Talent Pipelining Solutions & Services

Ongoing talent pipelining initiatives provide solutions for immediate needs, transformation, knowledge gaps, diversity planning and employee attrition

Making sure you have the correct leadership in place is paramount to business success, and it’s for this reason that we advise clients on the benefits of building a robust talent pipeline to ensure business continuity.

At Manners Maclean we partner with clients to proactively identify leadership talent not only for the present but, for the future as well. By embedding a talent pipelining initiative into the overall HR business strategy we help clients mitigate against the risk of losing business leaders by working with them to identify and develop prospective leaders using a mechanism that is both time effective and cost efficient.

It’s about creating sustainable talent plans. Ongoing talent pipelining initiatives provide solutions for immediate needs, transformation, knowledge gaps, diversity planning and covering employee attrition.

Put simply, we’ll ensure that a business is already talking to the leaders of tomorrow.

What is Talent Pipelining?

A talent pipeline is defined as a ready pool of potential candidates who are qualified and prepared to step up and fill relevant key roles within the organisation as soon as they fall vacant.

Developing a talent pipeline requires a company to shift from reactive to proactive recruiting.

Which means that you’re no longer focused on filling open roles, you’re considering who your company will want in the future, and who they should eventually hire.

It’s a “relationship-based” talent strategy whereby, instead of searching for candidates that fit an immediate need, you build relationships with passive talent for future opportunities.

Why apply Talent Pipelining?

Talent Pipelining is a much more strategic approach and as such should be thought of as a development process, rather than simply a process for replacing people, and therefore should also focus on:

  • Developing internal talent
  • Recognising the importance of identifying critical roles across the business, not just at senior levels ensuring the plan is connected to the overall business strategy and a solid understanding of the market
  • Minimising the uncertainty that often occurs when leaders leave without an identified replacement
  • Avoiding this uncertainty cascading to the rest of the business, resulting in further attrition.

The key to a successful program is to plan well in advance, understand your organisation’s direction and growth plans and what is needed to support that.

The benefits

1. Better candidates

The key benefit for any business is building effective talent pipelines will almost always help companies hire better candidates.

There are a couple of reasons for this:

Reducing the rush

Instead of rushing to find candidates for immediate needs, businesses can take a more long term approach. Talent requirements are communicated well in advance, so you have a clear idea of the volume and type of candidates needed. You have time to focus on identifying the best possible candidates, not just submitting those that are immediately available.

Reducing reliance on serendipity

It’s rare that the perfect candidate is available at the precise moment that you have their ideal job open. Talent pipelines are the perfect way to deal with this issue. It allows you to nurture exceptional candidates that aren’t ready to move.

2. Engage passive candidates

Passive candidates are not actively looking for new opportunities and, as a result, probably won’t see or engage with your job postings.

The bulk of the market is made up of passive talent (not active job seekers) so, if you want to compete for the best talent, it’s vital that you’re able to engage them effectively.

Talent pipelines let you identify and build a relationship with these candidates without pushing specific job openings. Over time, you can introduce the idea of roles that could be a good fit and see if they resonate – a far more effective method of passive engagement.

3. Improved diversity

Talent pipelining is the top tactic that companies are using to increase diversity.

According to recent reports 56% of organisations are currently struggling to find candidates that fit their diversity requirements – pipelines give you the capacity to identify diverse prospects and build relationships.

4. Better candidate experience

Talent pipelining is an entirely candidate focused process. Instead of driving candidates to job postings and hoping that they’ll apply, organisations can focus on building strong relationships and engaging candidates on their terms.

5. Less brand dependent

Many companies have underdeveloped employer brands or work in unfavourable locations. When hiring “reactively”, this can represent a significant problem. There’s no time for businesses to sell candidates on the role or company, there’s an immediate need which requires immediate action.

By operating a pipeline model, businesses give themselves more time to “sell” candidates on their organisation and overcome limitations.

6. Reduced financial impact

The cost of hiring a candidate can be expensive, in fact recent research suggests that the overall cost can be as much as 2 times the salary to get a candidate in situ. And the cost of getting it wrong is even more expensive!

Talent Pipelining allows you to better manage those costs and reduce the risk of getting wrong.

Our talent pipelining capability

It’s our specialism, so our market and client knowledge, combined with our candidate network in both established and emerging markets across the world, is unparalleled.

With the support of our in-house research capability, we offer a ‘world-class’ service to clients large and small, advising both senior level and high potential, hiring and talent pipelining initiatives, right across the globe.

Don’t just take our word for it…

Steven Gross - VP, Unilever

During the last 10 years Jim Mundell and Manners Maclean were always my first port of call when looking to fill senior positions in Unilever. Jim’s ability to quickly understand (from both an organizational culture and talent perspective) what we needed, his knowledge of the talent market and his network of key talent meant that we always received a quick response and, a shortlist of blue chip talent which ultimately resulted in successfully filling key vacancies.

I highly recommend Jim and Manners Maclean to any organization needing leadership search and talent acquisition services.

Frederic Landtmeters - President Canada, Molson Coors Beverage

I had multiple opportunities to discuss talent and fill senior commercial positions with Jim Mundell and Manners Maclean when I was a CMO/CCO for Starbev & Molson Coors in (Central) Europe. As a hiring manager, I found it important to talk to someone like Jim, who has a clear vision on talent, an extensive network across Europe and beyond, and who spends time before, during and importantly also after the hiring process to ensure the recruited talent lands well. I highly recommend Jim and Manners Maclean to any organization needing personalized talent acquisition services.

Ranjan Das – Henkel

Manners Maclean International was selected by Henkel as one of our preferred recruitment partners for the India, Middle East, Africa & Turkey region in December 2019.

In my previous capacity as Henkel’s Regional HR Business Partner Laundry & Home Care, as well as in my current capacity as Henkel’s Head of Human Resources Sub-Saharan Africa, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Manners Maclean on many search and recruitment assignments for roles based in Nigeria. Manners Maclean consistently delivered, regardless of the location of the search. I found Manners Maclean to differentiate themselves from other firms as they have a thorough research methodology which is tailored for each search.  They are extremely diligent and always cover as much ground as is required for every assignment.  Their consultants are experienced and act as an extension of your organization and behave as a genuine partner.

Dalia Salib – General Manager, Mars Egypt

Robert Gordon & Manners Maclean puts a high level of quality work and diligence though-out the recruitment process. He successfully manages to offer solid guidance as well as give strong clarity on expectations while being warm, friendly and genuinely caring.

I strongly recommend him as a highly capable Talent Acquisition expert.

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