Talent mapping: process, template and 5 talent roadmap strategies

Talent mapping is the process of comparing the skills and roles your business will need with the people you have today and the talent available in the market, so you can plan hires, development and succession before a gap opens. The result is a talent map: a written record of your critical roles, who holds or could hold them, where the gaps are and what you will do about each one. It ties hiring to the business plan instead of to whichever requisition opened this week.

Strong teams rarely happen by accident. The leadership teams behind them have done their homework on their industry and market, the demands and motivations of their customers, and how talent acquisition technology can make recruiting more efficient across the board. Then they write a plan to guide them. That plan is a talent map.

This guide covers how talent mapping differs from succession planning, workforce planning and market mapping, a step-by-step process, a talent map template you can copy, common mistakes, how to keep the map current, and five strategies for building your talent roadmap.

What is talent mapping?

The best talent organizations plan for the short and long term rather than simply filling positions as they open up.

Talent mapping aligns your recruitment strategy with the larger goals of the business. It relies on data from different sources (business KPIs, the hiring market as a whole and your employees’ skills) to help you identify skill gaps, prepare for talent shortages and avoid talent surpluses.

The term means slightly different things depending on who uses it. In HR, talent mapping usually starts inside: which of your people could grow into the roles the business will need. Recruiting teams often focus on the outside view: where the people you want to hire work today. A useful talent map covers both, because you cannot judge your internal bench without knowing what the market offers.

Talent mapping vs succession planning vs workforce planning vs market mapping

These four plans overlap, and teams often use the names interchangeably. They answer different questions.

In practice, workforce planning sets the numbers, talent mapping shows where the people for those numbers will come from, and succession planning goes deep on the few seats where a vacancy would hurt most. For one critical leadership seat, the Findem Studio Succession Planning agent identifies internal and external successors and compares their readiness on one scorecard.

Talent mapping is different from an executive search market map, which charts the leaders at target companies for one specific search. If that is what you need, Findem Studio can build an executive search market map for you, and the first one is free (capped at 10 names).

The talent mapping process, step by step

The talent mapping process goes something like this:

1. Determine where the company is headed. Start from the business plan and pick a planning horizon that matches it. Which roles will you need to hire by then? What skills will they need? Which departments will need more support? What are the long-term goals?
2. Choose the critical roles. Not every role belongs on the map. Start with the roles where a vacancy would stall revenue, product or operations, and the roles that already take longest to fill. A short map that gets updated beats a complete one that does not.
3. Assess the current landscape. Knowing where you’re going is only part of talent mapping. Knowing how is just as important, whether you’re looking to grow the business aggressively, upskill your employees or make a few strategic hires. For each critical role, record who holds it, who could step in and how ready they are, and the skills your team has and lacks.
4. Collect data on the external market. Talking to leadership at the company, reading reports about the hiring market, and studying the practices of competitors or other industry leaders can help you gather the data you need. For each critical role, note where that talent works today, which locations have it, and how hard it will be to hire.
5. Name the gap and choose an action for each role. Compare what you need with what you have and what the market offers. For each gap, decide whether to hire, develop someone internally, move someone from another team, use contract help or accept the risk for now.
6. Develop a talent management strategy, then assign owners. To meet the objectives of your talent map, you need a talent management strategy that covers talent acquisition, talent development and talent retention. Give every action an owner and a review date.

A talent map is a document (yes, you should write it down) that lays out the steps necessary to attract and nurture the mix of employees your business needs to compete, now and in the future. The best of these recognize that there’s no single “type” of effective employee; businesses need skilled managers as well as skilled craftspeople, motivated warehouse workers as well as personable customer service representatives.

Talent map template

Copy this table into a spreadsheet and add one row per critical role. The example row is illustrative, so replace it with your own roles and people.

Keep the ratings simple so different managers fill them in the same way. For readiness, “ready now”, “ready in one to two years” and “not ready” is enough. For risk, use low, medium and high, and write down why.

Common talent mapping mistakes

• Mapping every role. A map that covers the whole org chart is too big to keep current. Start with the critical roles and add more once the review habit sticks.
• Mapping job titles instead of skills and scope. The same title can mean a team of three at one company and a team of three hundred at another. Record the scope, skills and experience the role needs.
• Looking only inside. An internal view alone cannot tell you whether your bench is competitive with the people you could hire.
• Looking only outside. A recruiting-led map that charts competitors’ people but skips internal mobility misses the successors already on your payroll.
• Treating it as a one-time project. People leave, plans change and markets shift. A map without a review date is out of date within months.
• Leaving gaps without an owner. A gap with no action, owner or date is an observation, not a plan.
• Building it in HR alone. Hiring managers and finance need to agree with the critical roles and the actions, or the map will not shape any decision.

How to keep your talent map current

A talent map is only as good as the data behind it. Pull from five places:

• Your HR system and ATS: who is in each role, tenure, internal moves, and past applicants and finalists you could return to.
• Performance reviews and skills data: who is ready for more scope, and which skills your teams lack.
• The business and headcount plan from finance: which teams are growing and which roles are funded.
• External market data: where the talent you need is concentrated, how it moves between companies, and who your competitors are hiring.
• Conversations with leaders and hiring managers: the context no system holds, such as a planned reorg or a leader who plans to retire.

Review the map on a set cadence, such as every quarter, and again whenever something changes the plan: a resignation in a critical role, a reorg, a new market or an acquisition.

External market data goes stale fastest. Findem’s market intelligence shows where talent is concentrated and how it moves over time, so you can plan location and expansion strategy with real market data. For leadership roles, Findem generates precise market maps based on your criteria (see Findem for executive search), and Findem Studio agents return finished work such as a succession plan, a market map or a benchmark.

5 strategies for building a talent roadmap

There’s no question that creating a talent roadmap is a tall order. By considering these five strategies, you’ll take a solid first step.

1. Understand how talent acquisition works at your company

Because it involves researching, engaging and nurturing a constantly changing set of candidates, talent acquisition is complicated. Before you chart your course forward, you need to have a realistic, unbiased view of what’s working, and not working, on the ground.

For example, you may have implemented technology to simplify interview scheduling, but if managers continually modify appointments or recruiters don’t respond to follow-ups, your time-to-hire can grow and your employer brand can suffer.

Examine your current efforts with the goal of understanding what actually happens at your company, as opposed to what you planned or what you’d hoped for. For example, looking at the number of interviews candidates must navigate before a decision is made, and how many candidates drop out along the way, can help you determine where the process bogs down and what can be done about it.

2. Understand your needs, and understand they'll change

The abilities your workforce needs will evolve along with your business. So, the talent roadmap is literally a living document, which requires you to track which skills are becoming more important and which are being nudged aside. Using real-time data to identify areas where new types of talent will be necessary prevents your being taken by surprise.

Remember that your needs go beyond the jobs involved with core product lines. Track data related to support roles, customer service positions, and other behind-the-scenes work as they impact the company’s performance as well.

3. Learn from others

Take advantage of what other organizations have learned in their own recruiting and workforce development efforts. Whether they’re peers or competitors, these companies operate on the same playing field as you, and face similar challenges and market dynamics.

You can get a sense of who they’re hiring, and where, by implementing a competitive insights solution or by looking at industry job boards and online communities. Reviewing posted job descriptions provides an idea of the skills and backgrounds they’re looking for, and offers tips on where positions are located and which business units they’re attached to.

Benchmarking your efforts against individual companies or industry sectors also helps identify talent gaps or strengths. Benchmarking also provides a sense of how your performance in the labor market stacks up against others. In addition, it can reveal the kind of candidates other companies are pursuing, and help you learn which channels bear the most fruit.

4. Identify your strengths and weaknesses

Talent acquisition is about hiring the right people, which takes more than filling jobs. That requires evaluating each candidate’s traits, commitment and personality along with their skills and experience. As you look for the best candidates, consider your company’s performance in two areas: the business itself, and talent acquisition specifically.

When you can define the skills and personality traits that best fit a role, you’ll do a better job of describing, attracting and developing the candidates you need. For example, connecting with candidates via SMS text works well for recruiting Millennials and members of Gen Z, less so for Baby Boomers or Gen X. Having an impartial, data-based view of your company’s performance provides a clear picture of the route your talent acquisition efforts should take.

5. Tap into hidden talents within your organization

Study the dynamics of your company and workforce side by side. Each shapes the performance of the other, and you may find the solution to many challenges is already close at hand through internal mobility by sourcing from in network talent.

For instance, if outside sales efforts lag in the remote-work economy, you may need more representatives skilled with digital sales tools. They may already be on your payroll, on your inside sales team. Similarly, data center and network specialists who’ve managed high-bandwidth projects, such as infrastructure to support video streaming, might be moved to resolve issues created by the demands of employees working from home.

Get started on your talent roadmap

Creating an effective talent roadmap requires an in-depth understanding of your company’s needs, your industry’s dynamics and your company’s culture. Gathering data from internal and external sources provides a firm foundation for your efforts. Start with a handful of critical roles, fill in the template above and set the first review date. It takes time, but tailoring your workforce to the real-world needs of your business can make the difference between an industry leader and an also-ran.

This post is part of a larger series on building your own talent acquisition strategy.

Talent mapping FAQ

What is talent mapping?

Talent mapping is the process of comparing the skills and roles your business will need with the people you have and the talent available in the market. The result is a talent map that lists critical roles, the people in or near them, the gaps, and the action and owner for each gap.

What is the difference between talent mapping and succession planning?

Talent mapping looks across many critical roles and skills, inside and outside the company. Succession planning goes deeper on a few specific seats, usually leadership roles, and names the people who could step in and how ready they are. A talent map often feeds the succession plan.

What is market mapping in recruitment?

Market mapping in recruitment charts the external market for a role: which companies employ the people you want, who they are and where they are based. An executive search market map does this for one search. Talent mapping uses the same outside view and adds your internal bench.

What should a talent map include?

For each critical role, include why it matters to the business plan, the current holder and their risk of leaving, internal successors and their readiness, skill gaps, what the external market looks like, the action you will take, and an owner and review date.

How often should you update a talent map?

Review it on a set cadence, such as quarterly, and whenever something changes the plan: a resignation in a critical role, a reorg, an acquisition or a move into a new market.