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So much convoluted business jargon is thrown around that it can make you dizzy. These sorts of terms almost seem to be purposely vague or overcomplicated. You’d need a new dictionary published daily to keep up with all of the acronyms and insider language.
That’s not the case with Talent Clouds – a concept as simple as it sounds. Today, your business can leverage a pre-qualified bank of strong job candidates as easily as shopping online. Except for the fact that the professionals you’re shopping for have the power to decide which stores can offer their wares.
By working with an online talent source who’s focused solely on vetting and sharing qualified applicants, companies like yours can find the pros they need in far less time. Inefficiencies and bandwidth limitations exist both with large-volume internal hiring efforts and when using traditional recruiting firms. This is particularly true when it comes to highly specialized niche professions.
As the worker shortage continues to plague hiring managers, companies are spending more time and money to keep up. These efforts include advertising on job boards, online headhunting and endless labor hours. We’ve all found ourselves trolling LinkedIn in a borderline creepy fit of desperation. Anything to track down a viable candidate.
Until recently, the alternative to using traditional recruiters has been to simply accept the limitations of local talent and the standard freelance options available. Now, the ability to take advantage of a Talent Cloud brings many benefits:
Using these carefully curated talent platforms, you can sort through hundreds of candidates within minutes and connect with a small handful of potential hires who fit the roles you need to fill. Go ahead and name your parameters – you want all left-handers? Have at it.
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A perfect storm of factors has led to the almost inevitable emergence of the Talent Cloud approach. Just in case you haven’t seen the news lately, employees have turned the tables in terms of the power dynamic. Even with the recent layoffs in the tech sector, the workforce has more control over its destiny than ever before.
As a result of the pandemic, employees have proven that they can adjust quickly to remote working processes and still be highly successful. That has opened up many organizations to the idea of seeking talent anywhere in the world, versus being tied to candidates in a certain geographical area. Major advancements in communication and enterprise management technologies have enabled this seamless transition.
Then there’s the specific desires of Gen-Z, who will make up 27% of the workforce by 2025. It’s no secret that these workers expect to have more control over their lives, and they are not shy about letting employers know it. They will continue to buck tradition and push for modern thinking in how their jobs are structured. Whoever can reach them, on their terms, will have an edge in supplying businesses with a constant pipeline of talent.
Finally, your HR team may be hiring for many types of roles, requiring them to know a little bit about a lot of professions. But certain hard-to-fill positions have subtle nuances that demand an investment of time to understand and a level of experience that you may not have internally.
As expected, jobs in tech make up a large percentage of roles being filled via Talent Clouds. More fields are starting to emerge, however, including roles in areas like customer service. This is one great example of a skill that is in high demand, in large numbers, and requires a unique skill set. The ability to source strong customer service reps quickly and reliably is a game-changer for many organizations.
Every online service – from project management software to those food subscription boxes -- has its hits and misses. Recruiting is no different, with some companies having quickly mastered the art and science of a robust Talent Cloud offering, and others that have simply thrown together a reasonable facsimile.
Some people may suggest building your own Talent Cloud. But that still leaves the burden on your team to identify and vet candidates. Outsourcing isn’t always the answer, of course. But recruiting is one area that has been virtually begging for a third-party solution. (Bonus points for getting this far before using the word “solution”?).
So, what should you be looking for to land upon the right Talent Cloud option for your business? Questions to ask yourselves include: How targeted are they? Is this a jack-of-all-trades talent pool or one that is geared toward your area of focus?
Is this Talent Cloud deep enough to support your needs? Assuming you need a steady stream of candidates, you want to make sure the platform can accommodate the numbers you require. In addition to the quality and quantity of potential applicants, you have to look at logistics as well. How seamless and user-friendly is the platform?
Ideally, you should do a pilot program with your Talent Cloud of choice on a few job roles. This dry run will help you to make sure they are delivering the well vetted talent your enterprise demands. Once you find a provider that is a strong fit, you will likely find yourselves leaning more and more heavily into their capabilities as you go forward.
Chances are, you’ll quickly begin to appreciate the time you regain by reducing your efforts in recruiting – and re-recruiting, and re-re-recruiting. You get it.
According to a Glassdoor study, the average cost of hiring an employee is about $4,000. When you do the math on the exponential number of positions you require, those costs add up quickly.
That’s not to mention the inherent value of lining up experienced, skilled employees who will represent your company well, versus merely checking the box by adding bodies to the roster.
With a Talent Cloud, your team can simply go online to a trusted source and select the best available candidates to help your tech team or customer service flourish. It’s time to make the transition, and it’s never been easier. Best of all, you don’t even have to learn some fancy new word.
To learn more about using a Talent Cloud to recruit customer service reps, pay a visit to CXninja. Get Ninjas.
