Society Events
Brokering Peace in the War for Talent
Date: Tue, Oct 13th, 2009 6:00:01 pm | Location: Bernard Hodes Ltd, 10 Regents Wharf, All Saints St, London N1 9RL | Speaker: Bob Hughes, Network Rail
Talent Management has been a feature of employment practices ever since the industrial revolution. The only key difference is in the way information on employees has been stored and handled, and the introduction of formal reviews, thereby improving internal management procedures.
However, employment patterns have shifted and individual skills are now more highly prized, resulting in shortages of specific areas of talent. Organisations try to address this by offering advantageous terms and conditions but frequently these conditions are not the most important criteria in recruitment and retention. Organisations need to reinvent themselves to make themselves attractive to candidates: they need to take a wider view on their culture and build their brands around their people so that it reflects them, their attitudes and in turn the way the outside world views the organisation. In turn, they can be perceived as attractive employers and consequently attract a wide range of quality candidates.
In order to achieve this, they need to change not just their "culture", but also their philosophy to accommodate the aspirations of candidates. This requires a major shift in approach.
Network Rail operates in one of the toughest and most transparent areas, and the HR function is permanently open to scrutiny, criticism and even ridicule. However, despite the difficult conditions, the organisation has managed to make huge strides in challenging its thinking and approach to recruitment, resulting in the highest ever quality of applications for its positions.
Bob Hughes, as talent manager, has been at the forefront of these developments and we are grateful to him for sharing with the Society his views and his approach to these radical changes which are evolving within an organisation which is steeped in traditional working practices. Following on a distinguished career at BT, Bob has won a Business in the Community Big Tick Award and in 2006 the Talent Management Award from Personnel Today.
The presentation will run from 6.30 - 7.45, and will be preceded by drinks from 6.00 pm and will be followed by networking and refreshments. The evening will finish at 9.00 pm.
We should like to thank Bernard Hodes Group for their sponsorship and support for this event.
Member price: £free
Non member price: £25
