George Ander in his book, A Rare Find introduced the term “Jagged Resume,” which elaborated on how today’s career paths are way more agile than those of yesteryears. Empowering organizations involves not only becoming equipped with the capabilities to achieve business goals but also to make the talent capable of achieving those goals. 

In today’s fast-paced workforce models, career paths are no longer vertical and jump across multiple roles through series of learning, implementing, taking feedback, reinventing and repeating this cycle in a very short span of time. Hence, the way talent is assessed for both knowledge and attitude is undergoing paradigm shifts. At the same time, it is also becoming critical For Talent Acquisition (TA) leaders to think innovatively to plan and build a workforce for tomorrow and beyond.

Employer branding, employee journeys, and TA technologies

Delving deeper into this, SDA Bocconi Asia Center(Previously MISB Bocconi) and People Matters organized a half day event on “Empowering Organizations: Building the Workforce of Tomorrow & Beyond,” bringing forth poignant conversations about employer branding, candidate experience, employee journeys and TA technologies. 

Opening the day with the personal journey of SDA Bocconi Asia Center (previously MISB Bocconi), Alessandro Giuliani, Managing Director SDA Bocconi Asia Center shared, “MISB has had a great reception from corporations in Mumbai in the last 6 years. It has been a great learning of leveraging international exposure and interaction with local companies which has formed a strong base as we now transform to the Asian center for SDA Bocconi."

The first session by Prof. David Bardolet, Dean of SDA Bocconi Asia Center focused on the newer organizational trends including changing structures, expectations from the managers and much more. Speaking on the larger vision of SDA Bocconi Asia Center, Professor Bardolet shared, “SDA Bocconi is a school with a profound international vocation and  by placing our Asia Center in Mumbai we are perfectly poised to become a hub that can connect our knowledge base in Italy with India, China the Middle East and the rest of Asia.”

The event brought together industry leaders including Rajesh Padmanabhan, Group CHRO, Welspun Group;  Animesh Kumar, Advisor, Digital Transformation, Future Group; Gaurav Ahluwalia, Managing Director – HR, JP Morgan Chase; Deepayan Sensharma, Director – HR, JLT; Indrajeet Sengupta, CHRO, Johnson and Johnson; Rajani Athereya, COO-HR, DBS; Aalok Purohit, Global Director – Talent Acquisition APAC, Zycus  and Ashish Vidyarthi, Actor, Avid Miner as speakers.

Here is a quick summary of discussions that ensued through the day:

• What is talent? Sharing stories from his experiences, Rajesh Padmanabhan elucidated beautifully, saying “talent is a differentiator” and it is up to the organizations to develop and leverage these differentiators to the best of the potential. HR leaders need to question the notion of successful businesses only on the expected growth rates and develop the talent in line with that rate. There is a precaution to be taken here, viz.,  developing too much may create a poaching ground and developing too less may lead to under preparation.
  
  
• The three key pillar of candidate experience includes accessing candidate information with respect, disseminating the information and using technology effectively.  Animesh Kumar commented, “As talent acquisition professionals, our role is to change the mindsets of the organization in the way they deal with talent.” Interestingly, Padmanabhan reminded the TM leaders that we are not selling careers and roles; we are selling experiences.
  
  
• But what defines the characteristics of talent of tomorrow? Gaurav Ahluwalia shared three key competencies – 1) adaptability & agility, 2) ability to build and leverage networks and 3) ability to continuously upskill and reskill. Adding to this, Indrajit Sengupta shared that it is all about networking, being able to use data and cognitive capabilities to manage load contributions. Performance scalability and business results are the key characteristics of these differentiators, said Padmanabhan.
  
  

Summing up, the event was beautifully concluded with an inspiring keynote on pushing the boundaries of imagination; Ashish Vidyarthi brought it all together by focusing on throwing the past to reinvent and creating a sparkling organization of tomorrow.