How talent advisory is helping businesses make better employment decisions

It’s been a year since we successfully launched our Talent Advisory. As we move into 2025 we reveal how our clients are using the service.

Why Catalina Consultants established a Talent Advisory service

We established our talent advisory service last year because so many of our clients were telling us of the difficulty they had in filling roles. 

It was a natural step to take our outsourced human resources form from focusing on managing, retaining and incentivising staff but also on finding them. We were already helping businesses align their HR strategy with their business objectives. We wanted to be able to help them align their hiring policies with them too. 

We didn’t necessarily remove the need for recruiters altogether, but we did want to make the recruitment process more cost-effective and strategic. The idea was that, where recruiters were needed, they would come in at a stage where they could use their skills to really add value – that they were a part of the hiring puzzle, but by no means the only part. 

We thought there was a gap to be filled, and that our experience put us in the perfect place to fill it. 

One year on, and the demand for the Talent Advisory’s services tells us our instincts were right. 

How Talent Advisory works

Catalina Consultant’s talent advisory moves beyond traditional recruitment to offer an integrated approach to identifying, hiring and onboarding staff where recruitment and HR work hand in hand.

Because our Talent Advisory team is so closely aligned to our HR team we don’t just focus on filling positions. Instead, we work with businesses to analyse their strategy and objectives, and then work backwards to make sure they have the right people in place – equipped with the right skills – to turn it into reality. 

Working so closely with HR, this means our talent advisory takes a more long-term view. For instance, we might notice some hiring gaps that will need to be filled only when certain milestones are reached. However, we can begin working on pinpointing the people to fill them now. 

And when people are recruited, the handover to HR is smooth and seamless, because we work  one team.

How clients have been using talent advisory

One way clients are using the talent advisory is in their forward planning.

Say, for instance, you run a professional services firm and your ambition is to eventually open an office in a new city in 12 months time. Once you’ve identified the areas you want to specialise in and your likely clients, you’ll also need to work out the personnel you’ll need to serve them. Should you do that by moving existing staff to the new office, or by hiring experienced locals? If it’s both, what should the make up of that new office be?

Catalina Consultants’ Talent Advisory can help you analyse the staff and skills you’ll need, and help you weigh up the pros and cons of building up in-house vs hiring local staff already operating in the market. 

If you go down the latter path, we can also pinpoint talent in the city you intend to move into, and even begin confidential discussions. 

At the same time, if you choose the former, our HR team can put the training in place to help your existing technical staff gain the skills they need to manage and grow another office. 

Alternatively, we can help you do both.  

Culture eats talent  

Another way clients have been using Talent Advisory in its first year is to search and find the right people regardless of whether they’re looking to hire or not. After all, in many sectors, finding someone who has the right technical skills and also the right cultural fit remains a serious issue. 

Some organisations have taken the view that, if someone is the right fit for their organisation, they’re willing to sign them up, regardless of whether or not they have a role. 

As one employer said to us: “When a great candidate comes up we would like to interview them because you can always find openings.”

Other employers have asked us to identify, interview and sound out people when they don’t have anything available, so that – when something does come up – the company is already on their radar and they’re ready to go. That way there is no protracted interview and recruitment process, and the business doesn’t skip a beat.

One year on, Catalina Talent Advisory is proving to be the perfect synergy for our core business. Clients love the seamless connection between HR and recruitment as well as the singular focus we take when filling a role. 

We look forward to another year of growth and disruption in this space.

If you’d like to know more about how we can help your organisation, get in touch.