Today, we’re talking about Talent Mapping, a strategic approach that aligns your recruitment with business goals and provides insights into competitors.
🎯 What will you learn by the end of this guide?
By the end of this lesson, you’ll understand:
- what talent mapping is
- why it’s crucial in recruitment
- a step-by-step guide on how to do it efficiently
- (Bonus: a free talent mapping template to get you started!)
🚗 Why is it important?
Imagine you’re on a road trip. You wouldn’t embark on a journey without a GPS or map to guide you, right?
Talent mapping acts as your recruitment GPS. In the complex landscape of talent acquisition, it’s your tool to navigate, anticipate roadblocks, and understand the terrain. Just as a GPS helps you find the fastest route, talent mapping ensures you locate and attract the best talent efficiently.
✅ What are the benefits of talent mapping:
- Make informed hiring decisions (Data talks, you know!)
- Identify and resolve roadblocks in hiring
- In other words, talent mapping can help you find talent based on what’s “out there” instead of relying solely on what the “ideal person” looks like – because they’re not always the same.
🔍 Here’s the Step-by-step Guide
We’ve created a Talent Mapping template to help illustrate the process (find the 🔗 below!)
1. Hypothesis Formation:
Define the challenge you are facing with the particular role you are hiring for.
Challenges could come in many forms but the common ones are niche skill set or years of experience not matching with the level.
2. Set Role Specifications
See our Definitive Guide on Intake Meetings & Job Intake Forms to find out more on how you can gain clarity on the role you’re hiring for!
3. Gather Data:
Use platforms like LinkedIn Talent Insights to understand your total addressable market (TAM) – talent that possess the skills/background you’re looking for.
If you’re looking for free platforms, consider leveraging Labour Statistics from government websites to get a pulse of the market.
This process could take less than 30 minutes or 10-15 hours depending on the scope of your search and the problem you’re looking to solve, but trust me – laying the groundwork saves you more time in the long run.
4. Analyze:
Now that you have the data, let’s analyze. Among the data points gathered, identify common trends and outliers.
Commonalities: e.g. skills and expertise that come from certain universities or have worked in specific industries.
Outliers: Maybe they’re called by a different job title that you haven’t tapped into before
Other data points you can extract:
- Previous roles and companies of your ideal candidates
- Typical career trajectories leading to this role
- How your offer stands against competitors based on salary, benefits, and role responsibilities
5. Devise sourcing strategies and solutions
Based on your findings you can set more realistic expectations:
- Are there other roles or industries where this skill set might be common?
- Could there be a new geography/location you can tap?
- Are there adjacent skills that could be easily trained?
- Does the current offer make sense?
6. Feedback & iteration
Review your intake form and see if the data aligns with your total addressable market. (Check out our definitive guide on intake forms here!)
Based on data, recommend if hiring managers need to:
- Adjust required qualifications or job description
- Adjust compensation or benefits.
- Consider transferable skills or different backgrounds
- Broaden or narrow your search
- Target specific companies or roles based on the data
- Revise the job description
📚 Further resources:
- 📝 Our Talent Mapping Template as mentioned above
- 📌 Talent Mapping: How to Build a Strong Sourcing Strategy (⭐ Our top choice!)
- 📌 Talent Mapping for Recruiters
👋 By understanding the vast talent landscape and navigating through it methodically, you’ll not only identify potential fits but also strategize more effectively for future roles. It’s actually less about searching and more about connecting: connecting roles to the right talent, current needs to future aspirations, and business goals to human potential. As you refine your talent mapping skills, remember that every insight, every data point, brings you closer to creating impactful, lasting professional relationships. Let talent mapping be your compass, guiding your recruitment towards excellence. 🧭
