What Is Talent Management?
You might have heard the term ‘talent management and wondered what it means. It’s not just about film and television stars or ‘America’s Got Talent.’ It falls under human resource management (HRM) and identifies employees of particular value to a company and nurturing their career development.
Talent managers play a critical role in the success of an organization or in developing their potential in the future. Organizations can use an integrated talent manager in-house as part of the global HR structure or hire an outside talent manager as a contractor.
Either way, this approach to innovative HR will help address business goals and improve performance in the long run.
What does a talent manager do?
With a company's workforce generally being its highest cost, it makes sense to invest in it. The role of a talent manager is to improve business performance through careful management and investment in the development of its employees. It uses strategic HR practices to create success for both individuals and businesses.
There are many facets to being a talent manager, but a large part of it is attracting and retaining employees. For many organizations, recruiting the correct people is crucial to ensure the company stays on the right track to achieve business goals.
Talent managers can identify skills gaps and use the recruiting process to find potential employees. Having a talented workforce has always been the key to making your business productive and profitable. The recruitment process does require HR skills and a good understanding of the future directions of the business.
In addition to talent acquisition, talent managers need to have the skills and capabilities to convince productive workers to stay in a business. Managing people and their job duties will ensure that each employee matches the job.
Employee engagement is a crucial factor in job satisfaction and business success, and talent managers may need to develop strategies or incentives to manage talent and retain top performers.
Should an employee leave a business, the job could entail conducting an exit interview to ascertain why they left and making adjustments to mitigate any negative experiences they had.
Recruiting the correct people and retaining talented employees is a priority in the talent management process, but other work might involve developing a performance improvement plan. The performance plan considers all current employees and their positions and helps maximize a company's productivity.
Suppose a company cannot take on any more employees. In that case, the development plan could identify personnel who would benefit from further training through developing a learning culture so that employees want to upskill and stay current.
Corporate learning and developing talented workers play a large part in a company's growth, and any investment in developing employees will pay dividends for years to come. It may also assist in succession planning.
Managing the best and the brightest, improving employee performance, and maximizing productivity will positively impact any business. Ultimately, a talent manager is precious to a company's success.
What makes a good talent manager?
A talent manager must have an assortment of other skills. In today’s world of trending digitization, talent managers need to have the appropriate soft skills. Technological innovations have resulted in a variety of digital platforms that make talent management more efficient.
Talent management software is available to write a workforce plan for tracking employee performance and gathering employee data to help continuously improve employee engagement and optimize the employee experience.
When attracting and retaining workers, good talent management needs to develop connections with key stakeholders. When hiring new employees, they should embrace any diversity and inclusion criteria, understanding that hiring people from different backgrounds will bring fresh perspectives and methods.
They have to have good employee relations and manage sensitive personal information when completing performance appraisals, which can be a stressful time for current employees. Performance management processes need to be clear, fair, and transparent.
To retain top talent, talent managers may need to have experience in negotiating contracts and understand employee motivation. It’s about getting the right people for individual positions and ensuring that those people can work together harmoniously.
You need to be a good ‘people person’ or people manager and understand how different personalities might interact to find the person not just for the job but for the existing team.
Looking to the future is another essential quality of a promising talent manager. They should understand the importance of workplace planning to meet the changing needs of a business or industry.
Any approach to talent management should consider long-term goals and trends and is a sound business strategy for all sectors. Having additional qualifications before coming into talent management will always be an asset too.
A background in HR analytics or even a degree in marketing can help make a talent manager stand out to business clients and have a positive attitude to continuous learning as businesses grow, shift, or develop. A talent manager needs to understand the company culture and employee engagement within that culture.
What industries use talent managers?
Companies often use talent management to help find top talent that can be nurtured and developed with further training.
They are usually large companies that might have hundreds or thousands of employees. It could be in finance, business, manufacturing, or technology — any large company that will benefit from talent management systems.
Some large businesses have made a name for themselves and their ability to attract and retain talented employees. Microsoft, Google, and Apple have developed powerful talent management practices, leading to others following their models.
What’s the difference between a talent manager and a talent agent?
Talent agents are found more in particularly competitive industries, such as fine arts, entertainment, and sport. For individuals looking to promote themselves and further their careers, a talent agency offers professionals who find and secure work for their clients.
For example, in the entertainment industry, this would include arranging for casting calls or negotiating with a studio or production company and casting directors. The sports industry famously uses talent scouts to find those they think have high potential, but these are another niche avenue and are not the same as talent management.
Talent agents are highly regulated and, in some industries, are required to be licensed. Unlike talent managers, they receive a commission. In contrast, when talent managers work with individuals in these competitive industries, they provide career management and business guidance.
They manage the daily features of their career, such as scheduling, deadlines, and public relations. It is a different talent strategy, and some features of the job, such as competency management, do not apply to those in these areas.
Ultimately, being a talent manager will look quite different when working with gifted and highly skilled individuals or being engaged by a business with many employees.
How much do talent managers get paid?
Being a talent manager can vary according to different employment scenarios and individual skills and capabilities. While there is no data on the average salary, according to recent labor statistics (BLS), talent managers earned $115,000 in 2020, a median across an approx. 42,000 jobs across America.
Talent managers who deal with large-scale HR transformation, employer branding, or top talent may earn more than talent managers working on employee development programs and integrating talent in a small business. Industry trends suggest that the job openings are growing steadily every year, which is good news if you consider talent management as a career option.
How can I become a talent manager?
The career path to becoming a talent manager usually starts with studies in business or marketing. Either of these can help provide a solid background for managing talent in the HR department in a business setting.
HR professionals build experience in the area, which can be very broad. Having a good understanding of all the working parts of the department, including recruitment and hiring, employee performance, training, employee relations, and people analytics, can lead people to become managers and HR leaders.
Talent management only focuses on a small part of the HR department, so it is considered a niche occupation than a general HR professional. Business managers who hire talent managers will most likely look for someone who has worked as an HR leader with several years of experience in the industry.
Take a talent management online course
The Talent Management Online Certificate Course from Courses for Success will give you a thorough understanding of the skills, tools, and resources to design a talent management program attuned to your unique needs.
This online talent management course will cover all the essential aspects of performance management, how to help employees engage, learning and development, and career planning.
What you’ll learn?
The online talent management certificate course covers 11 units that provide a comprehensive foundation for recruiting the correct people and keeping a talented workforce.
In these modules, you will understand the guidelines for talent development and management and the different types of talent. You'll develop the skills to build a winning strategy and how to keep your employees motivated and engaged. You will understand how to undertake talent reviews and calibration and ensure that your employee's goals align with a company's goals.
You will also learn succession planning and implementing a competency model to assess employee performance. The modules will also examine management practices such as coaching, training, development, and maintaining employee retention.
How will you learn it?
As with all of the online programs at Courses for Success, the Talent Management Online Certificate Course is available online 24/7 to access at your leisure and allows you to study online anywhere, anytime.
Once you complete the course, you’ll still have access to all of the course materials, so you can come back and review content or refresh your memory at any time.
What will you get out of it?
Learning about talent management will benefit your professional life and help you develop essential skills for any HR role. You will learn to develop a more skilled workforce and help your company get the best and brightest employees.
Completing this short online course will give you a headstart in any further study you decide to pursue. You’ll also have access to all of the content resources for future reference. Completing our Talent Management Course will equip you with the right skill-set to ensure you stand out from the competition.
Why Courses for Success?
Courses for Success offers over 10,000 online courses, all of which aim to help you in your personal development and career progression. Not only that, but you can also study them anywhere and at any time, and take them at your own pace, too.
You don’t need career diplomas or specific experience to get started. With every course we offer created to be as accessible as possible, you can be sure that all of them, from our coding courses and trading courses to design courses and developer courses, will help to boost your prospects, no matter who you are.
Beyond just the education itself, students will be issued with a certificate online after successful completion of each of the learning courses they do. Our online talent management courses are no exception and are recognized by industry leaders. You could really make a name for yourself in the HR sector by signing up for a Courses for Success short course today.