From Branding, Sourcing, and Diversity to Data Analytics: Five Talent Powerhouse Takeaways

October 31, 2016 at 12:00 PM by William Clarke

powerhouse-images-sm2.jpgEntelo’s Talent Powerhouse Series came to a close this week, rounding up five of the talent industry’s most powerful influencers and practitioners to share their tactics for building and growing an organization.

Shally Steckerl, Meghan M. Biro, Robin Erickson, Lou Adler, and Katie Gechijian brought to the table their unique experiences, perspectives, and research on today’s talent market. Each of the Powerhouse webinars focused on solutions to the biggest challenges in hiring. Creating advanced sourcing strategies. The value and impact of employer branding on engaging candidates and retaining employees. How to develop a mature talent acquisition function. Why talent analytics can help recruiters close more, higher quality candidates. The key to getting executive buy-in on diversity hiring.

With so much intel to share, we wanted to highlight our five takeaways from the series. Check them out.  

Your employer brand matters to potential hires and your current team. Nurture and protect it.

PowerhouseTakeaways_BiroCrop.pngPeople want to do important, meaningful work at interesting, successful organizations that offer opportunities for growth. Does your organization check off the right boxes? It’s an important question you have to be able to answer to be competitive in the talent market. If you’re not offering enough, good candidates will turn down your offers. Not only do you need a compelling employer brand, you also need good, competitive jobs that fit your top candidates ‘professional goals. Otherwise you’re gonna be getting crickets on those outreach emails. 

Growing Your Employer Brand to Engage and Retain the Best People, hosted by Meghan M. Biro, Founder of TalentCulture

For organizations to keep up with competitors, talent teams must strive to hire candidates from diverse backgrounds.

DemographicPhoto-1.pngIn the race for talent, the key to growing an organization with a competitive edge means evaluating where you’re missing out on pools of qualified people. While familiar social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter offer good overview for talent at stake, remember not all social networks are created the same – they can be saturated with fellow recruiters, noisy with unfit candidates, or lack a diverse mix of users.

How Talent Teams Can Take a Tactical Approach to Building a Diverse Workforce, Katie Gechijian, Lead Consultant at Proactive Talent Strategies

The war for talent is now a c-suite level concern. Align, align, align.  

CSUITECONCERNS.pngNo longer a strategic backwater mostly farmed out to agencies, talent acquisition is a top-tier organizational priority. The good thing is that recruiting is getting the attention it deserves, but that also means there is more pressure than ever to deliver outstanding hires on a consistent basis amid a historically strong job market. Effective hiring requires alignment and support from the entire organization, from CEO to sourcer, but building out a careful, thoughtful and analytic roadmap is the minimal requirement when it comes to winning the war for talent. Make sure your hiring managers, interviewers, and anyone else involved in the process understands the why and how of things is a major win.

Optimizing Your Talent Acquisition Function, Robin Erickson, VP of TA, Engagement and Retention Research, Bersin by Deloitte

Effectively leveraging data is integral to success.

Surplusvsscarcity.pngData is, quite simply, priceless. Being able to look at your hiring metrics and recognize what’s working and what’s not is crucial to any successful hiring stretch over a period of time. Your data will tell you what funnels are most effective, whether your outreach is good enough, what roles and skills are the most challenging, how much time roles take to fill, and numerous other valuable insights. Implement a “scarcity of talent” hiring principle, which Lou Adler explains is having a high-touch vetting process that emphasizes volume of funnel quality not quantity. This way, you’re focusing more on candidates you are qualified and interested, instead of wasting time on those you likely will not hire.

Data gives you the information you need to recruit effectively and efficiently amid an always changing hiring market; ignore it at your own peril.

Refining the Hiring Process with Data and Real-time Feedback, Lou Adler, The Adler Group

If you’re not continually optimizing your process, candidates are slipping through the cracks. 

PowerHouseTakeaways_Optimize.pngThe best talent acquisition pros know that if they aren’t constantly improving, they’re going to be left behind by a fast-moving industry. The thing is, optimization isn’t just about data. It’s also about training your staff, refreshing your brand, reallocating resources, and predicting trends all before it costs you hires – that’s a lot to keep track of. That’s why a structured approach is so advantageous. It helps you standardize the practice of self-evaluation, which lets you and your team stay on top of things.

Strategies for Building Out a Sourcing Roadmap, Shally Steckerl, President of The Sourcing Institute

Ready to learn more? We captured all the greatness of our Talent Powerhouse Series – check it out!

Related Articles:
Transparency Is The New Black: TalentCulture CEO Meghan M. Biro 
The Importance of Mentorship, Pushback and Curiosity in Talent Acquisition
Sourcing, Productivity, Multitasking, and the Art of Pushback With Shally Steckerl 

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