As Europe seeks to avoid the worst effects of its demographic winter, fresh approaches to work and immigration are opening up new pools of potential talent.

Europe’s talent shortages are a daily headache for any hiring manager or recruiter. Four major challenges have hit all companies at once. There’s the ongoing continent-wide demographic winter, a skills gap that’s particularly dire in technical and specialist spaces, shifting beliefs about the centrality of work during one’s life in younger generations, and the COVID-19 fueled “Great Resignation” that is accelerating retirements as well as regular departures. As a result, while companies struggle to hire skilled worker....