TeamBuilder Search, a professional staffing, team building and recruiting agency, delivers tips, advice and guidance in digital marketing careers, digital transformation careers and emerging tech careers.
The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
– Stephen Covey.
Wow, did Mr. Covey nail that one! This tension is a universal struggle when running a business. Isn’t it difficult to just get the bare essentials done in order to keep the doors open? Don’t we often end up prioritizing the urgent events and tasks that keep the machine rolling, and forget to consciously schedule our priorities? For most of us, talent forecasting is one of those very important priorities that gets put on hold because more urgent, short-term activities seem to outweigh its importance. The reality for most businesses, is that new hires are actually reactions to events or tasks, and not strategically prioritized and planned.
Yes, we know… It is really hard to plan too far into the future, especially in today’s super-fast, ever-changing economy. However, the best companies view talent forecasting as a strategic competitive advantage, and work hard to do it regularly. We want to help you get that advantage by helping you understand why and how to do this.
Talent Forecasting
Talent forecasting is simply anticipating the need for talent in the future, and developing a plan to secure that talent—separating you from the competition.
Let’s get going with three main beliefs that will jumpstart you in this area.
- Things have changed!
In the not-so-distant past, companies could anticipate needs many years in advance and then hire people, right out of college, into development programs. Also, not long ago, employees stayed with companies for much longer periods of time. (We all know someone who retired after 20 or 30 years at the same place.) This is not the case anymore. In our experience, we are seeing that today’s younger workforce is staying around for a whopping two or three years. Times have changed, indeed.
- Today’s Marketplace is volatile, dynamic and fast moving!
Not only do employees job-hop frequently, but the need for specialization has grown. The web, which has only had a public face for less than 10,000 days, has dramatically impacted daily life. The need for talent to support companies that are working in the web space is growing dramatically. Top talent is in short supply in many areas, and in the realm of digital marketing and emerging technology, where our company is focused, this is most definitely the case.
- You can separate yourself!
Currently, two out of three companies have no structured talent forecasting processes. The businesses that want a strategic advantage simply have to find a way to implement a consistent method for talent forecasting. As the web continues to change our lives, the talent-war over people who help businesses and consumers leverage the web will continue to escalate. It takes a bit of foresight to realize this, but the cold hard truth is that companies caught unprepared will struggle and ultimately cease to exist. Without solid talent forecasting, a company will be unable to compete. That’s the bad news. The good news is, if you get this right, there’s a two-thirds chance you will dominate your competitors!
Hopefully, these three reasons have convinced you to get started. Now, you just need a practical tool to get you off the bench and into the game. Simply take a moment to give us some of your info, and we’ll send you a link to download a PDF of two awesome tools: 11 Critical Talent Forecasting Questions and Talent Forecasting Worksheets.
Let us know how it goes!
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