Talent Mapping - The most efficient way to build your talent pipeline
With so many companies jumping on the mapping bandwagon, how do you ensure that your talent map is an effective one?
Talent mapping helps companies identify top candidates across the country to meet their future high-level skills needs. However with many companies jumping on the mapping bandwagon, how do you ensure that your talent map is an effective one?
Linda Carter, managing director at Cortez Executive Search, explains that talent mapping looks at how many people have the skills to fill a particular executive role, identifying who they are, where they are and what their backgrounds are. "It's a lengthy process, comprising extensive research, screening and interviews to identify a comprehensive list of suitable executives," she says.
Cortez, which operates as a high-level talent search partner, regularly carries out talent mapping exercises for major enterprises. These companies often want to identify candidates with scarce or specialised skills – in the mining engineering field, for example – or candidates from a specific demographic – such as up-and-coming black female executives with experience in the ICT sector.
A talent mapping exercise through a reputable partner benefits enterprises in many ways, says Carter. "It gives them an accurate picture of what skills are available in the market, so enabling proactive succession planning. It is also more cost-effective and efficient to recruit top talent from a talent map than to try to fill a post based on an advertisement." She explains that advertisements typically generate scores of unsuitable applications, whereas candidates recruited from a talent map have been selected and screened in advance and the cost of appointing one of these candidates is significantly lower.
South Africa's large enterprises are fast seeing the advantages of talent mapping, but with many agencies now offering this service, the advantages of one company over another may not appear clear-cut. Carter says the depth of the research and the experience of the consultants involved is key to effective talent mapping. With a team of researchers and consultants, Cortez spends several weeks per project, identifying potential candidates with the appropriate skills levels. They are then approached and screened telephonically, after which a short-list of candidates is interviewed. "It takes a great deal of effort and skill to successfully identify suitable candidates," says Carter, "because qualifications are not the only criteria. In many cases, the calibre and fit of the candidate are just as, even not more important."
Assessing a candidate's calibre accurately depends on years of experience in the field of executive placement. Carter says this hard-to-define ‘special something' about the ideal candidate might include factors such as longevity in a role, attitude, professionalism, presence, background and motivation. Surprisingly, the ideal candidate need not have years of tertiary education, she says. At a senior level, an ideal candidate typically has over 12 - 15 years' experience, has not changed jobs excessively, has made an impact in his or her roles, has strong family values, a balanced lifestyle, is well-read and a solid family infrastructure.
In addition to accurately mapping suitable future candidates, an agency should also have a good understanding of the client's corporate culture and executive needs and should be transparent in sharing intellectual property with the client. "It is important that there is a great deal of depth to the research, and the process should be thorough, tangible and transparent," says Carter.
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