I’ve been having similar conversations with a number of clients recently about talent.

As their teams expand they’re looking for the right people to come on board into senior positions. I’m pleased to observe that they are going about it in the right way. Here’s what I mean….

They are NOT surprising themselves with the fact they need someone new. They’ve planned for a while the role(s) that they want & when they want to fill them.

They’ve NOT just put out an ad & rushed the recruitment. They’ve produced accurate role descriptions & created clear personas for the ideal candidate.

They’ve NOT been reactive. They’ve engaged good quality recruiters AND they’ve taken a proactive, long-term view on talent attraction by scanning the market & nurturing relationships with prospective future team members. We call it, “lining up the bench”.

Good talent tend to already be in good positions & are not necessarily “on the market”. Opening a dialogue & keeping in touch with people is the clever game. Things change. Personal situations change. Business structures change. Whilst it admitedly takes effort, it’s worth nurturing relationships to have a potential line up on the bench for when the time is right.