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Talent relationship management (TRM) is a game-changer in today's job market. Unlike traditional recruitment methods (where communication with candidates tends to end once a position is filled), TRM encourages continuous engagement.
But what is talent relations, and why is it becoming such an important part of modern HR practices?
In this blog, we’ll define talent relationship management, explore its growing relevance against a backdrop of recruitment challenges, and discover the numerous benefits it offers forward-thinking organisations.
What is talent/candidate relationship management?
In the ever-evolving world of recruitment, understanding talent relations’ meaning and candidate relationship management (CRM) is critical for companies wanting to thrive in a competitive landscape.
Talent/candidate relationship management is a strategic approach to recruitment that involves building and sustaining relationships with prospective and active employees.
TRM works like customer relationship management systems, the sort of software typically employed in sales to track and manage interactions with customers. Now, this technology is being repurposed to manage interactions with job candidates.
The primary goal of TRM is to create a pipeline of qualified candidates through initiatives that maintain sustained communication. This way, with a well-designed TRM strategy and/or candidate management system, organisations can ensure they have a consistent supply of skilled individuals ready to fill new positions.
Why TRM matters
You’ve heard it before: Your business's best asset is its people. However, for many organisations, talent management begins and ends with the recruitment process.
Talent relationship management, on the other hand, goes beyond this traditional endpoint, allowing businesses to nurture candidates and continuously leverage their potential. This results in time and cost savings when it comes to hiring.
Other advantages of TRM include better talent allocation, enriching candidate and employee experiences, and aligning HR practices with organisational goals. Let’s explore each of these in more detail:
Talent allocation
Essentially, TRM systems help companies understand what their employees are good at and what they want to do next.
These systems collect information on how well employees are doing, what skills they have, and what work they'd like to do in the future. By looking at this information, companies can make better decisions about where to place employees so they can be most effective.
This means employees can grow and adapt within the company, and the company can make sure it has the right people doing the right jobs to meet its business objectives.
Candidate and employee experiences
TRM emphasises the importance of a candidate or employee's entire lifecycle within an organisation and helps to create a seamless transition from applicant to team member and beyond.
This lifecycle approach is important in nurturing a culture that supports talent growth and satisfaction.
Aligning HR practices with organisational goals
When HR adopts a strategic stance on talent management, like integrating advanced analytics to predict future talent needs or creating career development paths for high-potential employees, companies can amplify the potential of their workforce.
Keep in mind that securing talent, such as a leading software engineer, is an achievement, but nurturing their development (through specialised leadership programs, for instance) and ensuring their long-term engagement is where the real challenge (and reward!) lies.
Exploring the talent relationship management process
Let's walk through the seven phases of the talent relationship management process:
1. Sourcing
This initial phase involves identifying, investigating, and connecting with potential talent. At this stage, the objective is to find candidates whose skills align with company needs.
TRM systems can streamline identifying and connecting with potential talent by leveraging integrated tools and databases, including access to job boards, social media platforms like LinkedIn, and internal referral systems. By doing this, TRM and candidate relationship management systems help recruiters easily find candidates whose skills and experiences are the right fit for the company.
2. Engagement
This step aims to turn passive prospects into those actively looking for work.
Here, recruiters should engage with candidates by maintaining open, frequent communications through emails, text messages, and direct messages. This can include sharing industry updates, company news, and information about current job openings (while also addressing any questions that come up from candidates).
Through their automated communication tools and personalised messaging capabilities, TRM systems enable recruiters to easily maintain contact with prospects at all stages of the recruitment process.
3. Recruitment
At this stage, candidates expressing interest can be guided through the hiring process, which typically includes resume reviews, interviews, assessments, and, ultimately, selecting new employees.
TRM systems support the recruitment phase by helping with the application and selection process. This includes organising and tracking resumes, scheduling interviews, and managing candidate assessments. These systems can also provide analytics to improve the effectiveness of recruitment strategies.
4. Onboarding
During onboarding, new hires are introduced to company policies, given a tour of the office, introduced to their teams, and provided with their workstations, computers, IDs, badges, and other resources they’ll need to do their jobs.
Once a candidate is hired, TRM systems can assist with onboarding by automating many administrative tasks, such as setting up employee profiles, initiating onboarding workflows, and tracking all the necessary paperwork. This ensures a smooth transition for new hires and helps to create a positive first impression, which is especially important as research from BambooHR shows that a positive onboarding experience significantly boosts a new employee's commitment to their employer.
5. Talent development
At this stage, HR's learning and development (L&D) teams can implement learning initiatives tailored to employees' interests and career aspirations, enabling staff to learn new skills through online courses, workshops, and on-the-job training and mentoring.
TRM plays a crucial role in talent development by integrating with learning management systems (LMS) and other educational resources.
6. Talent Retention
This phase focuses on keeping employees happy, essentially encouraging them to stay within the company.
TRM systems help organisations identify what contributes to employee retention by offering insights into employee engagement, satisfaction, and career progression. They enable HR teams to develop strategies around compensation, benefits, and professional development, all with the goal of ultimately reducing staff turnover.
7. Talent community building
Lastly, companies should focus on creating a talent community, a reservoir of potential candidates for future job openings.
Unlike static talent pools, these communities are dynamic. They encourage interaction and feedback among candidates and recruiters, fostering a collaborative atmosphere that benefits the company's employer brand.
TRM systems help create and manage dynamic talent communities, allowing for continuous interaction and feedback between candidates, employees, and recruiters.
The benefits of recruiting with a TRM solution
TRM solutions are an important resource for recruitment professionals.
Let’s explore how TRM can streamline your recruitment process and help at all stages of engaging with prospective candidates:
TRM is your partner in executive-level recruitment
Recruiting at the executive level presents unique challenges, making TRM an important resource.
Naturally, the longevity of executive roles speaks to the importance of nurturing enduring relationships with these types of candidates.
This is where TRM shines with its automated communication capabilities. These features easily facilitate ongoing engagement, ensuring both recruiters and executives have a solid, mutual understanding of the expectations and commitments of a new role. This foundation of clear and consistent communication is essential when it comes to navigating executive recruitment.
TRM aids in hiring for specialised roles
Recruiters will find creating targeted talent pools extremely beneficial when it comes to filling roles with highly specific requirements or unique experience demands.
In these scenarios, minor details can often distinguish between a fully qualified candidate and one who’s not quite there.
Thanks to TRM, comprehensive data collection and insights into candidates' different skills and experiences help ensure that recruiters are presented with only the most fitting candidates for challenging roles.
TRM helps leverage social media
A strong employer brand hinges on having a solid social media strategy, and TRM tools can help simplify content posting across platforms.
Furthermore, TRM can enhance employee referral programs, making it straightforward for employees to share job opportunities within their online networks.
Embracing TRM and specialised recruitment platforms
The landscape of talent acquisition is experiencing a shift towards a more relationship-focused approach. As such, TRM is a necessary evolution in the way companies interact with their current and future employees.
From fostering a vibrant talent ecosystem that encourages continuous growth to strategically aligning HR practices with broader organisational goals, the positive impact of TRM is clear. However, businesses should also consider using a specialised recruitment platform to connect with their ideal candidates.
WeAreDevelopers specialises in bridging the gap between employers and software developers, offering a targeted and efficient approach to finding the perfect addition to your team.
By leveraging our IT Job Board, you tap into a pool of qualified professionals actively exploring new employment opportunities. Explore WeAreDevelopers now, and start shaping your team's future with exceptional talent.
