Talent Management Systems E-Book

Allan Schweyer

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 371

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Talent Management Systems addresses the transformation Web-based technologies have brought to workforce acquisition and management. It examines proven and leading-edge best practices, and what tactics and strategies organizations should employ to remain competitive in this arena. The book is part practical, offering advice on how to institute best practices in e-recruitment and talent management, and strategic, discussing trends and state of the art technology and practices that should be adopted or avoided.

"We're at the brink of the next global battle in the war for talent, and companies with a firm grasp on today's technologies, and the best view over the horizon, are positioned to win. No one understands the intersection of talent and technology better than Allan Schweyer and, as this book demonstrates, no one tells us the story as clearly as he. This is an essential read and an important work in the now-critical discipline of human capital management."
—Michael Foster, CEO, AIRS, and Author of Recruiting on the Web

"Allan Schweyer has been on the leading edge of recruitment technology since the dawn of the Internet. In many ways the Internet has created more confusion than solutions for the world of recruiting and talent management. It has certainly made things more complex. HR professionals and even company presidents have become desperate for clarity on the future of talent management-Allan Schweyer's book provides that clarity and establishes him as the authority on web-based hiring and talent management. No major implementation decision should be made without this invaluable guide."
—Graham Donald, President, Brainstorm Consulting

"Talent management has suddenly gone from being a nice idea to a core business function. No one knows more about this new function, and the technologies that make it possible, than Allan Schweyer."
—David Creelman, Senior Contributing Editor, HR.com, and Independent Human Capital Analyst

"Once again, Schweyer has produced the best writing in North America on this subject, which I've covered for fifteen years."
—Bill Kutik, Technology Columnist, Human Resource Executive

"As corporate executives quickly come to the shocking realization that the global workforce-and how that talent is managed and developed both locally and globally—will almost unilaterally determine their future success in global markets, few workforce experts have bothered to provide business leaders with a useful compass and map for the next chapter of workforce management. Mr. Schweyer generously and eloquently provides the talent compass and workforce map for the first pragmatic steps of the new global journey."
—John Chaisson, CEO, Global Workforce Solutions

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Foreword

Talent Management as a System in the Organization

The Systems Approach to Talent Management

The Talent Management System—Building Block of the Human Capital Asset

What Makes Talent Management Possible?

Introduction

Workforce Dynamics

The Talent Management Process

Trends

Risks

CHAPTER 1 - The New Primacy of Talent

Impact on Organizations

The Talent Management Organization

Asset: A Valuable Item That Is Owned

But Can Talent Be Managed as a Resource?

The Talent Management Imperative: People and Technology

The Evolution of HR in the Organization

Demographic Certainties

Competition for Foreign Skilled Workers

Conclusions

CHAPTER 2 - Best Practices in Technology-Enabled Talent Management

Online Recruiting and the Birth of Talent Management Systems

The World Wide Web

Talent Management Defined

Summary of Best Practices in Talent Management

The Selection Process

Customer References

Vendor Visits

After Selection

Conclusions

CHAPTER 3 - Corporate Career Site Best Practices

Branding

Utility and Information

Self-Selection, Screening and Sorting

Employee Testimonials

Intranet Career Sites

Candidate Experience, Diversity and Relationship Management

Viral Marketing

Specialized Recruitment Sub-Sites

Navigation and Ease of Use

Global Recruiting

Corporate Career Sites: A Final Note

Conclusions

CHAPTER 4 - Talent Management Solutions: Overview

The Three Types of TMS Vendors

TMS: The Basics

The Supply Chain Analogy

Global-Ready TMS

Resume Processing

TMS and the Intranet

ROI

Conclusions

CHAPTER 5 - Screening, Sorting and Ranking Applicants

Self-Selection through Online Job Advertising

Prescreening Questionnaires

Profiling Candidates’ Skills, Competencies, Education and Experience

Advanced Automated Screening and Sorting

“Off-the-Shelf” Skill Libraries

Assessments and Online Testing

Background Checking

Conclusions

CHAPTER 6 - Searching and Candidate Sourcing

Candidate Mining on the Web

Automated Employee Referral Plans

Intranets

Conclusions

CHAPTER 7 - Talent Relationship Management and Workforce Planning

Workforce Planning

Conclusions

CHAPTER 8 - Legal, Ethical and Fairness Concerns in E-Recruitment

Choosing the Right Tests

Accessibility

Workers with Disabilities

Privacy

Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Talent Management Systems

Making It Easy

Select the Right TMS for the Job

Establishing EEO Capture in Your TMS Workflow

Conclusions

CHAPTER 9 - Contingent, Contract, Temporary and Hourly Workers—Total Workforce Acquisition

Contingent Workforce Management Automation

The State of the VMS Industry

VMS Value

Specific VMS-Enabled Cost- and Time-Savings Potential

A Note of Caution

Management of the Process and Technology

Pricing Models

Other CWM Technologies and Tools

Staffing Exchanges

Professional Employment Organizations

Implications of CWM for Human Resource Professionals

Hourly and “High Volume” Workers

Integrated Contingent, Hourly and Permanent Workforce Acquisition.

Conclusions

CHAPTER 10 - Outsourcing

Offshore Outsourcing

The Disadvantages

Conclusions

CHAPTER 11 - Usability, Implementation, Data Security and Reporting—Talent ...

Ease of Use

Employee Portals/Self-Service

Configuration and Customization

Planning, Change Management and Implementation

Integration and Open Source Software

Application Service Providers

Security of Data

Reporting and Metrics

Customer Service and Technical Support

The TMS Team

Internal Resources

Choosing a TMS Vendor

CONCLUSIONS

INDEX

Copyright © 2004 by Allan Schweyer

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical—without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed in writing to The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.caor call toll free, 1-800-893-5777.

Care has been taken to trace ownership of copyright material contained in this book. The publishers will gladly receive any information that will enable them to rectify any reference or credit line in subsequent editions.

This publication contains opinions and ideas of the author. They are not presented to provide a basis of action for any particular circumstances without consideration by a competent professional. The author and publisher expressly disclaim any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, direct or indirect, of the use or application of the contents of this book.

National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Schweyer, Allan

Talent management systems : best practices in technology solutions for recruitment, retention and workforce planning / Allan Schweyer.

Includes index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-67544-1

1. Manpower planning--Computer network resources. 2. Employees--Recruiting--Computer network resources. I. Title.

HF5549.A27S38 2004

658.3’00285’4678

C2003-906700-9

Production Credits

Cover and interior design: Interrobang Graphic Design Inc. Printer: Tri-Graphic Printing

FOREWORD

The Role of Talent and Technology in the Organization

We live in an information economy powered by the human capacity to create value out of knowledge—an intangible asset that has come to be known as human capital. The only way to create human capital is to build and support a workforce. Every organization, large and small, has its unique workforce. At the heart of the workforce is the human capital engine, the manifestation of an organization’s talent management system.

When the human capital engine is in working order and tuned to its environment, the organization has the capacity to support growth, produce innovation and gain competitive advantage. Talent is the fuel of the human capital engine. As fuel, talent becomes a strategic natural resource. It must be in steady supply for the organization to grow and prosper. It must flow to the right places and at the right time. It must return on the investment that organizations put into it by producing innovation and competitive advantage. In the world today, organizations are at an intersection of three major forces—the Internet, the global organization and rapidly changing workforce demographics. Talent management involves managing the supply, demand and flow of talent through the human capital engine.

With effective talent management, the human capital engine can deliver the right talent at the right time. Without talent management, the organization puts productivity at risk…in a perfect position to run out of gas. Effective talent management increases the value of the enterprise, mitigates risk and fuels workforce productivity and innovation. It is impossible to separate these outcomes from the strategic success of any organization. For almost every organization, effective talent management is impossible in the absence of the right technologies.

Talent Management as a System in the Organization

Talent management as a systems concept had its beginnings in the late 1980s when client/server technology, optical character recognition software and equal employment opportunity (EEO) reporting made applicant tracking possible and necessary for most large corporations. It took off in the mid-1990s with the advent of the Internet, Web browsers and database technology. It went mainstream in the late ’90s with the explosion of online job boards, e-recruiting companies and corporate employment Web sites. Today, we see some form of technology-based talent management system in use throughout every one of the Global 2000 group of companies, whether simply posting requirements online or implementing multi-million-dollar enterprise software packages and formal talent management best practices.

In this book, the author aims to bring talent systems in organizations into better view and recommend methods and technologies to facilitate effective talent management. When the talent management system is working, individuals find career opportunities that meet their work/life balance needs, organizations increase in value and the economy improves around both the individual and the organization. When it is not working, there are unexpected layoffs, underemployment and career stagnation; the organization decreases in value and the economy around both the individual and organization suffers.

For all organizations, whether public or private—government, military or academic—talent management should be viewed as a strategic challenge, not a tactical problem.

The Systems Approach to Talent Management

Taking a systems approach to talent management makes it easier to conceptualize how the organization goes about creating demand, attracting jobseekers, producing candidates, filling jobs, deploying staff and developing human potential. This approach is far from new. From general systems theory1, we know that

• systems can be observed;

• systems are in a constant state of change, decay and renewal;

• systems tend to fail;

• systems produce unintended results;

• systems must interact, respond and depend on other systems to exist.

We also know that healthy systems produce innovation, improve productivity, shrink or scale depending on the demands being made of them, and increase in value over time. A systems approach to talent management requires a holistic and pragmatic mind-set. It is necessary to view the organization through the “eyes” of the system. In the systems definition of talent management this includes

• full-time employees, i.e., the direct workforce;

• the contingency workforce—temps, contractors, consultants and outsourced workers;

• the potential workforce—external jobseekers, candidates and applicants.

It is only by pulling in both contingent and potential talent that the complete talent management system and life cycle come into view. It is this view of talent as holistic, collaborative and flowing that makes the talent management system unique from other human capital management systems such as the human resource management system (HRMS) or payroll. Once this view is brought into focus, it becomes clear which best practices suggested in this book will be most useful to you and meaningful to the system.

The Talent Management System—Building Block of the Human Capital Asset

A systems approach to talent management begins by thinking of people as investments that add value, not as costs that shrink the income statement. This concept is based on the idea that if people are our number one asset, it should be true on the balance sheet as well. The talent management system is integral to increasing the value of human capital in the organization. Cost-based accounting does a poor job at valuing intangible assets. When the question becomes “what do we need to invest in a person to create the most value for the organization?” instead of “what did it cost to replace that skilled worker with a new hire?” the importance of the talent management system is easily recognized as an asset.

In the not-too-distant future, talent management systems (TMSs) will measure and define workers’ performance through a new generation of metrics designed to quantify intangible assets. The ability to measure these assets and create shareholder value forms the core of an effective TMS. In 1990, 50 percent of the value of U.S. corporations came from tangible assets such as factories and facilities and 50 percent came from intangible assets including patents, royalties and licensing agreements. During the irrational exuberance of the dot-com era, the value of intangible assets on the books of American corporations shot up to over 70 percent. Now, even after September 11, 2001, recession and the Iraq War, over 60 percent of the value in Fortune 1000 companies is still based in intangible assets.2 This number is rising as the U.S. moves increasingly towards an intellectual property (IP)-based economy.

In addition, outsourcing and globalization are dramatically and irreversibly changing the business models of most large organizations. This is creating the urgent need for a view of talent flow on a global basis. Organizations are coming to realize that it’s important to measure the contribution of all systems within the enterprise, including the TMS.

It is the human capital capacity of an organization that actually drives the growth and sustainability of other intellectual capital assets (ICAs), and it is the talent management system that fuels this capacity. ICAs include such things as intellectual property, customer capital and organizational capital. In this model, human capital becomes an investment and can be linked directly to the incremental value it bestows on the organization. A strong talent management systems approach aligns the interests of investors with those of management and of employees.

Talent management is just emerging as its own budget item. A groundswell of early adapters are becoming talent management organizations (TMOs), organizations that, among other things, can understand their talent management needs as far ahead as the next twenty years.

What Makes Talent Management Possible?

In a sentence, Web-based technology is what shapes the talent management system. It is the combination of browsers, search engines, e-mail and database technology that allows talent management data3 to be gathered, analyzed and measured. Technology gives us the ability to peel back the onion of our organizations and uncover the underlying talent systems in operation. It makes possible the gathering of data, the processing of transactions and the analysis of mass quantities of information. For example, organizations are now able to create private talent databases (searchable repositories of candidate records) using sophisticated extraction and database technology to mine information from resumes and job requirements. They are combining this information with other data to create candidate and workforce profiles. This data can be used to measure the depth of talent in a particular demographic region, for example, or to match staff and external candidates to the right assignments at the right time, in order to align the workforce with the objectives of the business.

Talent as an intangible asset can be viewed like an inventory—an inventory to be acquired, qualified and made available. Workforce planning technology can tell us when we’ll need critical talent resources in place, how much of an investment we’ll have to make to get the talent productive and even where the talent is most likely to physically reside.

From a technology perspective, 80 percent of the business requirements for a talent management system are the same regardless of the size of the organization. The 20 percent of the business requirements unique in each organization center around scalability—the volume of demand and capacity the organization needs to differentiate itself among its competitors.

Talent management strategy has to be in alignment with business goals, not with software standards. Technology is an integral part of talent management, but in talent management the technology should be transparent to the user. The talent management approach is designed to optimize the people and process components of the system, while technology delivers business intelligence, processes transactions and serves up content and information.

The importance of having a holistic view of the TMS cannot be overstated, especially if you are going to invest the time and money necessary to implement the talent management best practices described in this book. Conceptual models should be used to help create a shared vision of talent management. Once there is a shared vision, people can agree on a comprehensive approach, share responsibility for the different elements of the system and use a common language to discuss the different choices that have to be made. Best practices will help bridge the gaps and fill in the blanks.

Talent management is the number one ingredient of organizational success, more than money, market share, or the track record of the management team. The value of an enterprise is directly related to its success in talent management and the growth of human capital as an asset. The more that organizations pay attention to the strategic importance of managing how the right talent flows through their company, the better off our entire society will be. In fact, the entire world would be a better place if more people found the right jobs—jobs that allow them to exploit their best talent willingly—through a highly symbiotic relationship with their employer or clients, and the economy in general.

It is impossible to argue against the idea that if more people were able to make a living best suited to their own unique talents, the world would turn a little bit easier. Talent management is a worthy goal for any organization. It puts the right person in the right job at the right time, and it also attracts growth and builds opportunity. However, superior talent management not only produces the right talent at the right time for the organization, it also sparks innovation and spawns new industries, and creates brighter futures and sustainable improvements in the standard of living for everyone in the organization.

This book contains strategic, practical and proven best practices for designing, implementing and optimizing complex Web-based talent management systems at the organizational level. Many of the approaches and strategies suggested are basic requirements for organizations of almost every size and type. Others represent leading-edge strategies that will provide early adopters with a head start in the quest for competitiveness through exemplary talent management.

Connie Pascal

Principal, The Talent Market Group

Introduction

There has been a marked evolution in the critical factors that enable organizations to compete—from factories, equipment, land and capital since before the industrial revolution, to ideas, creativity, problem solving and innovation today. From things to people and from fixed assets to mobile assets.

In the July 2003 edition of Harvard Business Review, business professors Roger Martin and Mihnea Moldoveanu state: “In our knowledge-based economy, value is the product of knowledge and information. Companies cannot generate profits without the ideas, skills, and talent of knowledge workers, and they have to bet on people—not technologies, not factories, and certainly not capital.”4 To survive in the knowledge economy over the long term, organizations must become focused on and capable of managing employees as their most critical resource.