When we speak of talent in the business sphere, what exactly are we referring to? Are we referencing the people that we bring in to perform the work for us or the individual skills that we possess within our teams? Are we talking about skills that are used in the workplace or skills outside of it? In this short piece, we’ll take a look at what talent means in business, ensuring that you’re able to understand some of the processes by which you’ll find, secure, and work with the best talent in the industry for many years to come.
Talent in People
Essentially, in business, talent is people. When we refer to talent, it’s usually in the context of the people we want to hire – bringing in new skills, experience, and knowhow into a growing organization. You’ll hear this term used especially in your HR team, who might be looking for talent in:
- Business management
- Financial modelling
- Marketing acumen
- Customer service
These skills will be what your HR team looks out for when they create job advertisements and begin the process of hiring new individuals to plug skills gaps that are emerging in your business. As your business grows, you’ll naturally be looking for more talent to fill vacancies that are created within your team. This is one of the primary responsibilities of your HR department.
Spotting Talent
There are two different ways of spotting talent when you’re looking to bring new skills into your business. The first is to look for professionals who are looking for jobs. You’ll ask them to submit a resume and a cover letter detailing their interest in the job advertised, and you may interview them, or set them tasks, in order to ascertain whether they’re the right fit for your business. This is the typical hiring process to find new talent for an organization.
The second talent-spotting method involves looking at your competitors, and at other organizations that you’re impressed by, and contacting some of their employees with an offer of a job at your enterprise. This is a form of cherry-picking which companies perform for high-level jobs all of the time. You’ll use this talent-spotting method to tempt impressive professionals into your business.
Boosting Talent
HR teams are generally set up to ensure that your whole enterprise is working effectively, with the human resources within your business working in harmony, and to the best of their abilities, each week. To enforce this, you may find that top-level HR systems and software can help you monitor how your staff is performing – giving you insights into your most talented workers.
Meanwhile, though, you’ll also find that some staff is not using their talent to the best of their abilities. This might be because they’re undertrained, your onboarding system has left them confused, or they are struggling to apply their skills in the role you’ve designated for them. It’s the responsibility of an HR team to train and reallocate human resources based on where their talent will shine through the most.
This article aims to show you how to approach the question of talent within your business, helping you to build a better, more productive team for the future.
