On the 14th of June, the seminar organised by BBGV and TRG International raised a controversial topic: “Grow your employees or Hire Ready-made Talents?” which attracted the attention of many participants.

The main speaker of the event was Mr. Rick Yvanovich - Founder & CEO of TRG International. The seminar provided all attendees with a chance to explore both spectrums “Build vs. Buy Talents” as well as to help them understand how to identify and fill the talent gaps in their organisations. According to Rick: “Once you’ve understood your talent baseline, you can start closing the gaps between where your company is currently standing and where you need to be.” 

Read more: What Should Be Included in Your Employee’s Development Plan? (P.1)

Should you grow your own talents or hire ready-made ones?

Not having the right people is the perennial issue many companies face as they try to adapt to the ever-evolving environment. In fact, one of the toughest questions in talent management that business owners and hiring managers struggle with is whether we should nurture our own talents within our existing pool of potential candidates (Build), or hire someone that already has all the required skills to bring in new experience (Buy).

Read more: Companies’ Views on Talent Management (Part 1)

The answer is: There isn’t one correct answer, because each choice has pluses and minuses from a talent perspective. Choosing to build talent internally, or to hire from the outside, depends on the given situation and is a critical strategic decision.

Nurturing your currently available talents is certainly less costly and less risky but it takes time, investment and commitment from both organisation and the individuals. Meanwhile, acquiring ready-made talents can satisfy the urgency of filling a vacancy, the need for K-S-A (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities) for specific positions or your organisation is in need of a change agent. However, this method inquires a higher cost.

Read more: [Infographic] Distinguishing Between High Potential and High Performing Employees

Is there a framework to help you decide?

Before choosing between Build and Buy, the business owner/manager has to determine which approach best fits their organisational needs. Rick gave the participants a hint by showcasing the following graph:

To know whether your needs are urgent, you have to answer 2 questions: how much time do you have, and what is the opportunity cost of not having someone in place? It is tempting to say that all talent needs are urgent, but when you force yourself to prioritise and visualise the alternative without such person, you will be able to better see Grow opportunities.                                                                                

Read more: How to protect your data when employees leave

How about talent gap? How much talent gap is acceptable? The advice is: "Turn to the external market if the candidates' skills would be 25 to 35% better than your current employees, or if you need an infusion of talent".

To measure skill gap, you need to determine the requirements for the needed skill (job description, business objectives, and company’s values). To solve this problem, TRG Talent provides a wide array of Talent Management Solutions aiming at assisting companies in dealing with complex talent-related issues via customisable Assessments, Performance appraisal solution and 360-degree feedback system. TRG Talent's solutions are operated completely online, making it convenient for companies to implement and manage talent management projects.

Read more: Blurring Your Employee’s Skill Gaps and Unlock Their Potential

At the end of the seminar, Rick emphasised that "Understanding your talent infrastructure is the key". According to Rick, there are 3 critical steps to build up your talent infrastructure:

1. Talent Audit - identify the desired competencies for key positions as well as the potential candidates in your organisation.
2. Build Talent Strategy – align the reality with the goals of your talent strategy. That's when everyone utilises the above-mentioned
3. Apply Talent Strategy - be prepared if anything will go wrong.

At the end of the talk, Rick and all participants discussed some case studies and summed up the event in 3 key takeaways:

• No single approach is the best, you should consider a blend of approaches
• Talent Gap and Urgency are the indicators to consider when building a talent strategy
• Building a benchmark to evaluate potentials for a key position is a must-have for organisations

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