The competitive digital business landscape is forcing organizations to become better at recognizing the workforce skills they will need, well before they need them. When companies become reactive in filling key jobs, they have a hard time securing critical talent at the moment of need. The result is they lose out on key hires to companies that have articulated their talent requirements.

1. Winning Today’s Talent Race
PERSPECTIVES VOLUME 8
Ajoy Mukherjee
Global Head and Vice President, Human Resources
Copyright © 2017 Tata Consultancy Services LimitedFebruary 2017

2. HR professionals need to let go of traditional hiring and
retention practices to compete for talent
Winners Foresee Talent Needs
Companies must identify requirements ahead of the
moment of need
HR departments should become agile to anticipate the
next wave of skills and retain their best talent
SKILLS

3. IT is experiencing a skills
shortage in artificial
intelligence, the IoT, and
Big Data and analytics
Managing the Talent Crunch
Digital technologies
are redefining jobs in
every business
function
Manpower Group says 1 in
3 employers struggles to
fill jobs due to talent
shortages
Accurate forecasts of attrition
and business growth help a
company prepare for growth
and predict talent needs

4. 1. Develop your
existing people
2. Find people who
learn continually
Winning the Talent Race
3. Screen more
rigorously
4. Bring brands to
campus
5. Use digital
channels to hire
and screen
6. Build a strong
employer brand

5. Focus on internal development and cross-training
to retain employees
Begin your search for talent internally,
not externally, and ‘groom your own’
1. Develop your existing people
Give people opportunities to practice
the skills they’ve learned

6. Hire people with a proclivity to
learn new skills and acquire
knowledge
The shelf life of knowledge is reducing rapidly so
new learning should be quick and frequent
2. Find People who Learn Continually
Personal attributes such as attitude, emotional
intelligence, and collaboration are becoming more
important than specific technical skills

7. Re-evaluate your
emphasis on soft skills
during hiring
Use social media, alongside traditional
methods, as part of a more rigorous
approach to background checks
3. Screen More Rigorously

8. Strengthen your brand
image to compete with
digital startups in the
battle for talent
Build relationships
well before you need
to recruit
4. Bring Brands to Campus
Provide learning materials to
institutions that build brand equity and
enhance your company’s reputation

9. Make social media a key
hiring channel as
recruitment becomes a
high-tech enterprise
Use analytics tools
to predict future needs
5. Use Digital to Hire and Screen
Forecast talent requirements
effectively to make your HR
function a strategic business
partner

10. Strengthen your company’s reputation
as a great place to work
Explore opportunities such as conference
speaker slots and industry alliances
6. Build a Strong Employer Brand
Use social media to tell the world
about the employee experience at
your organization

11. Recognizing the value of cross-
training but not allowing people
to put their knowledge into
action
Withholding executive support
and exacerbating cultural
resistance
Execution is Key to Success
Focusing on hiring at the
expense of retaining
Avoid these common mistakes:

12. HR can learn from the
agile iterative approach
of startups and be
prepared to change
tack when needed
The HR function can become
an engine of growth and
help the company identify
future talent requirements
HR as Digital Business Partner

13. Copyright © 2017 Tata Consultancy Services
Limited
Winning Today’s Talent Race
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