Welcome to a milestone edition of the Talent Intelligence Collective Podcast! That's right - by hook or by crook, we've hit our 20th episode. And what a cracker it is. In this one, me - Alan Walker - and, of course, Alison Ettridge of Stratigens and Toby Culshaw of Amazon - co-hosted an episode where we spoke to Joe Thompson of Booz Allen Hamilton. First up in the world of Talent Intelligence, PRO Unlimited, an integrated workforce management platform provider, introduced Total Talent Intelligence, a solution providing organisations with real-time data on their talent landscape to help inform strategic hiring and retention decisions. "I think it's interesting. We're seeing a lot of these platforms appearing. I do wonder if more data will mean more clarity." Joe Thompson "The most challenging thing with all these new pieces of technology is accuracy. The danger is the generalisation of job roles and titles." Toby Culshaw As the European labour market experiences vast shortages, with more and more job vacancies going unfilled, many recruiters and international companies are struggling to attract skilled workers. To shed some light on this issue, and help companies attract employees, the market research firm Intelligence Group, has compiled the first-ever European Talent Intelligence Manual for 2022. "Personally, I was really surprised to see London up there in the Top10." Toby Culshaw "Although this is a wonderful piece of work, for me, too much detail is missing. Who did the survey? How was it split? What are the age groups? What are they really basing good on?" Alison Ettridge An interesting report from the Hiring Lab, Economic Research by Indeed, showed during the pandemic’s initial phase, demand for workers in sectors that predominantly employed women was significantly crippled. The subsequent loss of pay and work experience set women back further than they were before. "This is where we talk about how the 'return to work' policies have affected families. With the lack of childcare and other constraints, women’s ability to work has really skyrocketed. And not in the right direction." Joe Thompson At this point, it was definitely time to focus on Joe and his world. Alison, our interview extraordinaire, was really eager to learn more about the evolution of Joe's career - from working US navy submarine service to heading up a Talent Transformation consulting function Next, Alison asked the question that nobody on this podcast ever escapes from - what is your definition of Talent Intelligence? "I think Talent Intelligence is a toolbox. You've talked about different talent lenses, and for our clients, it's about helping them use data to make better decisions. Particularly today where no manager has ever experienced a global competition for talent like this ever before". Joe Thompson As always, we hope you enjoy the episode. Massive thanks for supporting us. Keep telling your friends about us. If you aren't telling your friends about us, start telling your friends about us. And if you haven’t any friends - join the Talent Intelligence Collective Facebook Group whilst Facebook still has users. Till the next one – stay intelligent! Don't forget to say hi to our wonderful sponsors → Stratigens from @Talent Intuition.