of the world's leading executive search firms. With 61 offices in the
principal cities of 32 countries, it helps its clients to address strategic
issues that have human capital solutions in times of growth, turnaround,
acquisition, integration, expansion into new markets, and when responding to
economic flux.

With its executive search, leadership services and interim management
capabilities, Heidrick & Struggles can seamlessly integrate a bespoke
programme to meet the diverse leadership challenges facing its client
organisations. The organisation prides itself on its relationships with, and
immediate access to, some of the world's most talented people.

http://www.heidrick.com