So, just when did head-hunting become talent management?

I always read the the (mostly) black & white want ads in the front and back of The Economist. I like them because they have a lot of words in them, and I’m a sucker for a lot of words. Plus the ads are always for interesting jobs - a lot of them in NGO’s - for things that you’ve probably never heard and/or thought of.

Thus, I read all the details on the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Adviser, Gender and Public Finance Management position. Gender and Public Finance Management position. While I don’t fully understand it, I like what I see. (You go, girl. Or boy.)

And the one which asks, “Can you lead a group of the best British international schools?” The fact that I have to answer a resounding “No!” doesn’t stop me from reading the full ad.

So, given that I read the boring-looking b&w ads, it’s no surprise that I’d also stop on a tomato-soup (with milk) orange ad that provocatively asks, “Interested in the Human Equation?”

Well, I never actually heard and/or thought of the Human Equation, but it sure sounds like something that I might be interested in.

After all, I am interested in humans. And having gone to business school, equations don’t scare me.

I went on to read that I should “Consider a talent management firm where a passion for people, a world-class client roster, and a focus on the growth of our talent are the variables of everyday life.”

I read on, assuming that this was an ad for a job with an outfit that managed talent-talent. You know, people like Tom Hanks. Or Tom Brady. Not an outfit that manages you-and-me talent.

So I was surprised to see that this was, in fact, a recruiting ad for positions at Korn-Ferry.

Now, one of my many talents is remembering things, and I seem to recall that Korn-Ferry used to be a head-hunter.

Of course, head-hunters never called themselves head-hunters. They called themselves executive recruiters. Or corporate placement. Or job placement.

Didn’t they?

Well, at Korn-Ferry, they “help clients learn how to attract, deploy, develop, reward and retain talent in support of their business strategies.”

Gee, whatever happened to finding someone who’d be a good fit?

Okay, I get that K-F wants to go in for the long-pull, forming an ongoing relationship with its clients, and working on all sorts of HR-ish things. Much more than a mere head-hunter…

But where did this notion of employees as “the talent” come from?

Sure, talent is not necessarily equated with performing or athletic prowess. (See, I told you I wasn’t scared of equations.) And I know that employees have been referred to as “talent” for a few years now. But the term has always struck me as peculiar and false.

What next? Will corporate recruiters start calling themselves “talent scouts”? Will employees stop calling their Power Point rich presentations cum product demo dog and pony shows, and start calling them “talent shows?”

Okay, I’m picking on Korn-Ferry here.

They’re by no means the only ones using the t-word. And - at least according to their ad - they’re a swell bunch to work for.

It’s just that using the word “talent” seems weirdly euphemistic to me, and part of an overall pattern of pumping up whatever it is we’re talking (or writing or advertising) about in a way that actually doesn’t enhance the value of whatever it is we’re talking (or writing or advertising) about. In fact, it can just make things less clear. (As in my initial reading of the ad as pertaining to Hollywood or Bollywood, not corporate recruiting.)

Ah, talent.

I’ll say one thing for it: I like it a whole lot better than when employees are referred to as a company’s most important assets.

Ah, yes.

You got your desks. And your buildings. And your PC’s. And your file cabinets. And your machines. And your inventory. And your bottled water. And your pencils. But the real important assets are your employees. (Often heard just after a big lay-off, in which the company purged itself of non-productive assets.)

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Sometimes I look at the ads with pictures, too. Like the one in The Economist where the ultra-talented Tom Brady soulfully poses on behalf of a pricey watch. Even there, I’ll still read whatever fine print there is. In this case, we read that tom brady (no initial caps) is a strategist, athlete, mvp.

tom brady, strategist. I hadn’t thought of him in that way, but that is, in fact, sure what he’s doing out there week in week out winning football games. We’ll see this coming Sunday if he will, from here on out, be touted as the most mentally tough and focused athlete of all time. I don’t know whether that’s called talent or something else, but it sure is formidable. (Does he have to be such a cutie-pie on top of it?)

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