The best way for recruiters to be ’strategic and know the business issues and goals of your organization’ is to work with senior management to define mission-critical positions and forecast needs for talent — i.e. How many of whom and when?

The best way to ‘focus on competencies and hiring manager requirements’ is to participate in ongoing job analysis processes — i.e. working with hiring managers, top performers and other appropriate resources to determine ‘what it takes’ to perform well in particular positions. O*NET templates certainly help, as references.

With a clear perspective on the job analyses for mission-critical positions, recruiters will (i) think more creatively about sourcing (Where else might I find essential talent?), (ii) better prioritize recruitments (mission-critical positions vs. slots that need filling), and (iii) perhaps even suggest modifications to the company’s ‘employment products’ (jobs), in order to improve access to essential talent under anticipated forward market conditions.

These suggestions above cover a just piece of the strategic hiring process (a subset of talent management). The five pillars of a sound strategic hiring process also include: (i) coordination across all organizational levels and functions (C-suite responsibility), (ii) the development and maintenance of effective talent pipeline processes (i.e. sourcing, selection, deployment, development, performance management, engagement, retention and succession) and (iii) a system of metrics that connects talent-related initiatives and decisions directly to business outcomes ? i.e. operational and financial results.

When it comes to successful implementation of an overall talent management program, the greatest freedom lies in how the company gets actionable information about the talent pool, applicants, candidates, employees, relationships, teams, workgroups, departments and the overall organization. Traditionally, resume reads, application reviews, interviews and performance appraisals have been the biggest source of information (and misinformation) for making human capital decisions. Today, those sources fall way short of best-in-class ? even when practiced with the greatest ability and care.

Next-in-class talent management solutions will increasingly rely on screening, assessment and simulation solutions, while interviews become much more highly structured in order to objectively address key elements of each job analysis.

As Kevin Wheeler put it, success will depend on ?relentless focus? on carefully selected ?projects based on experimentation and measurement?. If your company has not already started experimenting with (using) online screening/assessment tools and measuring the results (business outcomes) in order to upgrade selection processes, then you are missing the boat. The really good news here is that many of the best-in-class screening and assessment solutions save time and money and present no barriers to trial ? i.e. there?s no hardware or software to buy, learn or maintain; no contracts to sign; no special training required; no consulting experts to pay; and no organizational upheaval, whatsoever. Want more? Just ask.

Kind regards,