Talent mapping is an integral part of the hiring process. It’s necessary to evaluate and seek out the most suitable candidates for specific roles that are often hard to find. At its core, talent mapping helps you to identify talented individuals in your market, allowing you to effectively plan the recruitment of the right people that will make a positive impact on your teams and organisation.
If you’re seeking to grow your business or improve your talent management strategy, this guide shares everything you need to know about talent mapping and why your business needs it. Let’s get started...
What is talent mapping?
Talent mapping is a strategic service used by executive search firms to support talent attraction and seek out more accurately the right candidates to fill senior-level or specialised positions. This process enables business leaders to identify suitable potential candidates for the future, by analysing their skills and experience and mapping these to the business’s own short, medium and long-term goals as an employer.
Why is talent mapping important?
Talent mapping is an important tool that can shape your recruitment strategy. It helps you to take the guesswork out of your targeting efforts by mapping talent pools and identifying where the candidates you require can be found. A talent mapping report can help you build a solid understanding of the resources, skills and qualifications within a talent pool to make the right hiring decisions or prepare you for a future hire.
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Talent mapping: what information is gathered?
Talent mapping involves identifying the capabilities and experience of your potential employees. It gives you a solid awareness of the market and competitors, where passive candidates lie. It’s a more accurate approach to evaluating how skilled a potential candidate is than going off a ‘gut’ feel. Let’s take a look at the information talent mapping gathers:
Job title
Determine which prospects fit your specialist roles by uncovering candidate job titles and their current roles. A job title can help you to better understand what seniority the potential candidate holds, especially when targeting passive candidates from another company.
Skills
Talent mapping can help you assess the skills of professionals and identify the strongest potential candidates - talented individuals who are more likely to succeed upon hiring.
Company
Identify where and who your potential candidates currently work for. Talent mapping can provide information on the different types of companies and sectors these candidates operate in.
Experience and career to date
Experience is one of the most important factors when hiring, and it’s an essential piece of information to gather during talent mapping projects. Mapping can allow you to view a prospect's career progression to date in a succinct format and to compare that to others on the same map.
How does talent mapping support your wider recruitment strategy?
Talent mapping can act as competitive intelligence to give you an overview of the talent pools in your market. It can be used as a benchmarking tool to keep your recruitment strategy competitive, evaluate the actions of your competitors, foresee and predict talent shortages, and spot trends in your field.
1. You’ll form a better understanding of the talent pools in your market
Talent mapping allows you to identify candidates that are not currently being considered for a role (not applicants) but are potential targets you’ll want to keep an eye on for the future. Bringing all of this data together into talent pools makes it easy for everyone to see the status of the candidates that you're speaking to, and where they are in your process.
- At Carrot Executive, our talent mapping projects allow you to better understand what talent pools are out there in your market, specifically the levels of supply and demand for particular types of talent, information on whom they work for, what they do and where they are located.
2. You’ll uncover themes within talent profiles
You can reveal talent profiles that empower key resourcing decisions. You can discover themes among your potential candidates such as their work experience, educational backgrounds, managerial skills, past employment, average tenure and likely mobility.
3. You’ll identify trends in your field
You’ll be able to investigate and detect emerging trends in your field that will help you to enhance the expectations of the recruitment experience. Identify which channels offer the best route to candidates and gain a competitive advantage.
4. You’ll uncover opportunities for internal hires
You’ll be able to record the capabilities and experience of your employees to make informed talent decisions. Under the right circumstances, it can make sense to shift or promote employees within your teams who have proven experience to fulfil more senior roles. Additionally, an internal move is cost-effective, will strengthen employee engagement, and reduce time to hire.
5. You’ll make it possible to attract the strongest talent
You can use talent mapping to win over the next generation of leaders. Data can help you develop a recruiting strategy that appeals to the highest talented candidates and increases their chances of applying to work with your company.
Why your business needs talent mapping
In today’s environment, the right hire can make or break an organisation. Hiring managers are under increasing pressure to recruit the most talented candidates, with diverse backgrounds, qualifications and experiences. That’s why it’s never been more important to map out the external talent and analyse your options in a highly competitive market.
If your organisation is preparing to hire, or has plans for a future hire, talent mapping can support your search process and widen the choice of highly skilled candidates to fill your roles.
A final thought
Talent mapping offers incredible insight into potential candidates and has become an essential tool to implement in your recruitment strategy. There’s no doubt that talent mapping is an effective way to gain visibility on the type of talent available and most suited to your roles.
Want help finding the perfect candidate? Carrot Executive can help. Our executive search solutions and talent mapping projects make it easier for you to secure crucial insight and attract high-calibre candidates to your organisation. Get in touch today and see how we can help you.
Carrot Executive
Carrot Executive work in partnership with a large number of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences companies and consultancies, supporting with a range of executive search and bespoke insights projects to support clients in their strategic decision making in relation to talent attraction and retention, market penetration and competitor benchmarking.
For more information, please contact Martin Anderson via martin@carrotpharma.co.uk, call +44 (0)1625 541 032 or use the 'schedule a call' link below:
