There I was, with three key clients: Stephanie, Suzanne, and Lauren (not their real names). These senior HR leaders within Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical business and I were engulfed in a lively discussion about talent acquisition in the pharmaceutical industry.
We had just spent an hour talking about the key business priorities of one of our growing franchises and how to translate them into talent acquisition and development strategies.
“We need to look at China,” said Suzanne. “Yes, definitely,” echoed Stephanie. “We need to better understand the market dynamics of this growing economy and what it means for us in our ability to attract top scientists to Johnson & Johnson.”
“We also need to think about new Europe,” Suzanne said. “China? New Europe?” Lauren chimed in, “I’d just like to figure out California!”
The banter continued for a few minutes before Suzanne said, “We should hire a consultant to look at the market for scientific talent. Where it is, what they want, and how talent shifts across the globe can impact us.” “Excellent idea!” said Lauren.
They then turned to me and said, “Lisa, do you know of any consultants who can help us with this?”
It was a defining moment. “Of course I know consultants who can help with this,” I thought angrily to myself. “Our entire Sourcing organization is focused intently on not only becoming great miners and assessors of talent, but also in developing an acute knowledge of the business environments in which we compete for talent. Why don’t they know this?!”
Taking a moment to calm myself, I answered lightly, “Yes, I do.”
“Great!” said Lauren. “Would you work with the consultant to prepare an executive summary of key issues in the global talent market, with a particular focus on Asia, and present back to us in a few weeks?”
“I’m already on it,” I responded.
Pause.
For those who think this is an article about the global talent market or the dynamics of recruiting top pharmaceutical talent in Asia, sorry to disappoint. (I’ll write another column on that one day.) The point of today’s article is the key role that marketing the services, products, and capabilities of your internal talent acquisition team plays in ensuring your organization knows of, understands, and appreciates the value that you bring to the organization above and beyond the filling of empty seats.
In short, leaders of internal recruiting teams everywhere: blow your team’s own horn!
For those organizations with established internal recruiting or talent-acquisition functions (like we do at Johnson & Johnson), it’s easy to have a false sense of security that your organization knows what “horsepower is under the hood” when it comes to the knowledge, skills, and abilities of your internal recruiting engine.
The conversation above is one of many similar conversations I’ve had with clients across Johnson & Johnson over the last few years. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase “Recruiting does that?” when having discussions about what we focus our time and energy on in Johnson & Johnson Recruiting.
That insightful day, I went back to my office, rang two of my colleagues in Sourcing and asked for their help to collaborate on the research for and preparation of the executive summary for our clients.
Four weeks later, we presented “Global Workforce Deployment: Considerations and Trends: A White Paper on Shifting Talent Pools” to the leadership team, which helped contribute to one organization’s decision to accelerate its investment in an R&D presence in China. The research we did and compelling data we presented helped affirm the organization’s decision that building R&D capability in China was a top priority.
Shortly after that, I rang my colleague in Advertising to discuss a recruitment-branding initiative. “Let me guess,” said Ray, our account executive, trying to anticipate what was coming his way, “a new branding initiative targeting biostatisticians or PhDs?”
“Actually, we’re targeting Johnson & Johnson Recruiting,” I began. I think I took him somewhat off guard, but we talked for a long time.
Shortly thereafter, Johnson & Johnson Recruiting developed its first-ever explanation of the range of services we provide, the value we add to the recruiting process for candidates and hiring managers, and the impact of our work on helping deliver extraordinary talent to the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies.
We still have a ways to go, and the efforts need to be ongoing. However, my colleagues and I notice we’re getting the “I know this isn’t directly relating to filling positions, but can you help us with?” type of calls more often. We’ve yet to turn a client down.
Here’s the bottom line: We in recruiting need to continually market the range of our capabilities to clients, and talk beyond the simple filling of requisitions and requisite recruiting metrics.
There is one major caveat here. Be careful not to over-promise and under-deliver. Conduct a vigorous and honest assessment of your recruiting organization and its capabilities. Focus on highlighting those areas where you are strongest and most confident in the ability to consistently deliver high-quality service. Then, market them to all your clients and leaders.
At the same time, target those areas you want to develop capability in and focus intently on building it. Before you know it, you’ll have a lot more to talk about with clients.