Unwrapping Talent: Hire the Talent of Tomorrow

It has been a few weeks of hectic talent work here at GroupM with our Speed Mentoring and Fireside Chats with the UK Collaboration team, so this is the first time I have had a moment to get back in to the mindset of putting words from my brain on to the page regarding "Unwrapping Talent". Those who have read the last two pieces will be aware that there is no real sequence or method to my madness but more of a passion for finding, attracting and engaging with people.

In our UK Talent and Development team we are lucky to be surrounded by experience, leadership and passion from a multitude of environments and industries. Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of talk about the future of talent. By this I do not only mean the future of the role of talent professionals, but the future of all talent. (If you are interested in insights on how some of our team feel AI and automation will impact our industry specifically I would recommend reading Jen’s article here)

With companies like Dell Technologies predicting that up to “85 per cent of jobs in 2030 haven’t been invented yet” and other sources highlighting the constant and continuing change of the working environment and mindset of our people I think it is extremely important that we are not just hiring for now but for tomorrow.

“That’s great, but I needed someone to fill the gap yesterday!?” is the usual rebuttal we hear in talent from our managers. This is a totally understandable response and reaction but we know that the both are not mutually exclusive. How do you hire for yesterday, today and tomorrow?

1)     Hire for values

What are your company’s values? Are they important to you? To me, these values should underpin everyone you hire. In GroupM, our specific values are Collaboration, Visionary Leadership and Inventiveness. As a parent company of, award winning and industry leading, media agencies it is vitally important that when we hire, our people can embody these values. The core reason for this being that, our agencies and, by proxy, their clients will rely on these every day. To stay ahead of our competition, we are expected to work effectively and efficiently together, creating better ways to work under the tutelage of inspiring leaders. 

If we keep hiring the same people and headhunting skillsets from our competition, all that we get is the same faces in different places. Is it better to hire someone who will love their job every day and be inspired to be the best version of themselves, but who needs training; or, to hire someone who will come to work because we pay them more than they got off X agency? 

2)     Remember “change is the only constant” 

Over the course of the last few years we have seen a boom of the “gig economy” where more and more people value the flexibility and convenience of a role that they have autonomy over. A role where they can really shape what their days, weeks and months look like. Sometimes this can be to supplement their “regular” role. 

We will need to compete with this flexibility and agility or we will go the same way as a lot of high street retailers who failed to react to business changes with business like EBay, Amazon and the rise of e-commerce. If we continue to wait for people to look into our shop window, wishing that they could buy what we have, we will soon be out of business. We must proactively create excitement, inspiration and a desire to join our journey and then continuously innovate at pace. How else would we keep this talent engaged?  

3)     Hire for passion and motivations

It is a corny line, but just because it is corny and rolled out by every talent professional does not invalidate its legitimacy: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”. If this is the ethos behind someone seeking their next role then surely as a business, to keep our people, to create that excitement, inspiration and desire we need to flip this on its head.

Be the business they will love and create the environment that will inspire their best work. I can honestly say that I have a passion for what I do and I know that makes me an extremely lucky person. Some people work for different motivations - money, financial security, holidays etc. Whatever your people’s passions are put yourself in the driving seat by making the journey as enjoyable as the destination. They are financially motivated? Look at performance related bonuses. They love holidays and travelling? Look at agile working, if you are a global company create a work exchange programme or look at holiday allowances. Expecting parents or main care givers? What do you have in place to support? 

Are you competitive in your industry? Because If you do not inspire and motivate your people, someone else surely will!     

    4)     Inspire a lifelong love of learning

  To call back to Dell Technologies (and numerous other) reports on the percentage of roles not yet invented (I’ve seen as high as 95% of skills in demand in 5 years’ time do not exist yet) it is import for our business to understand at the earliest stage that the role we are recruiting may not exist in its current guise in the near future. So, our prospective hire will, as the military say, need to “adapt and overcome”.

With companies like Amazon investing in its employees to re-train in other areas, sometimes, even outside the remit of the business, it is important that our people can be inspired to continue to learn and adapt. This lifelong learning mentality is something we invest in heavily in GroupM and our agencies. With our GroupM University and some of our agencies giving a flex fund (an allotted amount of money to spend on anything they think will develop them professionally or personally) we truly understand the impact learning has, and will continue to have in the shaping of the talent of the future. 

Our Head of Talent and Development in the UK, Emy constantly reminds our business that gone are the days when you joined a company in one role and stayed siloed for your entire career. We are not on the “corporate ladder” model anymore, but are more aligned to that of a cell based organism that grows out to expand our influence in and of the businesses we work with. We can be expected to be everything to everyone. A scary thought if you are not passionate and trained in what you do.

5)     Invite diversity and embrace inclusion           

A great quote I heard at a recent IAA Unconscious Bias session hosted by Alex Altman at Wavemaker said “Diversity is inviting everyone to the party, Inclusion is ensuring that everyone wants to stay.” If we are looking at our last 4 points, (Hire for values, Remember “change is the only constant”, Hire for passion, Inspire a lifelong love of learning) I think we need to ensure that we are truly “inviting everyone to the party”.

Do not mistake my meaning, we are not inviting everyone to the party to look good or to tick boxes. Like always, we will be hiring and engaging with the best and brightest in the landscape by removing any obstacles that some may otherwise face. Our processes will become more equitable and tailored to catch brilliant talent regardless of backgrounds ensuring that All Means All. This is the right thing to do. If you can’t be swayed by the "right thing" remember that there is a lot of evidence to highlight that diverse companies perform better.

Hopefully, if we take these steps we will see a step in the right direction of attracting and engaging talent and a step away from the transactional, conveyer belt type recruitment that we are sometimes guilty of. In short all I am asking for us to do is to match the pace of change being set and not be left behind like Blockbuster. So, are you ready to set the pace for finding the talent of tomorrow?

As always, the opinions expressed are my own and the ideas are a mix of reading research and seeing positive impacts in some of these area. I am always happy to discuss in the comments section.

#Talent #Development #Interviewing #FutureofTalent #Inclusion #Diversity #Passion