There is no talent shortage, but there are plenty of clueless and whiny leaders who feel that any good or commodity they can dream up should appear in front of them the moment they envision it — including smart, qualified and cheap labor.

If I go to T.J. Maxx hoping to find a vintage mother-of-pearl bracelet on sale for $29.95 and I don’t find one, there is no affordable-vintage-bracelet shortage. There is only one deluded shopper who needs to snap out of it. This is exactly the dynamic at work in the talent marketplace, when employers say, “There’s a shortage of talent!”

That’s ridiculous. Talented people are everywhere. When you hire them, they will walk in the door with energy, experience and ideas. You’ll have to train them on your specific systems and processes. Some employers aren’t willing to do that.

They want job-seekers to show up at their door completely up to date and certified in six or eight of the newest tools and technologies — but then they don’t want to pay for that training! The fictional “talent shortage” is a bid at cost-shifting training costs away from employers and onto universities, community colleges and individual job-seekers themselves.