Busting Myths Around Talent

Am I the only one who is rolling their eyes when a leader says he or she can't find talent? I’m sick and tired of hearing how there’s no talent out there, while every day someone writes to me to tell me how challenging it is to find work.

Clearly there's a disconnect here.

Here’s what I’m hearing and seeing, in terms of finding and hiring talent.

Ghosting

This term refers to what happens after you’ve interviewed with a company (sometimes more than once) and the person who is supposed to get back to you goes dark. Follow up calls are never returned.

All you have to do is go onto Glassdoor, which many people do before applying for a job, and read about this phenomena, which appears to be gaining momentum.

If job seekers were complaining about ghosting at a company you were considering, would you apply? Most likely not, which may explain why many of you falsely believe there's no talent out there.

Ageism

It used to be you were considered over the hill at age 40. That number seems to be dropping.

You would think employers would find those with experience to be more valuable, not less. Alas, this doesn’t seem to be the case.

I encourage my clients to widen their nets, not pull them in when searching for talent.

Be open to the idea that your next hire may be slightly older or more experienced than the person you initially thought you might be hiring.

And remember, if you’re lucky enough to live that long, you too may one day be considered a has-been. With intention, we can change how mature workers are treated in the workplace.

Laziness

Posting jobs and doing nothing else is not a talent strategy. It's just plain lazy.

Currently, we're pretty much at full employment and have over 6 million job openings here in the U.S. The talent strategy you developed five years ago is no longer relevant.

Time and effort must be invested to develop an effective talent strategy for today’s challenging labor market. Here’s the good news.

You don’t need a year and dozens of meetings to set your plan. You can create a talent strategy in one day, which will free you up to implement your strategy.

There's no time like the present to set aside a day to create a recruitment and hiring strategy that will dramatically reduce the time and money you've been spending to hire talent. By doing so, you’ll be well-positioned to fill jobs more rapidly this year and beyond. Or, you can continue to post, "We're hiring!" all over LinkedIn and wonder why no one is knocking on your door. The choice is yours.

? Matuson Consulting, 2020.

I'm offering a handful of one-day Evergreen Talent strategy sessions this year. I'm only doing one a month. These are private sessions, where you and I will work side-by-side to create a customized talent strategy for your department or company. An option is also available for those wanting support during the implementation phase. Reserve your day by emailing me at [email protected].