The Power of Empathy in a Talent Services Environment: A Coach’s Perspective

In today’s competitive job market, the role of a talent consultant goes beyond simply matching resumes to job descriptions. It’s about truly understanding the human behind each application and fostering meaningful connections. This is where I believe empathy is a superpower!

What is Empathy?

Empathy is the ability to recognize, understand, and share the feelings of others – the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and see things from their perspective.

There are two main types of empathy:

•  Affective Empathy: This refers to the sensations and feelings we get in response to others’ emotions. It can include mirroring what another person is feeling or feeling stressed when we detect another’s fear or anxiety.
• Cognitive Empathy: Also known as perspective-taking, this is the ability to identify and understand another person’s emotions and thoughts.

Empathy is considered crucial for healthy social interactions and relationships, as it helps individuals connect with others on an emotional level and fosters prosocial behaviour.

How is Empathy Important in a Talent Services Context?

• Building Trust: Empathy helps build trust with candidates. When candidates feel understood and valued, they are more likely to trust the talent services provider and the organisation. This trust can lead to more open and honest communication, making it easier to find the right fit for both parties. Plus, who doesn’t want to be known as the recruiter who genuinely listens and cares as much about their candidates as they do about their bonus?!
• Improving Communication: Empathetic talent consultants can communicate more effectively. They can pick up on non-verbal cues and respond appropriately, making the interaction smoother and more meaningful. This can help in understanding the true motivations and concerns of candidates and ultimately save both parties from wasting time pursuing the wrong opportunities.
• Enhancing Candidate Experience: By understanding candidates’ needs, concerns, and aspirations, empathetic recruiters can provide a more positive candidate experience. This can lead to higher satisfaction and an elevated impression of the company, even if the candidate is not ultimately selected for the position. Happy candidates talk, and word of mouth is powerful.
• Making Better Matches: Empathy allows recruiters to better understand the cultural fit and personal motivations of candidates, leading to more successful placements. This not only benefits the candidates but also contributes to the long-term success of the organisation they’re placed in. It’s a bit like being a matchmaker for careers!
• Fostering a Positive Work Environment: Empathetic interactions contribute to a positive and inclusive workplace culture. This can improve overall employee morale and retention, as employees feel more valued and understood. Think of it as creating a workplace where everyone wants to bring their best selves.

Impact of Implementing Coaching Skills as a Talent Consultant

Incorporating coaching skills into talent consulting practices can significantly enhance effectiveness. Coaching skills can support in building stronger relationships with candidates, understanding their aspirations, and providing valuable feedback. This approach shifts the focus from merely filling positions to fostering long-term growth and development within the workforce.

• Building Relationships: A coaching approach emphasizes understanding candidates’ goals and potential, rather than just their qualifications. This deeper connection helps match candidates with roles that align with their career aspirations, leading to higher job satisfaction and retention rates.
• Empowering Through Feedback: Coaching involves providing constructive feedback, which helps candidates improve and grow professionally. This not only benefits the candidates but also enhances the overall talent pool available to the organisation.
• Identifying Growth Mindsets: Consultants trained in coaching skills are better equipped to identify candidates with a growth mindset—those who are eager to learn and embrace challenges. Such candidates are more likely to contribute positively to the organisation’s adaptability and success.

Benefits of Receiving Individual Coaching as a Talent Consultant

Just as consultants can benefit from using coaching skills, receiving coaching themselves can also be incredibly valuable. Coaching can help consultants develop greater empathy, improve their interpersonal skills, and enhance their overall effectiveness.

• Enhanced Empathy: Coaching helps individuals understand their own emotions and those of others more deeply. For talent consultants, this means being able to connect with candidates on a more personal level, which can lead to more successful placements.
• Professional Development: Receiving coaching can help consultants set and achieve their own professional goals, identify areas for improvement, and develop strategies to overcome challenges. This continuous development ensures that they remain effective and motivated in their roles.
• Improved Communication Skills: Coaching often focuses on enhancing communication skills, which are crucial for talent consultants. Better communication leads to clearer expectations, more effective interviews, and stronger relationships with both candidates and hiring managers.
  Conclusion
• Empathy is not just a soft skill: it’s a powerful tool that can enhance the recruitment process and contribute to the overall success of an organisation. By incorporating empathy into our interactions with candidates, we can build stronger relationships, make better hiring decisions, and create a more positive and inclusive workplace culture.

As a career coach, I am committed to helping talent consultants develop this essential skill and transform their practices. Together, we can create a more empathetic and effective recruitment process. And who knows, we might even have some fun along the way…

Next Steps

At Sanderson we offer Transformative Career Coaching services that are designed to empower individuals and teams to achieve their highest potential, ensuring that they are equipped to navigate career transitions with confidence and meet the demands of their roles, whilst feeling fulfilled by the work they do, with clarity and direction towards a future they are excited about.

You can find out more here

Any more questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out to Chloe O’Keeffe to find out more.

Email: [email protected]

Are we too small to benefit from an MSP? This is one of the most frequent questions I am asked when meeting with HR and Procurement leaders. Initially MSP services were reserved for large, enterprise organisations with contractor populations of 150+ and an annual spend of more than £30m.

Over the past 12 months, we have seen a significant increase in organisations turning to MSP for the first time. Many of these companies have had smaller contingent worker populations, ranging from 25 to 125 and an annual spend in the region of £5m and £20m. This growing trend was confirmed by Staffing Industry Analysts in their 2024 MSP Global Landscape Survey, when, for the first time they added a question as to whether MSP providers had ‘off the shelf’ programs for small to mid-market clients.

There are several reasons why small to mid-market clients are turning to MSP partners to manage their contingent workforce:

Cost Savings

Limited growth and rising costs in the UK economy has placed a premium on cost control and cost savings. The increased visibility of spend, process efficiencies, economies of scale and cost management initiatives delivered by MSP partners can help companies achieve both immediate cost savings and sustainable efficiencies over the term of the contract.

Governance, Compliance and Risk Mitigation

Ensuring compliance with all regulatory and legal requirements for contingent workers, in particular IR35 and AWR in the UK is vital to organisations of all sizes. Many SME clients find the need to balance effective governance with flexibility and agility a challenge and, without dedicated headcount to manage the contingent workforce, turn to MSP partners to help them navigate the process effectively.

Innovation and future proofing

Whilst many SME clients have established talent acquisition teams, Applicant Tracking Systems and sourcing tools as part of their HR Tech stack, it is rare that this investment includes contingent worker hiring. MSP providers provide expertise in HR Technology and can provide advice, implement and support the optimum technology and tools to effectively manage your contingent workers. Furthermore, with an MSP partner you can expect continuous improvement, innovation and future proofing to play a consistent part of the governance process, meaning that your contingent workforce strategy can evolve, adapt and improve over time.

Consistent access to high quality Contingent Talent

A key concern for organisations who are considering MSP for the first time, particularly those with small to medium sized contingent populations is whether an MSP will compromise access to the high-quality contingent talent often associated with specialist recruitment agencies. The right MSP partner can help increase the quality of talent by combining outstanding candidate sourcing with effective resource planning, consistent screening and streamlined processes.

When meeting clients for the first time, we focus less on the number of contingent workers they have and their annual spend (without the visibility provided by an MSP this is often not known), and ask 5 simple questions:

• Are contingent workers a consistent part of your resourcing strategy?
• Would you like to access the best contingent talent in the most cost-effective manner?
• Do you struggle to gain visibility of contingent workforce spend across your business?
• Is it important that your contingent workforce complies with local regulations and legislation?
• Does recruiting, managing, and onboarding contingent workers take up more time than you would like?

If the answer to some of these questions is yes, then MSP could be the right solution.

How Sanderson can help

Sanderson has a long history of helping companies to understand the benefits and successfully transition to MSP solutions. More than two thirds of our MSP clients are ‘first generation’ and cover a wide variety of industry sectors.

Find out more about how we help our clients with our MSP service here, or feel free to get in touch with me if you’d like you like to have conversation about managing your contingent workforce. [email protected]

Would you like to hear more from Sanderson and learn about the work we do? You can sign up to join our mailing list here for a variety of updates, access to our market leading salary benchmarking data, white papers, reports and blogs PLUS our latest news and event invites.

On Thursday 18th of July our Regional Director, Daniel Simmonite and Vicky Weir, from Sanderson’s Manchester Office partnered with with Ward Hadaway and their employment partners Caroline Shafar and Laura Darnley to deliver a General Election webinar discussing the key HR changes businesses can expect to see in line with the Employment Rights  and Equality (Race and Disability) Bills as set out in the King’s Speech.

If you missed this webinar, you can listen to the recording where we cover the discussion points below, along with practical tips for businesses to navigate this period of change.

Watch a full recording of this General Election Webinar here. 

Here is a summary of the key discussion points:

• Ban on Exploitative Zero-Hour Contracts: Ensuring fair employment terms by prohibiting exploitative contracts without guaranteed hours.

• Day-One Employment Protections: Granting immediate unfair dismissal protection from the first day of employment (although probationary periods will be permitted).

• Ban on Fire and Rehire Practices: Preventing dismissing and rehiring employees on less favourable terms.

• Day-One Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): Legal requirement to pay statutory sick pay from the first day of employment and removal of the lower earnings threshold.

• Flexible Working by Default: Establishing flexible working arrangements as the standard for all employees.

• Protection for Maternity Leave Returners: Making it unlawful to dismiss a maternity leave returner except under specific, justified circumstances.

• Trade Union Recognition Reforms: Implementing changes to trade union recognition and negotiating rights.

• Equality Legislation: Introducing the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. Mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers.

• Extend Equal Pay Rights: New right for employees to bring equal pay claims based on ethnicity and disability, not just gender.

Listen to the full recording here

Would you like to hear more from Sanderson and learn about the work we do? You can sign up to join our mailing list here for a variety of updates, access to our market leading salary benchmarking data, white papers, reports and blogs PLUS our latest news and event invites.