TALENT management is not only about the capabilities and skills that exist inside an organisation. Often it is about keeping an eye on what is going on outside an organisation and can involve finding and attracting outsiders who have special expertise or knowledge.

As an RO provider becomes more engaged in an employer’s activities, “they come to know your business”, says Ian Dunn, HR director, UK and Ireland, for SAS business intelligence software. “And they understand where your business is heading three, six, 12 months down the line.”

Dunn, who is also responsible for the company’s pan-European recruitment, is speaking of his firm’s three-year relationship with Profiles Resource Management, in which talent management has emerged as a key area of emphasis in the RO programme. “They can also begin to have a close eye on the market, and recognise the risks and the hot spots at the moment, or where there may be potential opportunities. They may know which kinds of people are in demand, or they may be able to say, ‘You don’t want one of those.’ ” With headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, the heart of a high-tech research and development corridor in America, SAS has wanted to become a “much more global organisation”, says Dunn, whose office is in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The desire to become a global presence has meant more than simply planting footprints in diverse locations around the world; Dunn says that the term “global” had to reflect the people working for the company as well.

“We want the team to be diverse and to reflect our customer base,” Dunn explains. In this instance, the talent management element of the RO service required by SAS meant that Profiles had to ensure its teams managed diverse talent onto candidate short lists for jobs within the company. “My biggest measure of success was: Was I going to see pan-European short lists for seven positions we had to fill?” Dunn says.

The approach Profiles took was to put a centralised talent acquisition team on the case to conduct searches for appropriate candidates in each of the 25 European countries in which SAS had a presence. Once potential candidates were found and approached, a single dedicated talent manager created the short list.

And by Dunn’s own criteria, the top measure of success was achieved. He says: “There were four, five or six nationalities on the short lists.”

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