Reflections from our Talent Acquisition at a Crossroads Fireside Chat with Josh Bersin

Earlier this week, I was delighted to host a number of Human Resources and Talent Acquisition leaders to discuss insights from the latest report in our Talent Climate Series - Talent Acquisition at a Crossroads – alongside Josh Bersin, Global Industry Analyst and CEO of the Josh Bersin Company. 

The Talent Climate Report

This report, for anyone who hasn’t yet read it, makes for fascinating and important reading, highlighting that the Talent Acquisition (TA) industry is at a critical pivot point with most TA Leaders not only identifying skills shortages as one of their top issues but also adding that they are under tremendous pressure to improve the efficiency of their recruitment processes. With many leaders feeling that they require more training, while also struggling with a lack of strategic direction and support from other leaders in the business; something has to give. 

Talent and skills within an organisation, impacts everyone within that organisation. Regardless of role or level, we all need talent and skills to deliver, innovate, and drive high performance. So, whilst this report focuses on the perspective of TA and HR Leaders, this critical pivot point that the industry finds itself at, is most definitely not exclusive to TA or HR departments. 

This, and much more, was discussed in what was a fantastic evening welcoming leaders with a diverse range of perspectives into AMS’s new 60 London Wall Office. 

So, what were my key takeaways from the session? 

1 | Positioning TA as a Strategic Business Partner

Having worked across various industries and observed talent and skills from a TA and wider business perspective, I wholeheartedly agree that businesses need to place emphasis on effective strategic partnering with their TA Leaders. The reports shows that only a third of TA Leaders surveyed said they were involved in any strategic planning. Even likening themselves to being “an Amazon fulfilment centre for humans”.  

If TA do not have a seat at the table, then businesses are missing a critical opportunity to set themselves up for success. However, this works both ways and we cannot always wait quietly for an invitation, instead this is a wake-up call for TA Leaders – do we want to be a fulfilment centre or a strategic partner? 

We must be bold, confident in our expertise, and ask the right, often challenging, questions of the business. Tell people what you do and how you can best support the organisation. 

2| Culture is Key

On the topic of what makes a high performing company, over and above understanding your company’s financial or operational goals – do you fully understand and feel comfortable articulating the company mission, vision, purpose, and value proposition? A mixture of tangible and intangible things that when lived and breathed across an organisation create a strong culture of engaged, motivated, and passionate people all working towards a common purpose.

If companies don’t get this right then how can they retain talent, and importantly from a TA perspective, how can we understand in those early stages whether someone who wants to work with you will ultimately help to build or lower your talent density? 

Interestingly, although unsurprising to me knowing the wealth of talent we have at AMS, one company did an analysis of what makes great performers within their organisation and found that the Recruiter was the common denominator. It is the Recruiter and their human touch of knowing all about the DNA of the company and what makes people successful there that made all the difference. 

3| Internal Mobility and People Development

Related to culture and high performance is the subject of Internal Mobility, which was an interesting point of discussion, as when talking about TA it can be easy to focus on bringing new talent into organisations from the external market but it’s critical that we also place importance on strong internal mobility to recognise, develop, and retain the talent businesses already have. 

It is shown that organisations with a strong focus on internal mobility, perform better. While it seems like this should be straightforward, in practice, many factors can challenge or hinder effective internal mobility that meets both business needs and the employee’s career aspirations, sense of value, and engagement.

Managers naturally want to keep their talent within their own team, Recruiters have a tendency to want to look externally, and if the cultural storytelling around how to grow and build your career within the organisation isn’t quite right then employees lack clarity and motivation. 

We need to boldly make it clear to managers that it is their job to develop people, they aren’t just “looking after” employees for the organisation, they have a responsibility to contribute to the growth of talent and the shared success that will bring. This could include evaluating managers based on whether their team members receive promotions or make successful strategic lateral moves, whether they have development plans in place, and the increased value they provide to the organisation. 

It’s all about taking the manager population on a journey, helping them see their own development potential and value, and crucially, help theming feel that they all work in the talent management business, every hire and every individual’s development is and should be strategic. 

This is just a snapshot of the many relevant topics we discussed. The conversation concluded with thoughts on the future outlook: all businesses are experiencing change, transformation, or evolution, which naturally impacts hiring. The market remains challenging, and workforces will continue to be more demanding. 

However, it was positively acknowledged that Talent Acquisition is one of the most important roles in the business and will become increasingly strategic, if we as a collective focus on what needs to be done to get there. 

A huge thank you to Josh and everyone who attended, each bringing their own wealth of knowledge and expertise to our discussions. I can’t wait for the next opportunity to connect and continue these vital conversations. 

In the meantime, we’ll be keeping a close eye on these themes and continuously improving our services across AMS to ensure we remain the best strategic partner to our clients.