The role of technology in staying ahead of the war for talent. This presentation discusses some of the talent acquisition challenges and suggests some technology-enabled ideas.

1. Evans Munyuki
Group CIO, The Kelly Group &
Business Leader of TalentOcean – a Kelly Group Online Business
Evans.Munyuki@KellyGroup.co.za
Evans.Munyuki@TalentOcean.co.za
EMunyuki@gmail.com
www.TalentOcean.com
www.TalentOcean.co.za
Staying ahead of the War for Talent:
The role of technology
August 2010

2. Talent Defined
 tal·ent (tāl'ənt)
 n.
 1. A marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment.
See Synonyms at ability.
 2. a. Natural endowment or ability of a superior quality.
 2. b. A person or group of people having such ability: The
company makes good use of its talent.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/talent

3. The Profile of Today’s Talent
Yesteryear’s Mobile Skills:
1. Low skill
2. Commoditized roles
3. Traditional job roles
Today’s Talent - Mobile Skills:
1. Highly skilled
2. Highly talented and Experienced
3. Highly mobile (both in-country & internationally) and across
companies – not looking for a retirement job!
4. They view the world as a true Global village
5. Varied job roles, some which didn’t even exist 25 years ago!
6. Competitive destination markets!
7. They want to solve problems, work on specific challenges
8. Be aware of their generational differences
9. Brand me

4. Business Pressures in a Turbulent Economy
C-Level Concerns: CEO, CFO, CIO, HR Director, Marketing Director (CMO)
1. Grow Revenues
i. Ensure the right people are on board to drive revenues
2. Cut Costs
i. In all processes
3. Manage Risks
i. Skills pipeline
ii. Acquisition of key skills – from wherever they are
iii. Staff redeployment during tough economic times
4. Manage Productivity
i. Speed to hire
ii. Better equip in-house HR departments & in-house recruiters
iii. Internal recruitment options for staff’s career-growth
iv. Paper
5. Brand image recognition
i. By potential employees
6. Mobile workforce
i. Leverage to address the skills shortage

5. Client Challenges
More pain
1. Some have In-house Recruitment functions but they are not
in the recruitment industry and they want to leverage technology
solutions which optimize their processes in:
1. Attracting and short-listing the right talent
2. Hiring the right talent
3. On-boarding talent
4. Developing talent
5. Retaining talent, and Helping talent grow their careers within the
company (internal job growth).
2. They want to have the right tools, processes, and
support structures
3. They want to increase the productivity of their
recruitment functions without reinventing the wheel.
4. Expectations Management!

6.  The fate of the job seeker in yesteryear’s world.
 Hi, My name is John… Hi, My name is John… Hi, My name is
John.

7. Today’s Business Environment
 Technology enablement
 Revenues under pressure
 Profits under pressure
 Uncertain economic times
 Web 2.0
 Marketing 3.0
 The power of the crowd!
 Social media and the connected world!

8. What do businesses want? Talent
 The COO wants ‘it’ faster (speed to market)
 The CFO wants ‘it’ cheaper (controlled cost posture)
 The CEO wants ‘it’ better (with competitive differentiation)
 The CIO wants ‘it’ smarter
 The CMO wants it everywhere (within her defined
markets)
 The CRO wants it legal (I ain’t going to jail over this)
 The CSO wants it sold! (Show me the money!)
 The HR Director wants the right talent
 Faster, Cheaper, Better, Smarter, Everywhere, Legal, Right
Talent, and Cha-Ching!!!

9. What’s Love Got to do with it?
 Everything
 But, you can’t love ‘em if you can’t reach ‘em!
 So what?
 If you want to catch fish, go to the lake! Go where the
fish hang out…
 Want to stay ahead of the talent war? Incorporate
technology into your Talent Management and Talent
Acquisition arsenal! They’re online anyway! 

10. 3 Talent Acquisition Options
Let Me Do It Help Me Do It Do it For Me
D-I-Y Talent A mix of technology- Leverage the power of
Acquisition enabled lower-cost traditional recruitment
acquisition models + agencies (big or small;
recruitment agencies if generalists or niche)
you want (e.g Ad
response handling) +
some self-service

11. So, what is the arsenal for
staying ahead of the war for talent?
1. What is your brand? How do you want it to be known to the
talent you want to attract?
2. Get found Online! Are you top of mind for jobseekers?
3. Get found on Google!
4. Get found in the Social Media space
1. At a minimum, get found on LinkedIn and on Facebook.
5. Get your jobs found on Google.
6. Get your jobs found on Career Portals – this can help with
#2, #3, and #5.
7. Leverage recruitment processes imbedded in technology
solutions – seek this out in technology solutions
8. Hear from your employees. What do they think? Listen to them.
Use Online Assessment Tools.

12. So, what is the arsenal for staying
ahead of the war for talent? (continued)
1. Realize that your next best hire is probably sitting in a
desert, getting tired of the sand, and is ready to return
home…  Use technology to reach talent,
wherever it is.
2. Realize the generation differences in your talent pool.
Reach them using ways that appeal most to them.
1. The MxIt Crowd
2. The Google Crowd
3. The Facebook Crowd
4. The LinkedIn Crowd
5. The Career Portals Crowd
6. The Newspaper Crowd
7. The “Head-hunt-me” Crowd
3. Use a variety of Career Portal solutions to reach talent –
including niche career portals.

13. So, what is the arsenal for staying
ahead of the war for talent? (continued)
1. Use your in-house recruiters or recruitment companies
for Ad-response handling, driving the Recruitment
Management Processes, Talent Development, etc. All
these get better and more productive when powered
by the right technology solutions and business
processes.
2. Use the web to find out more about your talent before
you bring them onboard
1. Find out how your prospective employee has branded
himself/herself.
2. Is she all over the web on blogs complaining about the company
she works for or complaining about her boss? If yes, you are next!
3. Use technology solutions to manage the productivity of
your talent, and to keep costs under watch.

14. Hope this helps 
Thank you!
Evans Munyuki
Group CIO, The Kelly Group &
Business Leader of TalentOcean – a Kelly Group Online Business
Evans.Munyuki@KellyGroup.co.za
Evans.Munyuki@TalentOcean.co.za
EMunyuki@gmail.com
www.TalentOcean.com
www.TalentOcean.co.za