Talent Connect 2019: Jody Robie’s key takeaways

The Talent Connect conference is currently finishing off in Dallas, Texas. Our Senior Vice President of North America, Jody Robie, has attended and has shared a few of her key takeaways from the conference so far.

It is hot, over 93 degrees. The weather is certainly a conversation starter. However, the topic at hand is candidate attraction.

Over the past couple of days there have been a number of interesting sessions, covering everything from storytelling and copywriting, to diversity, inclusion, and “why prisons hold the key to our talent shortage.”

I was particularly interested in a session titled “How Dropbox uses talent mapping to fill its toughest roles,” led by Philip Clark, from Growth & People, and Erin Winkler, from Executive Recruiting. It was a helpful roadmap to success and consisted of some good advice, regardless of the size of your company.

Some key thoughts from the conference have been:

  • Why are roles often open for a long time, and how can we work out the answer to the problem? Ultimately, we need to build a hypothesis to interrogate the issue more deeply and learn to control the situation. 
  • Market intelligence and talent mapping are critical steps, not only in finding passive candidates but in influencing hiring managers who may have perceptions about candidate criteria which does not fit the current market or climate.  
  • Employer Branding and Market Intelligence are the keys to success in the talent market. Understanding how to be smart about leveraging those services for successful talent attraction is the core theme of the week.
  • If you’re looking to make a lateral hire (same role at another company), people are unlikely to want to move at the same level. So, make the argument for hiring someone without the exact experience required.
  • Understanding market conditions and competitors is a vital part of having a proactive approach to recruiting and is proven to decrease the time-to-hire.
  • The need to develop an authentic employer brand, and to leverage technology and AI has become more of a critical need than a nice to have.

It’s been an exciting experience with lots to learn. Throughout the conference, there have been areas run by LinkedIn to provide more knowledge about products. As well as this, the sounds of live country music in the evenings has really lifted the atmosphere.

On another note, excitement is brewing for Michelle Obama to speak today and close out the conference!

Jody Robie is the Senior Vice President of North America. If you’ve been at the conference and would like to follow up and connect with her, please get in touch on Linkedin – she’d love to hear from you.

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