Blog

Simplifying Workforce Planning for Summer 2024: Practical Tips for HR Leaders

By Linda Brenner | April 01, 2024

In today's data-rich landscape, workforce planning is essential for HR leaders to identify talent-related priorities and investments. While tools like Visier and Tableau provide instant and slick access to data, the challenge lies in ensuring its accuracy, deciphering its true meaning and turning it into actionable plans. By focusing on key metrics such as attrition rates and tenure distributions, HR leaders can create directionally-accurate workforce plans that can evolve over time to enable their organizations navigate the most complex talent marketplace we've ever known. This article details a roadmap that will help HR leaders build a simple workforce plan that will allow them to address the most important people-related trends in their organization, now and in the future.

Our March ‘24 Newsletter: Chock Full of Talent News

By Linda Brenner | March 25, 2024

In case you missed it, here's our March '24 newsletter . . . talent insights that have a long shelf life.

Our January ‘24 Newsletter: Chock Full of Talent News

By Linda Brenner | January 16, 2024

In case you missed it, here's our January '24 newsletter . . . talent insights that have a long shelf life.

Let’s Modernize Talent Acquisition Before Jumping on the AI Train

By Linda Brenner | January 15, 2024

HR and Talent Acquisition teams often lack the necessary foundation to make AI truly effective because of undefined processes, ambiguous roles and unclear goals. So before delving into AI-driven solutions, TA needs to build its foundation: clear strategies, well-defined and differentiated processes, supporting org design and data-based measures of success. Only then it can be determined where AI can add the most value.

Our Dec ‘23 Newsletter: Chock Full of Talent News

By Linda Brenner | December 20, 2023

In case you missed it, here's our December 2023 newsletter . . . talent insights that have a long shelf life.

Hiring Manager Satisfaction Surveys: The Worst Thing to (Still) Happen to Talent Acquisition

By Linda Brenner | November 20, 2023

Hiring managers rating recruiters on how well they filled their job does nothing but reinforce arcane and counter-productive behaviors. Rather than asking: "Do you like us? Were we responsive and pleasant? Did you like our candidates?", Talent Acquisition teams should be measured on hiring speed and quality. Note: by "quality" we mean how well did new hires stay in the role and how well did they perform. Because, like it or not, if TA isn't hiring people who stay and perform, something is amiss. Hiring managers, in turn, will *really* like recruiters if they hire top talent who stay longer than their predecessors. But, if you just can't let these surveys go, read on for tips for best positioning these surveys.

Where the Talent Went and What To Do About It

By Linda Brenner | November 07, 2023

Despite the waning of the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring and retention remain a significant challenge for businesses. Factors contributing to this shortage include demographic shifts, declining birthrates, and lower labor force participation rates. Here are four strategies to address this issue. And do it now, because it's not going to get easier anytime soon.

How Many Reqs Should a Recruiter Carry? A Recruiter Workload Calculator for Today’s Talent Teams

By Linda Brenner | June 09, 2023

The most common question we're asked is: "How many reqs should our recruiters carry?" And it's the right question because it is an indicator of efficiency, effectiveness, resource allocation, load balancing, and investment in talent acquisition. Finally, a roadmap for answering this question and ultimately improving TA effectiveness is a click away.

Talent Acquisition Technology Isn’t Going to Fix Your Hiring Problems

By Linda Brenner | May 02, 2023

Despite the explosive growth of talent acquisition technologies - and the vast number of problems they claim to solve - hiring isn’t getting better, faster or cheaper. Why?

Re-Engineering Recruiting: Tips for Assessing and Improving your Talent Acquisition Function

By Linda Brenner | February 06, 2023

Now might be the optimal time to re-engineer your recruiting processes. Start by objectively determining which metrics are most important to your business, how to evaluate them and the best approach for improving these outcomes.

2023 Talent Analytics Playbook for CHROs

By Tom McGuire | October 11, 2022

The explosion of HR tools, technology and trends makes zeroing in on essential analytics more difficult than ever. How should Talent Analytics define HR priorities? What are the greatest obstacles to achieving effectiveness? What does a Talent Analytics "homerun" look like? In 2023, talent analytics should not just support, but fundamentally drive, your organization's business strategy.

The Most Effective Recruitment Process in the Toughest Talent Marketplace

By Linda Brenner | April 28, 2022

It’s a trick: the most effective recruitment process isn’t one - it's multiple processes, differentiated and highly engineered. Because in the most challenging talent marketplace that most of us have ever worked in, we can't wing it anymore - nor can we build our processes based on what we've always done, or what hiring managers demand.

Five Reasons Why Candidates Aren’t Applying to Your Jobs

By Linda Brenner | October 17, 2021

There are many reasons why candidates aren't applying to jobs the way they did before the pandemic. A recent survey identified five key reasons for this (hint: 'being lazy and on unemployment' didn't make the list.)

Are you in a War *ON* Talent or a War *FOR* Talent?

By Linda Brenner | July 22, 2021

Here are eight clues for determining where your organization falls.

Technology is Not the Answer to Your Hiring Problems

By Linda Brenner | May 05, 2021

The rapid growth of talent acquisition technologies, and all the problems they portend to solve, makes investment in them tempting - particularly during these unpredictable times. But TA tech is not going to solve most hiring problems.

How to Improve Recruiting: Begin with a SWOT Analysis

By Tom McGuire | March 29, 2021

Need to figure out how to improve hiring speed, quality and diversity? Begin with one of the most tried-and-true methods to assessing strengths and weaknesses: a SWOT framework for recruiting. Learn how this method can help you get started the right way.

8 Keys to Ensuring Your Newly Hired Black Executive Fails: A Case Study

By Linda Brenner | January 25, 2021

Proper recruiting, selection, onboarding and performance management routines are critical for the success of any new executive, but particularly for companies seeking to expand diversity among their leadership ranks. The old routines that may have worked reasonably well with primarily White leaders need to be examined and adapted to successfully and consistently win high performing Black talent.

3 Steps to a Rapid and Effective Talent Acquisition Functional Audit

By Linda Brenner | July 21, 2020

Regardless of how COVID-19 has affected your organization, now is the time to streamline and improve the speed and quality of hiring. There is very little tolerance from senior leaders for time- and labor-intensive hiring efforts with questionable results. Now is the time to objectively assess talent acquisition efforts and determine the best (and fastest) path forward to win top talent quickly and cost effectively.

3 Keys to an Effective Recruitment Department Structure

By Linda Brenner | October 07, 2019

Org design can be a powerful tool for addressing efficiency and effectiveness problems, but it can’t work in isolation. Here are three keys to making your org design deliver improved speed and quality of hiring.

RPO Lessons Learned: Spotting RPO Dysfunction

By Tom McGuire | July 17, 2019

So your organization is using an RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) firm and you suspect things aren't going as planned? Or perhaps you are considering an RPO? Read on to learn about these common pitfalls. And check out other articles in our series to find solutions.

Linda Brenner named Top HR Tech Influencer!

By Kerri Markovic | April 24, 2019

The Human Resource Executive (HRE) and HR Tech Conference team released the first edition of the Top 100 HR Tech Influencers, and TGA Founder & Managing Partner, Linda Brenner, made the list. Dubbed “100 individuals who have shaped the world of HR technology”, the list is comprised of people from traditional HR roles, consultants/advisors, and “new media“ influencers. Read more about it here.

How Do You Measure Quality of Hire in a Full Employment Economy?

By Tom McGuire | November 28, 2018

In this full employment economy, finding and winning top talent for critical roles is a key business success factor. But if you’re still thinking about quality of hire in the old way (hiring manager surveys to assess ‘happiness’ with the recruiting team or managers' assessment of a new hire 30 days in), then you’re missing the chance to prove the value of Talent Acquisition in 2019 and beyond. 

A High Volume Hiring Case Study: Improving Hiring Speed, Quality and Cost

By Linda Brenner | September 12, 2018

The Challenge: Improve the quality of hiring high volume, customer service-oriented front line employees. In turn, increase speed to hire and reduce overall hiring costs.

Talent Acquisition Audit:  Six Signs That You Need One

By Linda Brenner | January 15, 2018

Six circumstances where it makes sense to bring in outside, unbiased resources to conduct a talent acquisition audit.

Our Bloggers

Linda Brenner

Linda is an industry vet with keen observations and a knack for calling it like it is.

Meet Linda

Tom McGuire

Tom brings the unlikely blend of Finance & HR to the practice, illuminating readers with the link between talent and business value.

Meet Tom