Through confidential, one-on-one engagements with markets’ best talent, organisations can identify top candidates – often passive, high-performing individuals – and gain critical insights into what it would take to secure their expertise.

Maintaining ongoing relationships and engagement with these high performers in a highly developed external talent pool ensures that, when an organisation needs to hire, it has a ready-made network of qualified candidates it can quickly bring on board. Leading organisations are tailoring or sometimes redesigning their EVP’s – Employee Value Propositions – informed by these talent insights to fuel their growth.

How access to talent can underpin growth

Beyond this, the external lens of an integrated talent strategy can provide intelligence to help organisations and investors make informed decisions about growth and acquisitions, says Justin Baker, Managing Partner at talent growth advisory firm Acquisitive Advisory, whose impressive evolution has earnt it a place on this year’s AFR Fast Starters list.

Acquisitive Advisory helps private equity backed and leading corporates to not only navigate the complexities of today’s talent market, but also unlock new opportunities for long-term success and continued growth.

Many of its clients are backed by private equity, or looking to secure such backing, and they recognise that a highly strategic approach to talent is critical for the success of their growth and expansion plans.

Certainty of talent is especially important in niche areas, such as specialist healthcare, where there might be only hundreds of clinicians in the entire talent pool.

One misconception about an external or proactive talent pipeline is that they are just a list of names and contact details, but that is to miss the point of why these strategies are so effective, Baker explains.

The idea is to understand every single individual that sits in that talent pool, to establish the complete picture, rather than only looking at those who are actively seeking a change right now.

“It’s not just about knowing who’s who in a talent-constrained industry, it’s about building relationships and knowing exactly what it will take to get those people onboard where and when you need them,” Baker says.

“A lot of the time, it’s not just about remuneration, it might be culture and values, flexible working, leadership development, or peer and clinical support – it’s about understanding what target talent really wants and how to craft an attractive proposition for them.”

As a result, private equity firms are starting to base their investment decisions on whether or not an external talent view reveals the potential for strong growth.

In areas like healthcare, leveraging an strategic and proactive talent pipeline means owners can confidently grow the business knowing that they have surety of talent.

“Scarcity of talent can be the biggest restraint on growth when it comes to a business which relies on highly trained specialists,” Baker says.

Enabling the talent search via tech

When unlocking growth via talent becomes so strategic to business planning, conversations around talent acquisition often move from the HR department to the CEO and the boardroom.

To address this shift, Acquisitive Advisory has recently acquired a technology firm and is preparing to offer clients a technology-enabled talent strategy dashboard. It will allow C-level executives to examine growth planning scenarios with insights into available talent in their industry – including heat maps of talent clusters, potential acquisition targets and a range of insights around the globe.

“Some of our clients say an external talent pipeline as part of an integrated talent strategy is a bit like mineral surveying, because it allows them to see below the surface and know exactly where to dig,” Baker says.

“Great people are the real gold in industries with a tight talent pool so, if you’re going to invest in a gold mine, then you obviously want to build it where the gold is.”

To learn more, visit acquisitive.com.au/