The hiring landscape has changed dramatically since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the current economic climate, you may be asking yourself if your company should be investing in a talent ecosystem. The short answer is yes.
This blog post features excerpts from our ebook ‘Talent Without Borders: Using Technology to Build a Talent Ecosystem’. You can download it for free to discover more on how to leverage technology to flex and scale your talent strategy.
Why Move From a Traditional Staffing Model to a Talent Ecosystem?
These days, most organizations work in a traditional model of talent management and strategy. A company hires full-time employees to work eight-hour shifts and uses two main avenues to fill that vacancy:
- Leveraging internal recruiters to post job opportunities and review candidate profiles or calling on trusted staffing vendors to use their resources to bring in talent.
- For the harder-to-find searches, this strategy may be expanded to attending job fairs or enlisting the aid of a resume search engine.
Typically in this more traditional model, corporate recruiters are focused on their swimlane: full-time talent, while staffing suppliers are focused on contingent labor, occasionally dabbling in full-time hiring as needed.
Enter a war for talent, with the emerging winner being the talent. As with all significant paradigm shifts, there are institutions that evolve and survive and others that stubbornly refuse the need to change, quickly becoming an extinct or dying breed.
At the center of the evolution of talent supply chain management is the concept of a talent ecosystem. This concept borrows from systems theory and design thinking which connects tools and platforms with processes and adapting business needs.
5 Reasons Talent Ecosystems Are Crucial for Success
So why should you consider investing in a talent ecosystem now? Here are five reasons we see talent ecosystems as crucial for success:
1. Traditionally Low Unemployment
Before the pandemic, we had historically low unemployment rates causing a shortage of talent in the market. When unemployment is low it creates a ‘buyers’ market’ with candidates having their choice of jobs and benefit selections. While unemployment has increased during the pandemic, we predict that as the economy rebounds, the labor market will tighten once again, especially for highly skilled labor. Talent ecosystems allow you to find talent in various means and maintain a close relationship with your acquired talent.
2. Higher Rates of Freelance and Independent Contractors
There’s been a boom in freelance and independent contractor (IC) markets in the talent population. When sourcing through the traditional model, it’s hard to attract this talent because these workers don’t typically fall under staffing organizations. Many organizations find themselves needing to look to the freelance and IC market because of increased competition for talent. To do so takes looking beyond your typical staffing supplier relationship and into technology in the sourcing ecosystem.
3. Generational Shifts in the Marketplace
Generational changes in the way people like to be engaged require us to be more flexible in how we procure talent. Millennials and Gen Z are changing the traditional approach to work. We’re seeing a rise in the freelance and 1099 sector, and it’s no accident this coincides with new generations entering the workforce. USA Today found that 74% of Millennials are interested in freelancing and 40% are planning to quit their job to do so in the next five years. Your sourcing strategy should consider how to attract different generations.
4. Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is changing both people’s relationship to work and how it is done. Gone may be the days of a traditional 9-5 or only full-time hires. What we’ve found during this pandemic is that working from home or remote work isn’t the productivity killer that many of us thought it might be. In a survey done by Metova, 48% of people found they are more productive at home while only 29% said they were less productive. The survey also found that over half of workers would prefer to remain working at home.
In addition to changing how we work, technology has changed how people look for work. In a survey done by Staffing Industry Analysts, it was noted that 90% of job seekers start their search online, so would it not make sense to have a technology partner that enables you to post your jobs to your website and job boards?
5. The Need for Diverse Talent
Just as important as a diverse financial portfolio is having a diverse portfolio of talent. Traditional sourcing models don’t allow you to reach broad types of contingent labor. To accurately source across the entire contingent landscape, it’s beneficial to diversity your sourcing strategy to achieve success.
More from the blog: ‘What’s Next for Contractors? Helpful Resources for Contingent Workers Impacted by COVID-19’
Engaging Top Talent With a Talent Ecosystem
Ecosystems aid talent acquisition teams in their battle over top talent for their organizations. The benefits that arise from the ecosystem, especially the alternative sourcing methods, make organizations more competitive and efficient.
While the lasting impact of COVID-19 remains to be seen, experts believe the demand for talent will come back. Your company should be ready to cultivate the talent that will be available, and we believe the best way to meet this demand is through talent ecosystems.
Meet the Expert
Taylor Ramchandani – VP of Strategy
Taylor Ramchandani is responsible for the management and strategic planning of the VectorVMS vendor management system. Taylor is committed to client satisfaction and to ensuring VectorVMS technology meets the current and future needs of clients and managed service providers (MSPs). She uses market research and in-depth industry experience to create products and services that make extended workforce management efficient and intuitive. Taylor oversees product development, marketing, and business partnerships for VectorVMS and is responsible for driving innovation for contingent workforce management. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
