Imagine the ignominy of being the talent scout who said no to some of the biggest acts in the music business.
Like the Sixties hit-pickers for the BBC who rejected The Beatles in favour of Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, branded Elton John as a “dull performer with a thin voice” and reckoned David Bowie was “amateurish and out of tune”.
Of course, Bowie’s choice of tune – Chim-Chim-Cheree from Mary Poppins – might have influenced that particular decision.
Sometimes talent spotting is easy, at other times a degree of luck is required and that’s why companies need professionals to identify and catch rising stars.
Think of them as the Simon Cowells of the recruitment world . . . without the attitude and the high waistband.
Here on s1jobs we know them as talent acquisition managers or strategic talent specialists.
Their remit is wider than that of a recruitment consultant and headhunter in that they take a more strategic approach to hiring. For them it’s not about filling positions today but using candidates as a means to fill similar positions in the future.
This could mean analysing the attrition rate for certain jobs and predicting when vacancies might arise or looking at a company’s succession management plan to spot a future CEO.
Some far-sighted acquisition managers will even recruit for positions that don’t exist today but are expected to appear in the future.
They play the long game: a candidate who might not be suitable now could be perfect in six months or maybe a year. In that time the company’s needs may have changed or the candidate could have acquired the necessary skills and experience.
And if there’s no perfect job match, rather than let talent slip away, they might look at a person’s abilities to see if there’s a suitable opening somewhere else.
As well as doing much of the forward-thinking, acquisition managers can also be involved in developing corporate policy for talent bench-marking, talent assessment, and interviewing policies.
Huge global brands take their talent acquisition very seriously and successful managers can be very well rewarded with high salaries and the opportunity to work in major centres throughout the world.
To be a talent manager you need to be persuasive, have good listening skills, and be skillful at building and maintaining relationships.
You need to be patient – watching and waiting can pay off – but also be able to swoop quickly if you scent success.
This means, unlike the BBC talent spotters you will pick out the next big thing, even if they warble Chim-Chim-Cheree at their interview.
Show all jobs in Scotland