Emerging Talent Programs: A Primer for Talent Acquisition Teams

Emerging Talent Programs, as with any business innovation, are driven by a need. When a need goes unmet for too long, and the consequences are severe enough, it becomes a problem that someone, somewhere will try to solve.

In this context, the problem is a shortage of skilled workers, particularly in technology fields. Competing for experienced, qualified workers has grown so intense that a need for alternatives has naturally come about. Emerging Talent Programs are simply one set of alternatives that companies have adopted to expand their labor pools and reduce their business risk.

What are Emerging Talent Programs?

Emerging Talent Programs take different forms, but their goals are largely the same. All seek to prepare inexperienced workers for entry-level positions. Their purpose is to bring these workers up-to-speed, to train them on specific tools and to work in the specific environments they’ll encounter on-the-job.

In the technology field, this often means a focus on ‘last-mile’ technical skills, making sure workers know the relevant programming languages, workflows and methodologies they’ll use at a specific company or within an industry. Emerging Talent Programs exist in part to mitigate the business risk associated with inexperience or unqualified workers.

Three Types of Emerging Talent Programs

Emerging Talent Programs have evolved over time, coalescing into three main types that serve businesses in different ways, with different advantages and disadvantages.

1. In-House Emerging Talent Programs are developed by companies to train new hires for entry-level positions. Companies with in-house programs benefit from complete control over the program, but they require intense upfront levels of investment. For many organizations, internal training of this sort is distinct enough from the core business to be an infeasible solution.

2. Technology “Bootcamps” are another form of Emerging Talent Programs. They typically offer ‘last-mile’ training in technical workshops, but they often exist as standalone businesses. Their customer is the entry-level worker, which sometimes creates a gap between what trainees expects from the bootcamp and what employers actually need.

3. The Enterprise Model depends on partnerships between organizations with labor needs and the Emerging Talent Program. In contrast with bootcamps, employers are the customers in this model. They essentially entrust the recruiting, hiring and training activities to the Emerging Talent Program. New hires are employed by the program and placed as consultants with the client-organization.

Perfecting the Enterprise Model

As a leader in Emerging Talent Programs, Revature has perfected the Enterprise Model. We offer end-to end managed technical recruiting that supports Fortune 500 companies by removing the unpredictability associated with talent development. Our proprietary system ensures that new hires are up-to-speed on in-demand technologies and custom-trained for our client’s environment.

Lean more at Revature.