Definition of a Talent Community

By Mark Mehler and Gerry Crispin

This brief but solid list of practical notions by Gautam Ghosh is well worth thinking about for 2012 (another thoughtful blog by Gautam emphasizing the marketing component of SM is also good). In part, Gautam said:

• Talent communities are where people go to connect with fellow professionals and learn. Hence they are more “communities of practice” than anything else.
• Talent communities are [also] places one goes to find experts.
• Talent communities are [also] places one goes to build their own personal career brand.
• Companies must engage in talent communities by letting [THEIR] internal experts connect with and build their own networks.
• The best Talent Community Facilitator would be an expert in the roles – not necessarily a recruiter.
• The focus on jobs/recruiting has to be secondary to the above.

These, mostly ‘declarative’ statements, should make every staffing leader stop and think about whether a) you believe them to be true and, b) if so, can a company reasonably achieve these goals while cherry picking continuously from this same community for currently open jobs.

The answers are not so obvious and in 2012 we suggest participating or lurking at Marvin Smith’s excellent Linkedin Group, Talent Communities Development where the discussions are lively and raise even more questions.

— Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler work full time consulting, educating and discovering how talent and opportunity connect through emerging technology. They can be reached via email at mmc@careerxroads.com, phone at 732-821-6652, or on-line at http://www.careerxroads.com.