Are You Ready for Innovative Talent

There are 3.8 million opened jobs in America, as of June 2012. I didn’t pull that number out of the sky – that’s according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. As widely reported there are approximately 13 million unemployed and that does not include those that are working but looking for better jobs. That’s a lot of folks, which means that’s a lot of competition.

You may have heard of the skill gap or talent gap which claims that there are just not enough good quality employees to fill these jobs. I am not so sure I agree with it; whereas there are some areas of improvement that need to be made far as certifications and education, I see more talented candidates with bad resumes. I help them by re-writing their resume and giving them job seeker tips. I like to use progressive tools with clients, e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook and social surfing.

But hey enough about me, I want to talk about the majority of job seekers that are qualified, skilled and ready to work. I want to know, are you ready for true cutting edge, innovative, top, high performance talent? We all know that social media is a game changer to every industry out there. We all know that technology is another game changer, shrinking business, burying the line between traditional work values and innovation. So where do you stand?

Of course you don’t want low performing slackers in your organization. You want a team of rockstars, but how do you recruit them? How do you identify them within your company? And how do you retain them? What if you came across a candidate in an interview setting with no pen, no portfolio, no briefcase, no vanilla folder, and only a smartphone in their pocket. Lexie Forman-Ortiz ipad

And as they go into their sales pitch as to why you should hire them, they have charts, graphs, and demos all on their mobile device. Would you be ready or would you judge them as a know-it-all that just doesn’t “fit.” Do you practice hiring or talent acquisition in a way that supports the need for innovative talent?

How does your applicant tracking system measure up to new trends in social recruiting? Are you prepared to develop talent communities and stay current with mobile technology and social networking sites? Are you tied to your current ATS via contract or corporate agreements? It’s really outdated, rigid and has limited functionality however because you’re handcuffed to it you can’t explore better systems like SmartRecruiters even though it’s FREE.

Don’t talk about being innovative, be innovative. Don’t lag the market, lead the market. Analysis is always tough, looking into your organization’s problems and fixing them isn’t simple. You have to find out why you are not finding the talent that you want in and out of your organization. Find new ways to track, source, interview, engage, compensate, evaluate and attract your people. Develop succession plans and upgrade your candidate profiles. And please check out SmartRecruiters, odds are its way better than what you have already.

Chris Fields is an HR professional and leadership guy who blogs and dispenses great (not just good) advice at Cost of Work. Connect with Chris via email at chris@costofwork.com. Photo Credit Lexie_FO