Often recruiters would send you a good CV, or a thoughtful applicant would send you their CV, thus creating the challenge of figuring out where to place them. It is hard enough to identify and assess current good talent in any business, as well as to elegantly manage the expectations of high-performers and managers’ staffing needs.

Talent management is the balancing act of ensuring you have the right people at the right time in the right roles with the right skills.

This is a tough act in normal situations (if that condition actually exists) but try walking the tight rope when the circus tent is being blown away in a tornado. Most organizations are in constant change, either as result of new strategies or structure changes.

Amidst all this “surround” change, you receive your unsolicited résumé of an experienced sales manager. The recruiter highlights current experience, as well as the need to interview the applicant.

You have a few choices – you put the résumé on your long list of “to do” items; you reluctantly agree to interview the applicant; or you prefer to wait until a vacancy is available.

Because of time pressures you decide to use phone screening. You discover the candidate has already left their current job, having been retrenched, keen to find another sales role. After your conversation you are still unclear as to where the candidate will fit. You diplomatically decline to agree to another interview.

Neither the recruiter nor the applicant was really able to give you a clear picture of the skills and potential talent the candidate would bring the business, as their focus was more on what the candidate has done, rather than what they can do for your business.

At the end of a long day you reflect on the balcony, looking at the bright city lights. Talent sourcing should not be a mystery!