July 3, 2013

Stepping Stones: A Taste of Integrated Talent Management

by Renee Polk, SPHR, AHRMA 2013 President-Elect, Stepping Stones Coordinator

“The flavor of this presentation is Texas BBQ—simple, meaty, humorous, interactive and probably messy.”  

This is how Dan Medlin, Talent Acquisition Leader for Samsung Austin Semiconductor, and Scott Beardsley, Market Manager for Technology Navigators, described their recent Stepping Stones to Enhanced Leadership session on Integrated Talent Management.  Their 4-hour morning session focused on proactive strategies for “getting, keeping and growing” employees as an overlapping and continuous process that is both a human capital and business imperative.

Sounds impressive, but does the process work?  Dan and Scott have refined their “Texas BBQ” of talent acquisition and human resources management for a combined half-century of success.  Dan brings experience in corporate staffing, agency recruiting and as an independent headhunter.  Scott brings experience in contingency search, contract staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, professional services/consulting and corporate staffing.  

So, what did the Stepping Stones participants say about the session?

“The class was excellent. The speakers were knowledgeable, engaging and very well prepared. They gave us a detailed road map to build a successful talent management program. I love their top-down approach. I feel that I know now where to go and what to do. “
“Talent management is a very broad topic and the presenters did a nice job of covering the end-to-end integrated topic.  Their direct experience made the subject very interesting.” 
“The class gave us a general framework and a detailed action plan. We will use the framework for our company and prioritize the actions. It will take time to implement what I have learned during the class, but we can start, one piece at a time.” 
“Our recruiting process sometimes takes a while and I hadn't kept in touch with candidates in the past unless I had something to tell them. Now I will keep in touch with the top candidates regularly, even if it's just to tell them we're still working through our internal process.” 
“Even though we're a small company and can't afford a large, fully integrated applicant tracking system I found out there are some low or no-cost programs that may work for us. I've put implementing a system on my list.”

Stepping Stones to Enhanced Leadership is a 2009 Pinnacle Award-winning program created by the Austin Human Resource Management Association (AHRMA) leadership to establish a pipeline for AHRMA’s Board of Directors, provide professional development from best-in-class subject matter experts, and enhance workplace engagement and strategic partnership of program participants. Program participants attend nine (9), 4-hour workshop sessions focusing on a variety of strategic leadership topics.  Stepping Stones sessions are certified for Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI) credit.