It's been interesting to watch the debate over bonuses at RBS this week. Back in 2008 the Government had to take an 84% stake to save the bank after bad investments nearly destroyed the bank. This week the bank announced a £3.6bn loss but that it was still paying £1.6bn in bonuses. The City had expected a loss of around £5bn.

What stands out is the comments made by Stephen Hester, head of RBS. On Radio 4 he suggested that losing top staff had cost the bank a further £1bn in profits and if the bonuses weren't paid then there'd be a further talent drain costing the bank and ultimately the tax payer more.

I think this reflects what has happened in the wider talent market. Those individuals at the top of the game are nearly always going to have options in most situations. If someone can add value beyond their cost then it's a easy decision.

And this reflects the changes happening in the recruitment market. At the more general end of the market we're seeing more and more fixed fee recruitment, multi-poster job boards and so on. But in the specialist market it's still difficult to find and convince top talent to move. I think this is where the recruitment market gets interesting and ultimately more rewarding.

Guru over at Personnel Today has a list of excuses people have used to have a day off. My favourites are:

• "My cow bit me"
• "God didn't wake me"
• "The ghosts in the house kept me up all night" 

There's no denying the scale of the energy crisis we face. Our current nuclear power stations are reaching the end of their lives and we need to cut back on coal to meet carbon emissions targets. Nuclear was an inevitable option.

But the Government's target of ten new nuclear power stations with the first few up and running by 2018. Not because of the technology or environmental impact. But because of recruitment. 

The last nuclear build in the UK was back in 1988 over twenty years ago with only four built in the past four decades. To build multiple nuclear sites in six years is going to place a high price on skills which aren't in great supply. And due to sensitivity over security these aren't roles you can simply buy in overseas experts.

On top of that there's the additional grid infrastructure to get electricity from the power stations to our homes and offices. Granted most of the new build is at existing sites but work will be needed to upgrade the grid to carry the additional power. The recession has eased some pressure but it's still difficult to get skilled electrical engineers.

The 2018 target is ambitious considering the environmental impact and the amount of work required. But perhaps the biggest challenge of the nuclear plan is going to be recruitment. 

We've all dealt with it. The client who wants everything and who no matter what you do will always find some fault. You'll send perfectly qualified candidates across but you'll get limited feedback. Sometimes you just need to fire the client.

It happened with me a while back. I should have guessed straight away when the he called me out of the blue for the very first time saying that he didn't think I'd be able to meet his requirements. But I'm used to clients playing hard to get so eventually I got a very cautious buy-in.

From then on, nothing I did was right. Every time you matched the spec, the spec changed. After a month I realised that this wasn't going to work. It was a distraction from other clients and projects. It was time to call things off.

The phone call was tense.  I remained polite and professional. The client did not. They tried to get me to reconsider and when it was clear I made up my mind there were vague inconsequential legal threats. The next day they suggested another role to work on which was politely declined. Free from the grasp of the unreasonable client I could focus on things which were productive.

We've all been there. But sometimes we need to realise that it's the right thing to do to fire a client. Give 100% to the clients you can deliver for. Don't be afraid to walk away from those for who you can't.