“Opportunities Multiply As They Are Seized” - Sun Tzu

The relevance of that quote is perhaps nowhere more so than talent management in today’s corporate scenario.

Talent is the foundation, the very fabric in which business success is weaved. As is evident by the world’s largest companies, whether Google, Uber and Facebook or even traditional enterprises that are transcending the boundaries of business like Virgin or Space X, the key differential, the key competitive advantage, the holy grail, essentially, is- the brightest talent, well managed.

Talent Management integrates the latest technologies and best practices for successfully acquiring, nurturing and retaining talent. Or does it? A recent report on Talent Management says otherwise – only 14% of HR departments used Talent Analytics, way behind their peers like Operations Departments that stood at 77% or Marketing that stood at 56%.

Talent Management is considered the “holy grail” by business leaders like Jack Welch, since the dawn of the competitive corporation era. Successful Talent Managers are difference-makers, serving as an organization’s catalyst for success. While the “Management” component of the phrase has evolved in its own time, the “Talent” component has evolved at a far greater rate, in a shorter span of time, and with serious implications for Talent Managers who are now facing the abyss.

The best talent now communicates with others, regularly, in matters concerning their expertise, their business acumen, their pets and basically everything under the sun. And they don’t want to be disrupted. In fact, passive jobseekers account for well over 70% of first-strike successful hires. Pity then, that Department Leaders and HR Managers have widely been reported as one of the least technologically proficient and one of the latest adopters of emerging, disruptive technologies and practices in the entire organization.

Getting certified or getting left behind has always been a widely accepted adage of Human Resource Management Professionals. However, getting archaic, obsolete certifications that come to naught when competing to hire the Skilled Achiever against others hasn’t really worked so far.

It is the era of the intelligent digital connect and Talent Managers better sit up and take notice or ignore it at their peril. Although 95% of organizations use some form of technology for HR administration work, the difference between the leaders and the laggards are stark:

Talent Managers Proactively Embrace New Technologies and Practices To Not Only Manage Talent, But To Outperform Their Competition, In The Present Skilled Jobseeker’s Market.

The only way to move into the league of good talent managers is learn and be on the razor’s edge of what the best of them are doing right. And getting validated for it. Globally recognized, valid certifications in effective Talent Management that employers will actually value and pay the extra dollar for, isn’t as easy to come by as it may seem. The rare few that fall into the category have a waiting list.

In all, analytics and social integration is the biggest, most impactful phenomenon to have hit human resources management in the past four decades, giving birth to the new age talent manager. As he evolves, he will be constantly seeking to add skills to his portfolio to be at par with the talent out there in the market. And he WILL be getting his certifications to qualify for that next high flying job. So if you are to be in his league, it’s time to hit the gas and move ahead with a valid Talent Management Certification.