The economic landscape’s turbulence has pushed organisations to seek comprehensive talent insights. Talent Intelligence bridges the gap between external and internal talent trends, guiding strategic talent decisions. “That’s why at Booking.com, Talent Intelligence works to connect the dots between external and internal talent trends in order to influence decisions around how we hire, retain and organise our talent”, Dooley and Carney say.
“Talent Intelligence works to connect the dots between external and internal talent trends in order to influence decisions around how we hire, retain and organise our talent.”
“We have seen an increased demand from our stakeholders on using data and the continuously changing market trends to enable our leadership and managers. There is so much data out there, it is important that we highlight what is important for them to take forward in strategic decision-making.”
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The benefits of Talent Intelligence
A well-structured Talent Intelligence team empowers HR and Talent Acquisition partners to proactively bring insights to stakeholders. That’s no different at Booking. “For us, the infrastructure of our Talent intelligence team allows us to enable our partners in Talent Acquisition and HR to be proactive in bringing insights to their stakeholders”, they say. “And to be better equipped to advise at various levels of the business.”
“We can respond to trends, so we can be bleeding-edge when it comes to our attraction and engagement tactics and strategy.””
“We can be agile in individualised conversations with hiring managers and candidates alike. Tailored strategies to address identified areas of opportunity. We can respond to trends, so we can be bleeding-edge when it comes to our attraction and engagement tactics and strategy. As well as being able to prioritise components of a winning candidate experience.”
Empowered to use data
Booking.com’s talent market-mapping and market supply and demand trends tool empower teams to engage candidates effectively, influence hiring strategies, and adapt to evolving talent landscapes. “One of the first enablement tools we delivered as a team was centred around talent market-mapping and market supply and demand trends.”
“We created a centralised methodology and consistent framework that ensured our talent attraction teams and hiring managers are empowered to use the latest data. This allows them to have more valuable conversations with candidates, influence hiring strategy and understand location strategies and how the talent landscape is changing.”
Combining passion for talent and data
Simone Dooley, the Lead Talent Intelligence Partner at Booking.com, shares her journey in a role that wasn’t all too common just a few years ago. “When I first joined Booking.com, the Talent Intelligence team was in its infancy and my focus was to build up our competitive intelligence infrastructure and framework.” Dooley has quite a diverse background within recruitment in the Tech sector. With a special interest in analytics and project management.
“For us, it’s about the collaboration, curiosity and open-mindedness of both our partners and stakeholders.”
“This has stood me in good stead and – combining my passion for talent and data – led me to a career in Talent Intelligence. A key driver of the success of the program is the strong customer-centric culture at Booking.com. For us, it’s about the collaboration, curiosity and open-mindedness of both our partners and stakeholders.”
Educating recruiters
A crucial first step involved educating the Recruiting teams about efficient tracking methods and providing enablement tools. “So that they could effectively utilise our Talent Intelligence programs”, Dooley says. “I recognised right away the importance of aligning this new program with our Recruiting team’s existing infrastructure and ways of working. What began as a success story of enabling our recruiting teams to consistently share market insights to influence their stakeholders has scaled into a program that impacts across many departments and all levels of our organisation, which is really rewarding to see.”
‘Start small’
From their experience, what would Dooley and Carney advice be for organisations that still have to start from scratch? “Start small. For example, one of the first successful projects for us was simply understanding and defining our organisation’s talent competitors. This was a great opportunity to use internal and external data points to test a theory and build a data driven story.”
“Data analysis, story-telling and curiosity are must haves for any talent intelligence professional.”
And while starting small is always a good idea, Dooley sees a critical role for TI leaders in the future. “In my view, Talent Intelligence leaders play a critical role in bringing together expertise from both the internal and external talent lens. Data analysis, story-telling and curiosity are must haves for any talent intelligence professional. However, another critical element to leadership is leading with values. We keep our guiding principles of collaboration, impact, simplicity and empowerment at the forefront of how we execute, building trust and confidence along the way.”
The future of Talent Intelligence
So where is it all headed? Talent Intelligence is, of course, still a fairly new word that has entered the recruiting space. Will the rise of TI turn out to be a turning point for Talent Acquisition and recruiting? “In the not-so-distant future, I think we will regard this period as a pivotal moment in the world of HR, Recruitment, and Talent Intelligence. With technology increasingly embracing automation and scalability, talent intelligence teams will advance their expertise to play a vital role in shaping the long-term talent strategy of organisations. The best is yet to come.”
Don’t miss Booking at the Talent Intelligence Conference
Catch Simone Dooley and Kari Carney from Booking.com (and many others) at the first-ever edition of the Global Talent Intelligence Conference. On September 27-28, Intelligence Group will organise the Talent Intelligence Conference in collaboration with ToTalent, Stratigens, Werf& and the Talent Intelligence Collective. Book your tickets here.
