Tech Talent Acquisition

The best candidates aren't looking. Here's how to find them anyway. A-players don't have time to apply to job postings. But they'll make time for leaders worth following. Are you one of them? The best leaders don't passively hire.  They proactively recruit. Here's how: 1. Build a Magnetic Culture • Write down your 3-5 core values • Rewrite them until they repel 90% of people • Publish stories that show these values in action The right 10% will find you. 2. Write Job Stories, Not Descriptions • Push the HR speak to the bottom • What dent will this role make in the world? • A-players want a paycheck and a real purpose Make them the hero in the story. 3. Try Before You Buy • Find ways to work together before you commit • Get creative: Advisors, interns, weekend projects • No interview can outpredict actual work 4. Proactive Referrals • Good people know good people • Help your team mine their second-degree connections • Create scripts that make the ask nearly effortless Most people aren't natural networkers. Ask them directly. 5. Go Where They Are • Where do your ideal candidates spend time? • Training programs, forums, communities, events • Show up consistently before you need anything Luck is highly correlated with talent density. Two truths about great talent: They're rarely looking. They're always watching. Make every move count. ♻️ Share to help other leaders hire better. 🔔 Follow Dave Kline for more practical leadership insights.

Good strategic workforce planning is different from operational planning... ...because it looks much further ahead to determine what kind of workforce is needed to deliver the company’s long-term strategy. It can be a valuable and natural extension of the business strategy that yields a major competitive advantage, positioning a firm for sustained growth and innovation, no matter the changes to come. Key takeaways on the four principles to achieve that: 💡 It is future-back, not today-forward - the best leaders take a future-back approach—they envision the distant future and then build a plan to achieve it. They understand that good strategic workforce planning often enters an uncomfortable space where some aspects of the “how” are unknown. 💡It is uneven - Successful strategic workforce planning often involves focusing differentially on a few job families—groupings of roles with reasonable skill overlaps. The best plans focus exclusively on large or scarce workforce populations that expect to see change. ���It is learning-based - leaders can guard against incorrect assumptions by making the plan easily adaptable and updating it each year based on what they’ve learned. They will watch carefully for the right signposts and distinguish between offsetting forces (e.g. leaders might make assumptions around increasing headcount due to business growth and decreasing headcount from automation productivity gains) 💡 It is simple enough to be repeatable - When leaders make the workforce plan too granular, it becomes a bureaucratic, wasted effort that the business resents. The best processes are tied to annual strategic planning. They feel like a light addition to thinking through the strategy’s people implications. Overall: A good strategic planning thoughtfully assesses both human and financial capital. HR teams can help the business define the future at the job family level in the same way that finance supports forecasting major P&L and capital lines. #workforceplanning #strategy

The 2025 Career Reality Check: 4 Skill Gaps You Can't Afford to Ignore   After working with Fortune 500 companies for over 20 years, I've seen how job requirements evolve.   What's happening now isn't just a small change, it's transforming which skills make you employable.   These four skill gaps are what companies are building their hiring strategies around:   1️⃣ AI and Big Data Skills: Every department needs these now. I regularly screen candidates specifically for these skills, no matter what position they're applying for.   2️⃣ Cybersecurity Awareness: With increasing digital threats, everyone needs to understand security basics. I've seen executives lose opportunities because they didn't understand basic security concepts.   3️⃣ Analytical + Creative Thinking: This combination is incredibly valuable. My clients specifically ask for people who can analyze information AND come up with innovative solutions.   4️⃣ Sustainability Skills: Environmental concerns have become business priorities. Every major company wants professionals who can help with sustainability, regardless of department.   What's concerning is how quickly these have changed from "nice-to-have" to "must-have" skills. Professionals who don't have at least two of these areas are finding fewer opportunities.   The good news? You can develop these skills through targeted learning. Start now, before the gap becomes too difficult to overcome.   Sign up to my newsletter for more corporate insights and truths here: https://lnkd.in/ei_uQjju   #deepalivyas #eliterecruiter #recruiter #recruitment #jobsearch #corporate #workplacesurvival #careeradvancement #futureofwork #careerstrategist

The best candidate experience I’ve ever had when applying for opportunities didn’t make me feel like just another number It made me feel like a human being with potential, value, and a story. I’ve been through hiring processes that felt transactional, rushed, or impersonal. But I’ve also experienced ones where I felt seen, respected, supported, and genuinely excited about the possibility of joining. And that experience changed everything. Here’s what made the best one stand out: - The team clearly reviewed my background and asked meaningful, personalized questions - Expectations, timelines, and next steps were transparent, no guessing or chasing updates - From tone to timing, every interaction showed empathy, respect, and appreciation for my time - They weren’t just testing skills; they wanted to understand my ideas, career goals, and long-term interests - They didn’t just pitch the role, they shared what the mission meant to them and why the work mattered As a reminder, as much as you’re being evaluated, you’re evaluating, too. Pay close attention to every step of the process and leverage that to make an informed decision. Here’s to better, more human candidate experiences in the future, ones that leave people feeling respected, hopeful, and inspired, regardless of the outcome. #StephSynergy

A job searcher wanted to transition into a high-impact data role. However, they faced a clear gap between their current skill set and the industry requirements. While they had foundational knowledge, they struggled with: - Structuring their learning, - Managing their time efficiently, - And aligning their skill development with real-world expectations. They needed a clear and actionable roadmap to bridge the gap between their existing knowledge and their career aspirations. The key challenges included: ⭕ Lack of a structured approach to developing essential meta and technical skills. ⭕ Inefficient time, energy, and emotional management, leading to inconsistent progress. ⭕ Basic SQL knowledge that needed to be advanced to handle industry-level data tasks. ⭕ Uncertainty about how to build and showcase industry-relevant projects. We implemented a 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗽 𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁’𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 1) Meta skills roadmap - Focused on time, energy, and emotional management to improve consistency and productivity. - Established daily habits for structured learning and self-discipline. - Set up a progress tracking system to measure growth and make necessary adjustments. 2) Tech skills roadmap (if the client had extensive experience, we skipped foundational steps): - Advanced SQL development: Structured learning plan to move from intermediate to advanced proficiency. - Project-based learning: Focused on building projects aligned with real-world scenarios. - Industry-level exposure: Integrated collaboration with tech leads, stakeholders, and project managers. 3) Building industry-ready projects - Developed industry-level projects showcasing problem-solving skills. - Engaged in paid freelancing to gain real-world experience. - Collaborated with a tech lead, stakeholders, and a project manager to simulate real job conditions. Key Takeaways: -> Having a roadmap makes it easier to stay focused and track progress. -> Managing time and energy is just as important as technical skills. -> Daily habits lead to long-term success. -> Real-world projects help build confidence and credibility. -> Working with a team improves collaboration and problem-solving skills. By following a structured Meta and Tech Skills Roadmap, The job searcher effectively bridged the skill gap and positioned themselves for high-value career opportunities. Follow Jaret André to learn how to land the job you will love.

First Impressions Matter... Especially for Candidates! The employee experience begins the moment a candidate interacts with your business. The first interview isn’t just an interview, it’s the start of their onboarding journey. If that first interaction isn’t great, it sets the tone for everything that follows. I’m challenging businesses & hiring managers to rethink how we treat candidates. Why make them jump through hoops when they haven’t even had enough info to decide if they want to join? 💡 A shift we’ve made: We’ve agreed globally & for all level roles, to hold the hiring manager interview before the case study/task. This ensures candidates have enough information to make an informed decision before investing time in a task that might not even be relevant if they aren’t aligned with the role or team. 💭 Why does this matter? I get it, hiring managers might think, “But what if they fail the test?” The truth, candidates who meet with the hiring manager first are MORE engaged, motivated & informed allowing this to shine through in their task. There will also be less drop off from candidates who haven't had a chance to meet the most important person in the process - their future manager! Talent - Here’s how to start: 1️⃣ Audit your funnel: Where are candidates dropping off, and why? 2️⃣ Map the candidate journey: How is their experience at each stage? Are they feeling informed and valued? 3️⃣ Educate hiring managers: Candidate experience isn’t just about filling a role - it’s setting up a future employee for success. Their experience impacts engagement and retention long after they're hired. 💪 Now’s the time for action. Let’s not just hire great talent, let’s treat them right from the start. Prioritise their experience and see how it impacts conversion, engagement, and retention. 💬 I’d love to hear from you — Hiring managers, how are YOU ensuring a great candidate experience? Candidates, what’s your experience been like? Talent, what have you built in to ensure engaging interview process? Drop a comment, share your thoughts and let’s start a conversation! 👇 #CandidateExperience #EmployeeExperience #Hiring #InfluencingVoices

TA gets blamed for slow hiring. But time-to-fill doesn't start when a recruiter picks up a requisition. It starts long before that. It starts with workforce planning. Did we identify the talent need before it became urgent? Was the headcount approved in time? Did leaders align on the business problem they're solving? Is there a clear success profile for the role? Too often, recruiting is measured on the speed of execution while the business ignores the decisions that determine whether hiring can move quickly in the first place. Talent Acquisition isn't just about filling jobs. It's a workforce strategy function. The best TA leaders don't wait for requisitions. They partner with the business on workforce planning, organizational design, succession planning, market intelligence, and talent forecasting, so hiring becomes proactive rather than reactive. When those pieces are in place, recruiting moves fast. When they aren't, no recruiter can make up six weeks of delayed planning. Maybe it's time we stop asking, "Why is recruiting so slow?" And start asking, "How effective is our workforce planning?" #TalentAcquisition #WorkforceStrategy #StrategicHiring #TalentLeadership #WorkforcePlanning #TimeToFill

Workforce planning has always been an incredibly complex and difficult task. Despite valiant efforts to improve these models, they have remained relatively static and simplistic, relying predominantly on small teams crunching data or on predictions from the hiring manager community. In an ideal world, we would shift from a static, once-a-year exercise to a dynamic, more proactive model. We would stop reacting to what's happening now and start anticipating what's likely to happen next. Last week, I had the pleasure of spending time with our enterprise data and analytics team, a group that services over 800 customers. The most exciting topic we discussed was three pilots we're running with customers right now that aim to make this a reality: using a digital twin for work planning. It works by connecting vast amounts of external market data with a company's many internal data sources, some they typically wouldn't consider, such as ERP, CRM (sales), LMS, and Time and Attendance systems. This allows us to run scenarios and model future talent needs. Here’s a concrete example: By analyzing Salesforce, HRIS, and ATS data, we can predict that when multiple prospect opportunities reach a specific stage in our customer’s sales cycle, there is a high likelihood of winning at least one of them. We can then analyze the consistent skill sets across all of those prospect opportunities, allowing us to confidently and proactively start a recruitment process for those skills. The goal being that we have candidates at the final stages of the process, before an official requisition has been raised, positively impacting time to hire. We’ve also been able to replicate a similar model based on website sales activity. The question to ask is: what data is generated in what system that allows you to get ahead of the hiring process today. 

𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲?    When I first started out in my career, the world of work looked very different.     Most people stayed in the same job – even the same company – for many years, sometimes decades. Roles were clearly defined, often with fixed hierarchies and long paper trails. Teams were almost always co-located, and workforce planning largely meant headcount forecasting based on fixed job descriptions.    Fast forward to today, and work looks nothing like that. AI advancements have reshaped entire industries. New skills are emerging in months, not years. Geopolitical shifts are affecting access to talent and cost in ways business leaders couldn’t have predicted five years ago.     But too often, workforce strategies are still rooted in that old approach, usually accompanied by long hiring cycles or rigid structures.     To truly tackle today’s challenges, strategies should be led by the outcomes the business needs to achieve – whether that’s accelerating digital transformation, expanding into new markets, or delivering complex, high-impact projects at pace.    David Barr, who leads the Robert Walters Outsourcing business, sums it up well:  "The future of workforce planning isn’t about the worker. It’s about the work that needs to be done."    This shift in mindset changes the questions leaders should be asking.     For instance, instead of asking: What roles do we need to fill?  Think about: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿?    And in place of: What qualifications or experience do we need?   Consider: 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀?  That’s where capability-led planning comes in. It can help organisations build on traditional hiring models beyond permanent and temporary by adding more flexible ways to access the skills they need – when and where they need them.      For example, say you’re looking to build a team with in-demand tech skills that are difficult to recruit for. Instead of trying to fill permanent positions, a hire-train-deploy (HTD) model can help you access early-career talent, trained specifically for your needs and ready to deliver from day one.     Or, if your team needs expert support for a critical project but adding to your headcount isn’t an option, a resource augmentation approach is a good solution. It gives you access to experienced, on-demand consultants with specialist skill sets – along with the flexibility to scale up or down as needed.      Yes, this kind of planning may take more thought upfront. But it creates a workforce strategy that can evolve as fast as the world around it.     How are you progressing your workforce strategy to meet what’s next? 

Workforce Planning (WP). Here's my cheat sheet for using aspects of scenario planning for WP. Many WP efforts still operate as static, once-a-year exercises often built around a single business scenario. But what if that scenario doesn't happen? My cheat sheet has examples to help you think through: 👉 BUSINESS CONTEXT 1/ Business Scenarios ↳ What plausible business scenarios might we face over the next 24 months? 2/ Scenario Assumptions ↳ What evidence, assumptions, data, or trends suggest these scenarios are likely and worth planning for? 3/ Scenario Triggers ↳ What leading indicators would suggest a scenario is more likely to occur? 4/ Scenario Business Impact ↳ How would each scenario affect business goals (e.g., growth, sales)? 5/ Base Scenario (Most Likely) ↳ Which scenario do we believe is most likely to happen? What are we basing this on? 👉 TALENT IMPLICATIONS 6/ Plan for Base Scenario ↳ For our base business scenario (what we expect), what are the key aspects of the workforce plan? 7/ Directional Plan for Alternate Scenarios ↳ For each alternate scenario, what directional adjustments would be required in our base plan? 8/ Common Talent Themes ↳ Are there shared or common talent-related needs or risks that appear across multiple scenarios? 9/ Common Talent Actions ↳ What talent actions will be required across all of our possible scenarios? (Helps prioritize shared actions.) 👉 EXECUTION FACTORS 10/ Decision Triggers ↳ Based on the scenario triggers, what thresholds would indicate we should begin shifting from the base plan to an alternate one? (Helps get a head start). 11/ Risk Mitigation ↳ What talent-related risks are introduced by each scenario, and how can we mitigate them proactively? 12/ Communications Needs ↳ What communications guidance would different stakeholders need under each scenario? 13/ Key Stakeholders ↳ Who needs to be involved in scenario-based workforce planning and execution? How do we align? 👉 A few more thoughts: ↳ This isn’t about creating multiple workforce plans ↳ It’s about planning for the base scenario while... ↳ gaining directional insights into how plans might flex ↳ This helps us respond effectively if scenarios shift ↳ Even high-level insights are better than none at all ↳ Whether you use these questions or not, start today ↳ Doing so will prepare you for what the future brings ❓Did anything here resonate with you? What would you add or change? Let me know. ♻️ Repost to help others strengthen workforce planning 🔔 Follow Brian Heger for daily HR insights #hr #humanresources #workforceplanning