Talent Management Systems

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

Foreword ix

Talent Management as a System in the Organization x

The Systems Approach to Talent Management ix

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

What Makes Talent Management Possible? xiii

Introduction 1

Workforce Dynamics 1

The Talent Management Process 5

Trends 7

Risks 8

Chapter 1: The New Primacy of Talent 11

Impact on Organizations 13

The Talent Management Organization 16

Asset: A Valuable Item That Is Owned 18

But Can Talent Be Managed as a Resource? 20

The Talent Management Imperative: People and Technology 23

The Evolution of HR in the Organization 24

Demographic Uncertainties 25

Competition for Foreign Skilled Workers 30

Conclusions 34

Chapter 2: Best Practices in Technology-Enabled Talent Management 35

Online Recruiting and the Birth of Talent Management Systems 35

The World Wide Web 37

Talent Management Defined 38

Summary of Best Practices in Talent Management 39

Basic Best Practices 40

Advanced Best Practices 42

The Selection Process 47

Customer References 49

Vendor Visits 50

After Selection 51

Conclusions 52

Chapter 3: Corporate Career Site Best Practices 53

Branding 57

Utility and Information 61

Self-Selection, Screening and Sorting 63

Employee Testimonials 66

Intranet Career Sites 68

Candidate Experience, Diversity and Relationship Management 69

Viral Marketing 71

Specialized Recruitment Sub-Sites 72

Navigation and Ease of Use 75

Global Recruiting 77

Corporate Career Sites: A Final Note 77

Conclusions 81

Chapter 4: Talent Management Solutions: Overview 83

The Three Types of TMS Vendors 84

TMS: The Basics 88

The Supply Chain Analogy 91

Global-Ready TMS 97

Resume Processing 98

TMS and the Intranet 101

ROI 102

Conclusions 107

Chapter 5: Screening, Sorting and Ranking Applicants 109

Self-Selection through Online Job Advertising 112

Prescreening Questionnaires 115

Profiling Candidates’ Skills, Competencies, Education and Experience 117

Advanced Automated Screening and Sorting 117

“Off-the-Shelf” Skill Libraries 119

Assessments and Online Testing 120

Background Checking 123

Conclusions 125

Chapter 6: Searching and Candidate Sourcing 127

Candidate Mining on the Web 137

Automated Employee Referral Plans 141

Intranets 142

Conclusions 145

Chapter 7: Talent Relationship Management and Workforce Planning 147

Workforce Planning 154

Conclusions 162

Chapter 8: Legal, Ethical and Fairness Concerns in E-Recruitment 163

Choosing the Right Tests 164

Accessibility 166

Workers with Disabilities 167

Privacy 168

Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Talent Management Systems 170

Making It Easy 170

Select the Right TMS for the Job 171

Establishing EEO Capture in Your TMS Workflow 172

Conclusions 177

Chapter 9: Contingent, Contract, Temporary and Hourly Workers—Total Workforce Acquisition 179

Contingent Workforce Management Automation 180

The State of the VMS Industry 182

VMS Value 183

Specific VMS-Enabled Cost- and Time-Savings Potential 185

A Note of Caution 188

Management of the Process and Technology 189

Pricing Models 190

Other CWM Technologies and Tools 191

Staffing Exchanges 192

Professional Employment Organizations 193

Implications of CWM for Human Resource Professionals 195

Hourly and “High Volume” Workers 196

Integrated Contingent, Hourly and Permanent Workforce Acquisition 200

Conclusions 204

Chapter 10: Outsourcing 205

Offshore Outsourcing 215

The Disadvantages 217

Conclusions 218

Chapter 11: Usability, Implementation, Data Security and Reporting—Talent Management System Essentials 219

Ease of Use 219

Employee Portals/Self-Service 223

Configuration and Customization 227

Planning, Change Management and Implementation 229

Integration and Open Source Software 230

Application Service Providers 232

Security of Data 234

Reporting and Metrics 235

Customer Service and Technical Support 237

The TMS Team 238

Internal Resources 238

Choosing a TMS Vendor 240

Conclusions 243

Index 247

TALENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Talent builds world-class products and services, nurtures customer relationships, invents new processes and improves existing ones. Talent inspires, coaches, and leads. Talent builds an organization’s reputation, and over time companies of all stripes will or won’t become valuable because of their talent. To survive in the knowledge economy over the long term, organizations must become focused on managing talent as their most critical resource, and must turn to modern human resources technologies in order to manage their workforce as carefully as they would any physical asset.

Talent Management Systems explains the transformation Web-based technologies have brought to workforce acquisition and management. It examines proven and leading-edge best practices that can improve your organization’s ability to expertly attract, recruit, motivate, develop, and retain staff. And it reveals the tactics and strategies organizations can use to remain competitive in this arena, including:

• Online recruiting
• Building a career site on the corporate Intranet
• Specialized recruitment sites
• Automated screening, sorting, and ranking of candidates
• Building skill libraries and profiling competencies
• Online assessment and testing
• Selecting the right Talent Management System for the job, and choosing a TMS vendor
• Outsourcing
• Legal, ethical and fairness concerns in e-recruitment

No industry has made better use of Web technology than Human Resources, particularly in recruitment. Some of the Internet’s best known and most successful brands (for example, Monster^®, CareerBuilder^™, and HotJobs^®) are career sites used by millions of jobseekers and hundreds of thousands of employers. Most organizations also understand the advantages of operating a corporate career site and in building their employment brand.

However, despite this early and rapid adoption of technology by human resource professionals, most are just scratching the surface of what technology is available and how it can be used to give an organization competitive advantage. By mastering a talent management system, organizations can:

• Reduce their average time to hire
• Become more competitive employers
• Avoid the lost productivity and momentum that arises when a position lies vacant
• Build rapport, interest, and trust with individuals from the time they apply, throughout the hiring process, during their employment, and even after they leave the organization
• Manage all aspects of the “total” workforce—external candidates; salaried, hourly, and temporary employees; and even independent contractors.

Praise for Talent Management Systems

"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