Employers typically devise a strategy to move from their current position to their targeted outcome in order to reach business goals. This involves evaluating their challenges and finding the right resources to overcome them. This method can also be adopted in areas of hiring and employee growth - a practice referred to as talent mapping.
Table of Contents
What is talent mapping?
Talent mapping is a strategic approach used by employers to find skills shortages within their workforce, which they can fill through targeted recruitment and training efforts. This method focuses on hiring individuals who have the potential to evolve alongside the company and assigning them to positions where their skills and experiences are most applicable. Essentially, talent mapping allows businesses to optimize their workforce to attain organizational objectives.
Benefits of talent mapping
Employers experiencing significant growth, facing challenges in staying ahead of competitors, or seeking to broaden their candidate pool could benefit from talent mapping. This strategy can assist in:
- Retaining valuable talent
- Enhancing the efficiency of talent acquisition
- Optimizing the succession planning process
- Maximizing the performance of employees and teams
- Overcoming shortages in skilled talent
- Identifying and closing skill gaps through targeted upskilling or reskilling
- Allocating resources more efficient
How to map talent
- Identify potential areas of skill shortages within the company and set clear talent development strategies.
- Determine whether the current workforce can be upskilled through training or whether new employees need to be recruited.
- Assess employee skills accurately through various methods such as skill assessments, self-evaluations, or comprehensive feedback from peers.
- Set standards to measure if employees are fulfilling their job requirements effectively.
- Factor in opportunities for career advancement in the planning of workforce strategies to maintain employee motivation.
- Be aware of external factors, like economic shifts, that could influence the demand for new job positions in the future.
- Investigate the strategies used by industry rivals for acquiring and nurturing talent to gain valuable insights.
- Continuously revise and update the strategy to align with the changing objectives of the business.
Frequently asked questions
Why do companies need talent mapping?
Implementing talent mapping can help ensure that employees are positioned in roles that align with their skills, knowledge, and experience. Without using talent mapping services, employers might face difficulties in bridging skills gaps, retaining key personnel, achieving business goals, and expanding the company.
Where should you start talent mapping?
Initiating the talent mapping process involves conducting an assessment of the workforce to find any existing skills shortages. Following this assessment, employers can tackle these deficiencies by either enhancing the skills of their current staff or by bringing in new talent.
What tools do you need for talent mapping?
For effective talent mapping, organizations require robust talent management and analytics platforms that offer capabilities for:
- Evaluating the strengths of employees
- Facilitating the growth and development of employees
- Tracking and assessing employee performance
- Planning for leadership and role succession
How do you use a talent map?
Talent maps can be strategically employed in workforce planning to detect areas of skill shortages, gain insights into where additional employee support is necessary, and determine how to allocate organizational resources optimally.
Learn More
Looking for strategies to align your workforce with your business goals? You can benefit from ADP’s talent management system - a comprehensive solution that helps you manage your employees from hiring to growth.
Talk to us about your talent mapping challenges, and we’ll walk you through our solutions — including how companies like yours use them. Call 866-622-8153 or start a quote.
This guide is intended to be used as a starting point in analyzing talent mapping and is not a comprehensive resource of requirements. It offers practical information concerning the subject matter and is provided with the understanding that ADP is not rendering legal or tax advice or other professional services.
