600 things; 10 reasons to start thinking about talent mapping

As part of our 600 Interesting and Useful Things for Recruiters series Mark Arneill of Research Europe, shares 10 reasons to start thinking about talent mapping.

1. Become more targeted in your approach to recruiting – Understand who it is you want to attract and be far more direct in your approach, you can narrow down your long list and target specific individuals with the right skills and experience more efficiently.

2. So you think everyone you could ever possibly want to hire uses LinkedIn? Unfortunately that’s not the case. You need to look outside the boarders of social media and really unearth who’s visible within market and potentially right for your business. Online, candidates only publish exactly what they want to tell you about themselves, it’s not until you beginning mapping and understanding the wider business structure they operate within will you understand where they reside within the business and therefore their relative importance within their current organisation.

3. Make better decisions on talent requirements – Having the correct data and information enables you to make more informed decisions. Deciding who you really want to attract into the business quickly, increases your efficiency and helps to reduce time to hire.

4. Discover passive candidates – The very best candidates rarely actively pursue their next role. Individuals who hold senior positions tend to be well networked and receive regular calls from head hunters. They will decide when the time is right for them to move on their next challenge. But what if you have the role they’ve always wanted!

5. Find the best talent in competitor organisations – Housed within the walls of your competition is a wealth of talent and experience, but are they happy?! Would they like to join your team & make your organisation even more successful? But exactly who are they & how can you get them? Talent mapping provides these answers and head hunting allows you to acquire them.

6. Saves time & money – Possibly one of the most important benefits to any hiring manager is the opportunity to save both time & money during the recruitment process. Having efficiently identified exactly who’s in the market, you can rapidly move forward and engage with individuals, rather than posting jobs online or through social media and waiting days & weeks to see who responds & even then they may not be right for the role!

7. Provides an overview of the current talent pool – Gathering intelligence takes time not to mention a great deal of effort, which an often already stretched in-house talent acquisition team are unable to spare. Engaging in a mapping exercise allows you the comfort of knowing you will be provided with the latest candidate information and an overview of the current talent pool and possible future recruits.

8. Discover where skills gaps lie within your organisation – Mapping can also be carried out internally and benchmarked externally, providing you with an overview of potential future skills gaps in particular teams. This may lead to recruiting new team members or training existing staff with new skills.

9. Understanding talent from a global perspective – Senior staff have become more globally mobile than ever, with the rate of globalisation only increasing in pace it’s often important to find someone with the right local and cultural knowledge, who have the experience of living and working in multiple locations.

10. Enables you to begin building a talent pipeline – Identifying future talent gaps within your organisation means you can begin the recruitment process months in advance and work far more proactively rather than reacting to the demands of the job.