Business, Talent Leaders Disagree on Much, Hampering Recruiting Strategy

Corporate executives and their company’s talent leaders are out of synch in a number of areas that can impact the effectiveness of their organization’s talent acquisition efforts.

According to research from recruiting platform provider Beamery, front-line talent leaders believe operational issues have the most impact on their work, while executives focus on technology. C-level leaders view candidates as the talent acquisition process’s primary stakeholders, but vice presidents of talent name believe hiring managers have the most influence.

More specifically, the report found that:

• C-Level executives want to invest in technology, but talent leaders are focused on operations. A majority of CEOs (62%) and CHROs (59%) say technology gaps are having the greatest impact on talent strategy. However, while 39% of front-line talent leaders consider operational gaps as the most imporant driver.  
• Nearly half of VP-level talent leaders, 48%, said a lack of digital skills in the talent function acts as a key brake on talent transformation. Beamery called this “a clear indicator” that talent leaders must better understand the skills they have available today, compared to what they’ll need to drive transformation and the business going forward.
• Business leaders and talent executives disagree on who drives talent strategy the most, with 70% of CHROs, and over a third of CEOs, saying candidates’ expectations carry the most impact when it comes to driving the company’s overall talent strategy. By contrast, 71% of vice presidents of talent believe the expectations of hiring managers drive the strategy.
• CHROs prioritize recruiters’ efficiency. At the same time, just 36% of organizations are focused on improving recruiter experience.

‘Stalled’ Talent Strategies

Kyle Lagunas, Beamery’s director of strategy and head of research, believes such misalignments have “stalled” many companies and are preventing their efforts at talent transformation.

“Everyone knows technology is not a silver bullet when it comes to high-impact talent strategies. Similarly, making incremental efficiency gains isn’t ambitious enough, especially as organizations are being asked to do more with less while becoming more agile,” Lagunas said. “As talent leadership and C-level execs grapple over conflicting priorities, the conversation has to shift to how this organization will emerge from the chaos of 2020 and thrive in a new reality.”

Upskilling talent teams, reliable data and improving operations will be priorities, Lagunas said.