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Exceptional talent & the new talent journey

3 minutes read
podcast
HR and talent analyst, Mervyn Dinnen says on-boarding begins at the very first interview and shouldn't stop. In this podcast, he describes the 'New Talent Journey'.


Mervyn Dinnen is a globally-respected HR and talent analyst who advises business leaders around the world on emerging trends that impact hiring, retention, engagement, and talent. He has spent over 20 years helping organisations craft and implement winning recruitment and retention strategies.

Mervyn also recently released his first book, Exceptional Talent: How to Attract, Acquire and Retain the Very Best Employees (US link, UK link). 

The book explores how the ways we attract, acquire, retain and develop employees are changing in the evolving world of work, what's impacting that shift, and how people's expectations and preferences are changing.

One of the biggest takeaways, for Mervyn, is the emergence of what he calls the New Talent Journey.

In a traditional recruitment and retention process, the HR department and potential hires would go through a series of events: Vacancy → Interview → Hire → First Day → Confirm Employment (after three months of probation) → Yearly Review → Promotion.

Now, the organisations that are winning the talent game are shifting from a series of discrete events to a cohesive and ongoing onboarding process; a 'new talent journey'. Talent should be entering the onboarding process well before their first day, even as early as the first time they’re interviewed, and then the journey shouldn’t stop.

This is related to the growing practice of recruitment marketing, because the hiring process is increasingly about developing and evolving talent pools and pipelines. The most successful companies have dedicated employer branding teams creating a compelling experience for potential employees, even when there isn’t a vacancy.

If the recruiting and onboarding is done correctly, the new hire will go almost seamlessly into a position with a full understanding of what their role is and what the expectations for them are – and they will have an opportunity to build relationships with their team and manager.

The employee experience is very much the differentiator in the competition for exceptional talent, “and the way that companies support people to grow and develop at their own pace, and pursue their own interests within an organisation, is very much what marks out a place where people want to work.”

Three things to discuss with your team:

  1. Look at how successful leaders attract, hire, and engage people in talent... because the series of events have altered substantially. It's a new talent journey, as opposed to a series of discrete events, and the organisations that craft a seamless employee experience are the ones who will succeed in the talent game.
  2. Move away from hiring checklists and stop hiring people based on their historical performance at another organisation – start looking at ways to identify candidate competencies and behaviours, and what they will be able to do within your organisation.
  3. Don’t necessarily rush to digitisation, and definitely don’t implement new tech without a conversation. Organisations need to understand that people don’t all adapt at the same pace (which isn’t necessarily due to age or generation), and acknowledge that implementing new technology is an organisational change that may cause disaffection.

If you like what you hear, subscribe via iTunes by clicking here and Google Play by clicking here. While you’re there, leave a review – we always love to hear from you!

And remember… Develop. Always.

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Resources:

Production & Development for Talent is Transforming by Podcast Masters

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