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Recruiting “High Potential Future Leadership Talent”

Jun 6, 2014 | Field Reports

5 practical tips to recruit High Potential Future Leadership Talents

5 practical tips to recruit the kind of people who can improve the way your organization works.

Are you seeking high potential (hi-po[i]) future leadership talent? If so, good news: They’re worldwide—and they’re seeking you, too!

In order to attract such talent, we can start by changing the way we recruit. Job advertisements tend to be too general to win the attention of a hi-po-specific audience. We’ve all heard organizations report that there is lack of qualified (diverse) candidates for leadership positions; that they’re doing their best. Perhaps they’re doing their best to hire in the same ways that they have hired before. Job descriptions are a simple start to working differently in order to capture the imaginations—and the talent—of a global pool of high-potential hires.

1. Be Specific with Your Language

In Feb. 2013, a discussion was posted to the LinkedIn group, Closeness at a Distance[ii], entitled, Help Wanted: Virtual Team Member. The LinkedIn author critiqued the world’s largest corporation on a job advertisement for the position of Virtual Team Member that it had recently posted. The author proposed that, “If we proactively define the skills needed for virtual team members of tomorrow, they will be more likely to possess such skills when they enter the…workplace.” The job advertisement was posted by Wal-Mart[iii] and read, in part:

Minimum Qualifications

  • 3-5 years of related work experience
  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
  • Must be able to travel to home office, for store and supplier visits

To what extent can typical language like that above interest exceptional candidates? What kind of recruitment pool might the following kind of language attract?

Non-Negotiable Qualifications

  • 3-5 years of sustained and transferable work experience with a diverse team striving towards a unified work result
  • Work experience that has taught you the distinctions between lessons taught to university graduates and lessons learned in the workplace
  • Must be able to leverage work-related travel commitments as opportunities to ascertain the business needs of key stakeholders and build trust-based relationships

2. “Story-Tell” To Recruit the Candidate You Want

In this sense, “storytelling” means creatively communicating the narrative of “who” the organization is with authenticity—not telling untruths.

In the April 2014 article, How Storytelling Can Get You The Job You Want, interviewee Sandy Khan, founder of the soon-to-be-launched resource site, MBA Arena, described herself as, “a builder of MBA talent pools for multinational companies.” Khan said, “Regardless of the sector or the function, whether it’s the U.S., Asia, or Europe– all MBA recruiters are looking for the same thing: high potential future leadership talent. This is their future leadership pipeline…”. In the course of Khan’s 20-year career, she has focused on helping multinationals recruit talent, and helping MBA students get recruited. Khan’s client list has included Google EMEA, Microsoft International; she has worked in partnership with some of Europe’s top-ranked business schools, including IESE and IE.

By “stories,” Khan meant that “the [MBA] student needs to be authentic in their communications.” “In fact,” continued Khan, “both MBAs and employers fail miserably at explaining just what they bring to the table…Figuring out how to fill this gap with coherent and sincere narratives from both sides translates to a better fit for employers and employees.” Exceptional employers and employees win by sharing the story of how they add value.

3. Reflect the Organization for What It Is—Not For What It’s Envisioned to Become

Advertise the culture of the organization for what it currently is—and not for what leadership wishes for it to become. After all, high potential future leadership talent are not hired on their potential alone—they’re hired for what they can currently deliver.

In the April 2014 Financial Times article, A mission to win over women to the MBA, Professor Alex Frino, Dean of Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney, Australia, said that, “We have a shortage of leadership capital in the country and a group of women who could satisfy that shortage.” The article reports Mar. 2014 figures released by Australia’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency that reveal an 80% margin of opportunity for Australia’s largest investment banks to appoint women to senior management positions. Identifying business weaknesses and threats when recruiting for open positions empowers both organizations and new hires to face potential strengths and opportunities[iv].

4. Require a Round of Reviews for Select Job Descriptions

Build in time for a diverse set of people to review draft job descriptions—not for typos, but for perspective. Invite diverse thought in order to understand how potential recruits may interpret the job advertisement and perceive the organization. Points of diversity may include job function or department; on-site or virtual working arrangement; gender; nationality, ethnicity or race; native language, and more.

5. Translate It

Translate and post translated job descriptions in language-specific media outlets that reflect the standards of your organization. While the language of power within your organization may be English, multi-lingualism is one arguable characteristic of future leadership talent. Posting public communications in multiple languages conveys the message that your organization values the kind of strengths that hi-po talent contribute. Invest in professional translation services for the job.

For information on leadership development or diversity management, contact our intercultures Global Head Office at info@intercultures.de.

The following article was included in the Apr. 2014 intercultures e-newsletter.

Sources:

[i] “Hi-Po” [pronounced: high-poe] is an abbreviation for “high potential” used to refer to select employees.

[ii] „Closeness at a Distance“ is a LinkedIn-based virtual community designed for the benefit of academic and business professionals who seek to develop their knowledge and skill around intercultural, virtual groups, teams and networks on a global scale. It is co-managed by Dr. Marcus Hildebrandt, Line Jehle, Stefan Meister and Malii Brown. Request an invitation to the group with an email to closeness@a-distance.com.[iii] According to Fortune’s 2014 Global 500 list, Wal-Mart is now the world’s second largest corporation.[iv] This statement references a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a structured, conceptual method of evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an individual, organization, industry or otherwise.

Photo credit title photo: Getty Images.