I believe that this blip in the global finances will create opportunity for Companies to right-sizing by combining layoffs and hiring to reshape the workforce in order to meet current and future conditions. Even companies conducting sizable layoffs keep looking out for potential new hires. The long war for talent will not be affected. In bull or bear markets, top performers are always in demand.
As I discussed, applying a companywide hiring freeze is not a good alternative since there is not control about which areas need to grow or shrink. On the other hand, the current economy allows recruiting staff in high demanding areas as finance, IT, bilingual executives, and Oil & Gas experts. For the last years, finance and IT, in particular, have been hard-pressed to find all the qualified staff they need, ever since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act stirred up demand for professionals in these areas (even with low expertise). These candidates have been firmly in control and salaries have risen.
The risk is that real talent does not get laid off often. Top performers know their value (as they can detect an unevaluated stock). Also, they can easily start their own projects and 2009 will see the born of multiple consultancy firms. Best talent is always on move seeking for new opportunities.