There are so many aspects of recruitment these days that it’s hard to keep up with exactly what’s going on. From diversity to culture fit, there seems to be a new point of focus for the industry with each passing month. However, there’s one process that we feel doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, and that process is talent mapping.

What is Talent Mapping?

Talent mapping is the process of identifying individuals and the skills they possess by certain parameters. They could be categorized by the company they work for, the position they hold, or the department they work in. This information is then used to match individuals with a company’s future workforce strategies and to ascertain whether or not there will be a shortage of particular talent in the future.

In short, it’s identifying the talent within your company, candidate pipeline, or talent pool and then matching that talent with present and future needs.

Why is it so important?

As you can imagine, a solid understanding of a company’s present talent resources and the skills and qualifications within a talent pool or candidate pipeline can be hugely beneficial to a busy recruiter. Here’s why.

It encourages employee engagement

Talent mapping is, of course, a metrics-driven process. We analyze the skills of current employees along with those of the candidates in a pipeline or talent pool and use that data to determine the strategy required for future recruitment efforts.

But this analysis of employee talent also offers the perfect opportunity for engagement. It allows employees the chance to open a conversation about their skills, qualifications, experience, and even their ambitions for career progress.

As the ultimate goal is to identify the talent within your company, employees will begin to understand that there is, in fact, an opportunity for them to realize their potential. This is particularly true when you find talent gaps and identify the current employees ideally placed to fill them rather than approaching external candidates.

However, engagement only works with the right approach. Speak with employees directly and encourage them to speak about the skills they possess or those they don’t utilize in their current role.

Make the process inclusive, and you’ll gain a lot more than an accurate map of the talent at your disposal.

It helps you identify short-termers

As we mentioned earlier, talent mapping is metrics-based, and all of that collated data can tell you a lot about your current workforce.

In measuring the talent within an organization, we learn who the most productive employees are. A recent and prolonged dip in form may suggest that an employee has lost their motivation for the role they are currently in.

If you follow our advice to make your internal talent mapping an inclusive process, then you can check in on those underperformers to gauge their commitment to the role. Identifying possible leavers means that you can broadly predict where future talent gaps may arise. And this is precisely the data that you need to improve your recruitment efforts.

It reduces your time to hire

We’ve spoken about accelerating your time to hire before, and for many recruiters, it’s one of the most important metrics in the entire recruitment process. A reduced time to hire means a reduced cost per hire and there’s nothing that impresses the accounts department (and a CEO) more than less money spent.

The connection between a reduced time to hire and talent mapping is easy to make. Internal talent mapping allows you to identify current and future talent gaps, so you know which skills you’ll need to prioritize in future recruitment campaigns.

Mapping the talent pool allows you to know where the candidates you require can be found. It also allows you to add candidates to your pipeline that match the criteria for those future talent gaps you predicted earlier. This means that when it comes time to hire, you have a pipeline of passive candidates that are, by the skills they possess, a good match.

It allows you to make better decisions

Talent mapping allows you to identify the talents of your employees, accurately predict future talent gaps, and locate the right talent to place in your pipeline. So to say it improves our ability to make the right decision is an understatement verging on the ridiculous.

Talent mapping takes the guesswork out of your targeting efforts which in itself should earn you an Olympic gold in decision-making (if ever such a thing existed!) Not only that, but it also allows you to make the right decisions concerning employees who you now understand have unfulfilled potential. Where previously you may have passed over internal candidates fearing they lacked the required skillset, you can now recruit from within safe in the knowledge that a particular employee can handle a new role.

As you can see, talent mapping offers such incredible benefits that it continues to surprise us when we hear that some companies have yet to implement this key recruitment process. However, taking an accurate snapshot of the talent pool with a specific set of criteria in mind is no easy task.

Luckily for you, we know of a company that can help you out with that. Yes, that’s right, here at vsource talent mapping is one of our specialist services and with years of experience, we’ve honed our mapping skills to a fine art. Want to see what we can do? Book a free no obligation demo today, and we’ll be only too glad to show you.