5 Steps for Defining and Building a Sustainable Talent Strategy

Organizational success hinges on a strong and enduring talent strategy. To succeed in a competitive labor market, businesses must be able to both attract and retain skilled candidates—which is only half the battle. With the workplace rapidly changing due to advancements like AI and trends like remote work, companies must seek candidates who can meet both present and future demands.

Unlike static recruitment plans, which can quickly become obsolete in a dynamic market, sustainable talent strategies constantly evolve and adapt to market trends, workforce composition, and recruitment forecasts.

What Exactly is a Sustainable Talent Strategy?

Talent sustainability refers to an organization's ongoing ability to attract, develop, and retain skilled candidates equipped for current and future roles. A key advantage of a sustainable talent strategy is its ability to keep the company ahead of its competition by combining external recruitment with internal advancement.

Many companies tend to focus on recruitment as a quick fix for immediate vacancies, turning it into an urgent and chaotic task. However, effective recruitment traditionally involves attracting quality job applicants, analyzing their skills, and hiring them for the right positions.

A sustainable talent strategy, on the other hand, goes well beyond this. It looks to the future and aligns recruitment efforts with long-term business objectives. This gives companies the space to identify candidates who not only fit into the organization but also have the drive, initiative, and potential to contribute meaningfully to its future. The key word here: “future.” A sustainable talent strategy is an evolving process that considers current market trends, workplace diversity, and recruitment predictions to create a future-proof workforce.

How Development and Mobility Play a Critical Role

In today’s unpredictable work environment, characterized by new technology like AI, career advancement opportunities are vital to employee retention. This is important because a sustainable strategy is a win for all. Companies that divide time and resources between current employees and new hires foster better organizational growth and recruitment costs. Neglecting existing employees in favor of new recruits can have damaging effects on organizational growth and employee loyalty.

A sustainable talent strategy involves preparing for hiring surges and long-term talent management. To do this, consider the following questions:

• What are your long-term organizational goals?
• What type of talent is needed to achieve these goals?
• How can you integrate your organizational values into your talent strategy?
• How can you create a program framework supporting your talent strategy?
• How will you assess the progress of your talent strategy?

Building an Efficient and Sustainable Talent Pipeline

In the current market, it’s not enough for companies to post jobs and hope for the best candidates to appear. Establishing a candidate pipeline will help you hit the ground running when hiring picks up again, especially if your organization has slowed down on hiring new talent.

An effective talent pipeline is a pool of qualified and suitable candidates who might fill roles within the organization once positions open up. Usually, talent pipelines include both internal and external candidates that companies intend to promote or hire, respectively. Here are 5 steps to creating a future-ready pipeline:

Step 1: Planning

Align your talent strategy with long-term organizational goals. This involves understanding current and future talent needs, a process known as talent mapping. Key questions to consider include:

• Are you planning to expand your organization?
• Do you plan to change locations or go remote?
• Which departments need the most support?
• What skill sets are needed to meet business goals?
• How will you upskill current employees?
• Are you anticipating any major organizational changes?

Step 2: Sourcing

Organizations must get proactive when building out an effective talent strategy. Companies can actively seek out candidates for their talent pipeline by using methods such as:

• Employee Referrals: Encourage current employees to refer candidates. This is becoming a dominant sourcing tactic, and it’s typically very successful in finding strong candidates.
• Job Fairs and Networking Events: Engaging with candidates in person is a great way to develop strong, winning connections. This method can speed up the process compared to online outreach, such as email. Additionally, this is an excellent way to keep passive talent in the loop. Campus job fairs, for example, allow you to scout out early-career talent.
• Recruitment Databases: Use applications like ATS, CRM, or other talent management tools. If you haven’t already implemented some of these tools into your talent strategy, now is a great time to embrace a data-driven policy. You can refer to the LHH candidate search portal, which is full of vetted talent.
• Social Channels: Utilize platforms like LinkedIn, GitHub, and niche job boards. LinkedIn is an easy option to revert to, but other platforms like Twitter (X) or Instagram can drum up much wider candidate pools.

Step 3: Connect

After identifying potential candidates for your talent pipeline, the next step is to engage and connect with them. This phase must be navigated tactfully, as it is a crucial part of your strategy. At this point, you’re not extending a job offer or encouraging them to apply for a specific position; rather, you’re establishing a genuine connection. Be proactive about finding shared interests and common ground with these potential hires.

It's crucial, however, to approach this exchange with finesse to avoid overwhelming candidates. Focus on understanding their goals and experiences. Maintain honest and consistent communication, keeping candidates informed about new projects and upcoming roles.

Step 4: Assess

Connecting with potential candidates allows you to assess their hard and soft skills and explore whether they align with the company's goals. During the connecting process, consider their past experiences, potential value to the organization, and opportunities for learning and development. Here are some good questions to consider during the assessment period:

• Does the candidate possess skills to fulfill your business needs?
• Is there scope to develop those (and other) skills within the organization?
• How is the candidate adding value to your organization?
• Are their past experiences applicable to any potential roles at your company?
• How can you support the candidate in fulfilling their goals and needs?

Step 5: Nurture

Now you’ve successfully built a talent pipeline—congrats! But the work is far from over. It’s crucial to continuously adapt and refine your talent strategy, meaning this is where the real work begins. This phase of the process is integral to building a strategy that not only attracts the best candidates but also keeps hold of your best internal workers.

It will require a strategic blueprint. The goal is to keep candidates interested without driving them away. An overload of irrelevant job listings is one example of potential overkill. Instead, maintain candidates' interest by engaging them with relevant content and development opportunities. Training and growth initiatives, while costly, are investments that will pay dividends for both the candidates and the organization in the future.

For more valuable insights into developing an effective and sustainable talent strategy, explore our latest white paper, How to Build a Sustainable Talent Strategy.