More than ever before, successful talent acquisition is determined by the ability to cope with the new complex business and talent landscape. Due to increasing business market pressure caused by shortening of innovation cycles, constant reinvention of business models, and digitization, companies are struggling when it comes to hiring critical talent and acquiring new skills. Against the backdrop of an ever more complex talent landscape, talent acquisition has become a field that companies need to master to gain competitive advantage and outperform competition.
This landscape is highly disrupted due to demographic shifts and mobility within the global talent markets, new expectations of high-caliber talent, transformative technological developments, as well as the rise of freelancers/contractors engaged in project work for multiple organizations. In addition, the skills required across today’s organizations have shifted from traditional high performance in set roles to an emphasis on flexibility, innovation, and resilience in the face of disruptive change.
The confluence of new market realities poses a challenge for organizations to successfully acquire and retain the best talent. Talent acquisition leaders have used the past few years to move from basic recruiting (mainly administrative and operative focus) towards a more strategic talent acquisition function — building a highly complex, dynamic, and value-adding HR cornerstone. As large multinationals and technology companies take the lead in establishing strategic talent acquisition functions, there is a considerable spread of maturity levels across different market players.
To help companies stay ahead, Mercer has used extensive market research and project experience to develop a maturity model that describes the five levels that companies can grow along to remain effective and relevant in the talent acquisition landscape. It is built on a comprehensive Talent Acquisition Excellence Framework that reflects all aspects of talent acquisition excellence around the talent acquisition core process and is supported by Strategy, Enablers, Infrastructure, and Governance components. This framework helps organizations understand the varying degree of maturity they display and identify the elements they can leverage to move ahead on the maturity curve.
A leading global medical device manufacturer needed to determine whether sufficient talent was available to meet its business needs. Clustering analysis was used to identify the profile of employees who would be the most suitable and stable in the blue-collar role. Geospatial analysis then showed where to find high-potential talent in Singapore and how to bring in talent more effectively and efficiently. The insights led to a review of the talent acquisition process, opportunities for improvement, and inroads into a refresh of the talent acquisition engagement model.
Africa
