Recruiters’ vital role in talent management

Anna Scott

The last few weeks have been busy for talent management research.

As well as the groundbreaking INSEAD Global Talent Management Index, which puts the UK seventh in the world for talented employees, Deloitte reported that London is the “talent capital” of the world employing 1.5 million people in 12 out of 22 high-skilled sectors.

The Corporate Executive Board and Ernst & Young are among the other organisations to publish surveys and reports on how UK companies hire, retain, manage and promote their people to their best advantage.

It has been 16 years since a consultant for McKinsey first coined the expression “war on talent” to describe the difficulties organisations have in getting the right employees with the right skills, education, experience and attitude.

The amount of money that has been invested in researching talent management programmes, and how much companies invest in their own talent management programmes, shows how vitally important this issue remains.

Despite the vast economic, educational and technological changes in global business – not to mention changing recruitment markets – since 1997, talent management is still an enormous challenge for companies.

The CEB’s research highlights a problem with the misidentification of talent, where the people selected for high-potential programmes are not necessarily those who will go on to a senior role. There also appears to be difficulty in how high potential is actually defined.

Similarly, half of the respondents to Ernst & Young’s research do not have the leaders with the ability to manage and motivate their teams, despite 85% of respondents deeming “inclusive leadership” or the ability to encourage teams to voice diverse perspectives and dissent, to be an effective means of improving performance.

The vast majority of Ernst & Young’s respondents – 84% – thinks an organisation’s ability to develop and manage teams is essential for future competitiveness.

It’s clear that organisations need to focus on their retention strategies, training and development and succession planning programmes. But recruitment agencies play a vital role in getting the right talent into the right positions in the right organisations in the first place.

In light of yet more research on the quality of careers advice in schools that emerged this week, there needs to be a collaborated effort taking into account education, skills, experience and attitude so that people entering the workforce or looking to move jobs have the best possible insight into where their own skills, talents and experience can be deployed.

Recruiters have the knowledge of the candidate and vacancies markets, and the skills and experience to ensure they are a vital cog in the talent management process.