UNLEASH America: How to attract talent for the future

The ‘Great Resignation’ isn’t just about pay – employees are also prepared to quit their jobs for other companies that offer them opportunities to learn and grow.

They also want to feel that their work has purpose, and that they are valued by their team and employer more broadly.

But how should organizations go about building a talent strategy that shows off learning and development opportunities, as well as other benefits that employees want in the current war for talent and beyond?

General Motors’ head of talent attraction, sourcing and insight Kyle Lagunas, Bobby Matthews, vice-president of talent brand and campus recruitment at MUFG, and Dustin Cann, senior director of talent acquisition strategy and enablement at Splunk, sat down to discuss the answer at UNLEASH America 2022.

During the session, they not only discussed how to think longer-term with talent attraction, but reminded us that tech has a major role to play here.

Implementing a future-focused talent strategy

For the speakers, looking long-term is crucial to success. Splunk’s Cann shared that “if you’re not nurturing relationships and playing the long game with candidates, you’re not going to meet your objectives” in terms of hiring.

Lagunas from General Motors agrees. He shared that it is time to get proactive, and this helps to enable “my recruiters to have some breathing room”.

The idea is to engage talent long-term and beyond the application process, and meeting them where they are. Whether that is by sending them newsletters with open roles or reaching out to them directly to apply for new positions that have opened up that fit with their skills.

For Lagunas, marketing is key to future-focused talent approaches.

Cann added that the key is relationships – “we need to be going out, developing and nurturing those relationships over a period of years”.

The role of tech

All three speakers spoke a lot about how they used tech.

Matthews shared that there is a plethora of tools out there, and “it is easy sometimes to get distracted by new shiny objects, but we also have to think about the recruiter experience”.

To do this, for Matthews and MUFG, the aim is to have integrated tools so recruiters aren’t wasting time navigating 15 different tools.

While the candidate experience is crucial when deciding on what tech to invest in, Matthews noted “you really want it to be a great recruiter experience as well”.

Cann added the “first trick is ensuring you’ve got something that is consistent, effective”, as well as easy to use.

“Don’t just buy a gadget, first have a purpose that’s tied to business values”.

Matthews agreed: “You should be looking at the problem you’re trying to solve”, and ensure you can pull the data you need to improve your recruiting for the future.

If you want more from UNLEASH America but couldn’t make it to Las Vegas, check out our website and our social media channels.