Starting in a career, people are often in need of professional guidance. When a person enters into a field, even the one in which he thought he could do well, he starts out at a slow pace. He takes his time to adjust to his surroundings and to develop a bond with his work by displaying his talent. This, however, is not an easy achievement. It takes time and dedication to be in the spotlight but it also needs someone to show people the right direction. Those businesses and organizations who are in need of talents but do not know where to look for and those who are in search of an opportunity to showcase their talent, both need a talent manager.

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Who is a Talent Manager?

A Talent Manager is a person who sees beyond visible qualities and finds hidden talents in people. It can be an individual or a company that helps you with your professional career by bringing out the best in you. He is responsible for your career choices, business decisions, and meetings. He is your advisor and your mentor at the same time who analyses what goes in your best interest. He is also included in a company’s hiring procedures to find out the best candidates for available positions.

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Requirements to Become a Talent Manager

Talent Managers are not required to have a specific degree. Many people are performing as talent managers and only a few are successful at it. Their skills make them stand out from others. Some of the skills that you should possess to be an outstanding talent Manager are as follows:

a)      Communication Skills

To be a good talent manager, one needs to have strong communication skills. He needs to be more persuasive to be able to make people understand that he holds the potential of making the right choices for them and their careers. He should be able to communicate well with agents, organizers and people who are in charge of events. He should have the ability to see through people in order to assess them and hire them for business needs.

b)     Negotiation Skills

Being a talent manager is not limited to arrange events and make choices for someone. It comes with a lot more responsibilities that require serious efforts like negotiation. Negotiation is a tough job. You need to bring the best deals for your client or your company and you can only attain that if you are good at bargaining. You can be responsible for deciding pay grades for the talents you are bringing in to the company so you should be able to decide how much they should be paid. 

c)      Thorough Knowledge of Market

Education is a variable when it comes to talent management. There are a lot of fields that can educate you on business, management and marketing. However, if you do not possess a comprehensive knowledge of your field area, you will not be proven as a good talent manager for anyone. You must know your competitors, have a thorough knowledge of organizations and businesses that can help with your client problems.

d)     Ability to handle more than one talent

A talent manager should be able to handle more than one talent at a time. He should manage his time and work with several clients to boost their skills. Little pressure of work goes in everyone’s benefit.

e)      Decision-Making Power

A client often leaves his important decisions to his talent manager and let him decide about his professional journey. Your client trusts you with his career and expects you to make the best decisions for him. This is one of the major requirements to be a talent manager. You should possess strong decision-making power and a will to act on it for better circumstances.

Talent Manager Job Duties

You have one too many duties to perform being a talent manager. Some of the basics are:

i.        Provide counsel to your clients about his career choices

ii.       Get your client to agents to get him to work.

iii.      Make important decisions on behalf of your client.

iv.       Arrange events and business meetings for people.

v.        Keep your client updated with the current needs and trends of the market.

What Makes a Good Talent Manager?

Talent management is not an easy task. It requires hard work and commitment to your clients. Being responsible for someone’s professional journey can become quite a handful when you have to focus on your own professional life as well. Therefore, being good at it is not everyone’s cup of tea. A good talent manager will have the following qualities:

1-      Time Management

Since the job comes with several responsibilities, a good talent manager handles his client well by managing his time in order to give his best for every client. He goes on a proper schedule and does everything timely to deliver his commitments on time. He schedules interviews and meetings and makes each one of them count to bring in the best talents for the business.

2-      Commitment to Relationship Building

Commitments mean everything for a talent manager. He prioritizes his clients’ needs and commits to providing solutions to set them on a course that leads towards success. He commits to make his client’s performance better and to give him a better reach to his audience to strengthen his bond with his clients. He dedicates his career to find and recruit talented employees for the company that he works for.

3-      Problem-Solving Attitude

If a talent manager does not have a problem-solving attitude, he cannot be a talent manager at all. The basic job description includes solving problems of clients or a business. If you are not a problem-solving person, you might as well increase your client’s problems. If your company is lacking resources in terms of talents and skills, you should be the one providing a solution for that by hunting talents that your company needs.  

4-      Listening and Learning

A wise talent manager never stops learning from his experiences. Even if he is good at it, he will listen to his clients’ needs carefully and will learn from the new problems that he has to face in order to deliver quality to people. He keeps his mind open to learning and that makes him adaptable to the modern requirements of a business. He finds out what a client is looking for and starts working on it.  

5-      Better Judgement & Analysis

A quality talent manager is the judge of his own choices, so the decision he makes should be made with the best judgments. When onboarding talents in a company, he should be able to analyze what they are bringing to the table for the business, how much they will be contributing, and what are their strengths and weaknesses. If he is able to assess all that, he can become quite a talent manager.

Conclusion

Like any other job in the world, talent management requires devotion. Without devoting yourself to any career, you can never give you one hundred percent. Talent managing comes with certain responsibilities that you need to master in your initial stage of career. Get yourself updated with business affairs, have an eye for extraordinary talents, learn to differentiate between incompetence and weakness and you should be fine at it!