The “Roaring 2020’s” are going to be a decade of Talent Engagement.
What’s happening?
In the days of plenty, talent could be attracted and hired with ease. As the internet has evolved digital transformation has become the norm for organizations. Digital transformation was meant to be disruptive, but perhaps not in the way it happened.
An unanticipated consequence is that most organizations (not just big tech firms) need the same type of talent. Hyper-competition has become the norm. There doesn’t seem to be enough digital talent to go around.
In the days of scarcity, attracting this talent will require a different approach. Skilled talent no longer needs to look for their next role as they are actively pursued. And you need to be on the list of suitors because your competition is already on their dance cards.
Talent Brand Awareness
Digital transformation has created a situation where the in-demand digital talent may not be familiar with the organization that is knocking on their career door. In addition, to a lack of Talent Brand awareness, many organizations are not prepared to compete from a competitive compensation standpoint. In the make or buy talent decision, hiring and training entry level talent is the most viable option.
While training just delays the inevitable competitive compensation demands of the newly minted digital talent, it gives organizations a fighting chance to meet their digital talent needs.
No End in Sight
The talent shortages for digital talent created by this hyper-competition is not going to go away anytime soon. The talent data suggests that there is a gap of over one million between the available jobs and the available talent high demand professions such as software engineering or home health care.
Why Talent Engagement?
Talent engagement is an area that you can differentiate yourself. The ability to explore the characteristics of the desired target talent and discover personal talent data can be equally employed by all organizations. In order to attract, engage and cultivate a relationship with a target talent audience, you will need a comprehensive strategy.
Talent Engagement, A Team Sport
What was once the domain of recruiters and talent sourcing, talent engagement has become an important consideration to other areas of talent acquisition. Areas such as recruitment marketing, competitive talent intelligence, and talent acquisition technology and operations have been enlisted.
A Talent Engagement Strategy
A talent engagement strategy can be seen in terms of five distinct elements. They are necessarily interconnected and interdependent. At the core of this talent engagement approach is a prospect first philosophy. The first two decades of the twenty first century has revealed that “it’s all about them, not about you.” Included in the prospect first thinking is building trust by being empathic and providing value. In short, it is about being human.
Marvin E. Smith 