Applying “best practices” in talent management may not be the holy grail of recruitment. Each business, organization or company has its own ins and outs. However, it may be helpful to look at what others have done and what has worked for them. Especially if you don’t follow a by-the-book approach but, instead, combine best practices with innovative thinking.
The no one-size-fits-all approach becomes clearer if you think of companies that trade in different industries. At least, when it comes to best practices for effective talent management. Or companies that have sort of contradictory objectives in the way they manage their human capital, for that matter. Take, for example, the needs of a company that focuses on large-volume hiring. Consider the way it’ll choose to deal with talent acquisition and onboarding.
Running multiple rounds of interviews is probably a well-chosen approach for a company that follows a regular recruitment process. But, not a wise one for the former one. Even so, both companies may need to have clear employer branding, as we’ll be explaining below. So, keep reading.
4 best practices in talent management to have in mind
In what follows we’ll give you an overview of four prominent best practices you may apply in your talent management process. That is, regardless of the size of your organization. By doing so, you’ll hopefully manage to set the ground for short-term and long-term improvements at different stages of your talent management cycle. That is, from talent attraction and talent acquisition, to employee development and promotion planning.
1. Create clearly-defined success profiles
Create competency models. Not only for the key roles in your organization, but for all job positions at all organizational levels. These success profiles will help drive forward not only talent attraction and talent acquisition. But, talent development and talent management, as a whole. Make sure competences are aligned to your company’s mission, vision and strategy at hand.
2. Measure, measure, measure
You can’t manage what you can’t measure; no doubt about it. That’s why using effective measurements to quantify what’s working, what’s in stalemate and what needs a triggering event to get back on track is of paramount importance to yielding effective results. Same is true for talent management, where auditing the current workforce makes a difference in the long run.
Workforce auditing may involve data, such as employee demographics, performance reviews, customer feedback and so forth. Collecting, analyzing and translating human resources data into actionable insights that would, then, be properly tested, would actually help make the decision-making process much more efficient. That is, regardless of whether decision-making refers to employee mobility, promotion planning, employee development or any other substantial component of the talent management cycle.
3. Forge an inspiring and truth-telling unique employee value proposition
Your company’s unique value proposition describes the reasons why your customers should pay for your product — or service — over your competitors’. It’s this message of yours that helps — at best — increase your company’s revenues.
An equivalent term, in the area of talent management, is the unique employee value proposition. In this type of message you’d summarize the benefits your employees receive, by working at your company. A successful EVP — for short — lies at the intersection of the things your internal talent values most and what your company actually offers. Taking the time to unearth what makes your employees stay with you and give their best is critical for employee commitment and retention. And, most of the time, this might be beyond benefits and wages, or management practices and cultivated culture.
4. Focus on forging a strong and engaging employer brand
In order to attract and hire talent easily, people should be able to naturally link your EVP to employer branding. And, by employer branding, we mean the different ways you’ll use to market your EVP to the world. To get your potential employees’ attention, you’ll need to be as transparent as possible. That is, with respect to your culture, the development opportunities you offer and other aspects of your organization.
Your message should be authentic and consistent on your website. And in other communication channels you’ll potentially leverage for that purpose, as well. An effective employer brand will not only help lure top talent. But will also keep employees, later on, from jumping ship and landing a new position elsewhere.
Summing it up
Following the best practices, together with innovative thinking, helps achieving positive business outcomes; at least, in terms of talent management. By creating success profiles for different roles and careers, you can then use them to prepare your new hires for their roles in the future.
Using HR analytics, you can identify skill set gaps, to make strategic decisions regarding talent development. In a similar fashion, forging a unique employee value proposition helps strengthen your company’s internal impact and increase retention. And, finally, effective employer branding gives your potential employees the insights they need about your company.