institute for employment studies

improving people management

Talent, succession and careers

part of the broader theme: developing your people

IES research on talent, succession and careers has explored a number of issues including trends and issues in how large organisations approach career management. This research has looked especially at the range of processes that support career development, the balance between self-managed careers and the need for organisations to develop their people, and the role of HR in career development.

We have also researched the particular challenges of supporting the career development of knowledge workers, setting up specialist internal career support services for employees, and strategies for graduate recruitment and development, and trends and dilemmas in corporate graduate recruitment. The issues of how to align talent management with business needs and culture, and practical issues on implementing talent management has been another important focus.

IES has developed several frameworks useful in process review or design, including:

• a mapping of talent, succession and career processes and the information flow between them. Processes are grouped into those which drive careers corporately, those which support individuals in managing their own careers, and the core HR processes, like appraisal and job filling, which make career movement happen
• a model of what individuals need in order to manage their careers effectively, and a paper on career development in employing organisations
• a framework for designing approaches to talent and succession, which spans aspects of strategic business fit, several aspects of the processes themselves, and the roles of both line managers and the HR function
• practical tips for succession planning.

Publications

IES authored reports and papers on talent, succession and careers

Who to contact

• email Linda Barber or call +44(0)1273 763 400
• email Wendy Hirsh or call +44(0)1273 763 400