How do you define a Talent Partner? ๐
To me, a TP is someone who partners with a customer to understand their culture, branding and working processes in as much detail as possible in order to be able to hire them the right people to fit into their business.
It’s important to mention everything that goes into that – we don’t just do the recruitment! As a TP I add value for my customer in other areas such as interview training, onboarding, ATS implementation, employer branding, hiring manager training and improving ways of working where required.
How do you really get under the bonnet of your customer? ๐
I always start by chatting with the customer’s Head of People / Talent and the Founder(s). This is the best way to build an understanding of the basics and get them to tell you their story in their own words. I’d be looking to understand their competitors, how people view them online (LinkedIn, social media and review sites such as Glassdoor) and their starting position from a brand perspective. I’ll also make sure I speak to people in different teams around the business and build relationships with key stakeholders as early as possible. If it’s possible, I’ll do all of this onsite with the customer as I much prefer it that way!
What makes a great customer <> Talent Partner relationship? ๐ค
Communication and honesty. 100%. Iโm a friendly person and find it easy to talk to people to open up relationships which helps – but it’s communication and honesty that really build a mutual trust and understanding of what Iโm there to do and how Iโm going to add value. I’ll always look to start by taking onboard how they do things at first and then advise them based on my experience and data we’ve gathered from other customers. Then it’s time to get to work!
Tell us about a cool customer project you’ve worked on recently? ๐
I currently working with Feel – they’re amazing and we’ve had some great successes so far! The project highlight would have to be implementing an upgraded Applicant Tracking System (ATS), building out their new hiring workflows and working with our Employer Brand team to put together their first careers page.
Final question – what’s your favourite customer way of working you’ve seen? ๐คฉ
That’s tough! On Wednesdays at Allplants there’s no meetings at all, the day is just used for core work – I think that’s a great idea.
Also, I’m a really big fan of Allplants’ onboarding process. When we partnered with them, I found their onboarding session to be really comprehensive and personalised. We had a really solid session with their hiring managers on hiring strategy that covered every touch point of the process and aligned with their company culture and values.
I also really like the structure of meetings at Feel – before meetings an agenda is circulated so if people need to prepare then they know what’s to come and what is expected of them on the call!
Author
Shelley Wright
Leadership
