Talent – threats and opportunities
Competition for critical human resources is intensifying, and regional competition is hotter than ever. Human capital management (HCM) is a crucial part of the process of human resource management, but companies using HCM purely as a software tool to manage workforce are missing out on the wider facility to identify potential threats and possible opportunities within a global, mobile workforce that is increasingly self-entrepreneurial.
A growing concept in talent selection is the pipeline process. Whilst it begins with talent identification, this process has as an end-point successful organisation, mobilisation and retention of key talent, regardless of the entry point to the organisation. Pipeline processes are based on identified current need and scenarios around future need.
Standing tall in talent acquisition
This process can be described as business agility – it uses potential threats to drive leadership development and workforce re-engagement inside the organisation and to focus on talent development and acquisition outside it. Social media and even international broadcast media give an increasing opportunity for the best companies to demonstrate their capacity to deliver timely, responsive and attractive solutions to regional difficulties.
Social media tools, in this way, become part of the portfolio of human resource managers – LinkedIn is not just a place to trawl for talent, but a desktop extension of the company’s outreach programme, giving opportunities to communicate, select and implement decisions both inside and outside the organisation. Such tools also ensure that compliance is based on values, rather than tick boxes, and allows the compliance process to be sold as a company advantage, rather than a mundane audit activity.
This broadly compliance based approach to engagement is often best viewed as a way of adapting global policies to regional variation, and offers two advantages:
- A recruitment story that is compelling to the best talent – by highlighting the evidence of equitable regional arrangements based on global policies
- Ability to regionalise talent flexibility across territory – reducing the need to engage in individual negotiation/renegotiation in fast moving environments.
Ultimately, response is in the process: what has changed in the ways organisations in Africa select their talent? What is new? Who is paving the way?
With 100 of Africa’s top HR professionals in attendance and key speakers from some of the continent’s biggest brands, Recruiting Excellence for Africa is a must attend event shaping and investigating the recruitment process in top African businesses. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to participate in some of the most cutting edge discussions revolving around the HR industry.
To find out more please visit our Talent Agenda 2014 Johannesburg website.