Welcome to Episode 40 of the Talent Intelligence Collective podcast! In this episode, Alan Walker, Alison Ettridge, and Toby Culshaw welcome Jen Allen Jardine, the self-proclaimed "SWP supergeek" and founder of Beyond the Eightball consultancy, who's currently bringing her strategic workforce planning expertise to HS2 after seven years of asking the uncomfortable questions that organisations need to hear.

The episode opens with Toby analysing the results of the Talent Intelligence Collective's One and Done Challenge, revealing how AI-generated talent intelligence reports can produce dangerously convincing visualisations whilst harbouring significant data hallucinations. The discussion highlights how tech talent consistently skews results regardless of the actual prompt, and the critical importance of human expertise in validating AI outputs—with Patricia's inclusion of visa lead times demonstrating the nuanced thinking that distinguishes expert analysis from algorithmic suggestions.

The news segment examines Saudi Arabia's remarkable skills week initiative, where they've mapped 8,500 skills across just 12 priority sectors as part of Vision 2030—a masterclass in national-level strategic workforce planning that prioritises focused action over comprehensive cataloguing. The conversation explores Mercer's Talent Trends report revealing that only 47% of employees believe their managers understand their skills gaps, whilst job-hoppers receive 16.4% salary increases compared to 5.6% for loyal employees—sparking debate about whether internal talent marketplaces or salary structures are the real retention culprit.

Jen shares her unconventional journey from a working holiday visa in New Zealand to becoming one of the UK's leading SWP practitioners, including her experiences with airline scheduling complexities that cross the international date line and staffing hard-to-fill hospitals in rural Invercargill. Her definition of strategic workforce planning challenges conventional thinking: it's not about timeline horizons but about connecting every people intervention across the business to deliver organisational purpose sustainably and effectively.

The conversation explores why organisations struggle with true strategic planning, with Jen arguing that both public and private sectors fail by seeking false certainty in an uncertain future. She advocates for scenario planning that embraces radical uncertainty—planning for multiple tomorrows rather than trying to predict a single future, using external market intelligence combined with internal knowledge to build organisational agility through constant iteration rather than perfect predictions.

The episode concludes with Jen's three essential tips for SWP success: secure a "badass sponsor" (preferably the CEO) who can drive organisational change, use data to identify and challenge real pain points rather than assumed problems, and critically, start small despite pressure for comprehensive solutions. Her insight that managers often don't understand their teams' skills connects directly back to the Mercer findings, demonstrating how data maturity and decision-making courage are more important than perfect information.

Until next time, stay agile, stay evidence-based, and most importantly, stay intelligent!

As ever - big thanks to our sponsors: ⁠⁠⁠https://lightcast.io⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to Episode 39 of the Talent Intelligence Collective podcast! Alan Walker, Alison Ettridge, and Toby Culshaw are joined by Kumar Vaibhav, a seasoned TI professional who has built and led talent intelligence functions at Amazon, Walmart, Philips, and now Atlassian, bringing over 11 years of experience in transforming raw data into strategic workforce insights.

The episode begins with exciting news as Toby announces Lightcast's acquisition of Rhetoric, bringing 800 million profiles and 280 million company records to expand their people and company data capabilities. This strategic move represents a significant shift from aggregated TI data to actionable intelligence, bridging the gap between macro workforce planning and micro-level talent acquisition needs.

Drawing from his recent experience at RecFest, Toby explores how talent intelligence has become so embedded across HR functions that it no longer needs its own dedicated stage—TI is now the underlying foundation for everything from employer branding to skills intelligence. The conversation touches on the evolving landscape of AI implementation in recruiting, revealing that while efficiency gains are evident, true systematic automation remains limited.

Kumar shares his remarkable journey from founding a dramatics club at university to becoming a TI leader across some of the world's largest technology companies. His insights into building stakeholder rapport are particularly compelling—from his first project at Philips where he successfully convinced leadership to change their APAC headquarters location, to developing innovative approaches like using Power BI to analyse borough-level talent distribution in New York during the post-COVID workplace transformation.

The discussion delves into Kumar's unique perspective on building world-class TI functions from scratch, emphasising three critical elements: aligning with business strategy, demonstrating operational ROI alongside strategic value, and building credibility through transparency and stakeholder trust. His examples span from competitive intelligence in finance sourcing to innovative location strategies that consider both external market data and internal talent mobility patterns.

Kumar offers fascinating insights into the growing prominence of TI teams in India, explaining how the evolution from cost arbitrage to genuine skills development has created a thriving ecosystem of talent intelligence professionals. His candid revelations about working with Toby—including the memorable moment when Toby questioned whether TI truly adds value—provide both humour and profound insights into the self-reflection required in this evolving field.

The episode concludes with Kumar's excitement about joining Atlassian, where he's leveraging Confluence to build dynamic project repositories that double as internal databases, potentially revolutionising how TI knowledge is captured and accessed through AI-powered systems.

Until next time, stay curious, stay brilliant, and most importantly, stay intelligent!

As ever - big thanks to our sponsors: ⁠⁠https://lightcast.io⁠⁠

Welcome to Episode 38 of the Talent Intelligence Collective podcast! In this special return episode, Alan Walker, Alison Ettridge, and Toby Culshaw welcome back Gerrit Schimmelpenninck for his second appearance on the show, exploring his remarkable transformation from corporate TI leader to entrepreneurial consultant.

The episode opens with Toby discussing the Talent Intelligence Collective's exciting "One Prompt Challenge" in partnership with InDrive, where participants must create a complete location analysis using just a single AI prompt—no follow-ups allowed. The conversation delves into the fascinating challenges of AI prompting, including the revelation that AI systems are designed to please users rather than provide balanced perspectives unless specifically prompted for opposing views.

The news segment explores the escalating battle for AI talent, with Meta allegedly offering $100 million signing bonuses to poach OpenAI engineers, and OpenAI's intriguing decision to appoint a distinguished AI researcher as their new head of recruiting. The discussion also touches on global talent mobility shifts, as the US restricts funding and visas while other nations launch aggressive programs to attract displaced scientists and researchers.

Gerrit shares his extraordinary journey since we last spoke in Episode 11—relocating from Amsterdam to Los Angeles, building talent intelligence capabilities at Activision Blizzard (Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush), and ultimately launching his own consultancy, Talent Motions, after Microsoft's acquisition. His insights into the gaming industry's unique talent challenges and the importance of hiring developers who are passionate gamers themselves provide fascinating industry-specific perspectives.

The conversation explores Gerrit's pivot to competitive intelligence consulting, moving beyond traditional recruitment-focused TI to solving strategic business problems. He shares compelling case studies, including mapping competitor organisations for major tech suppliers and analysing secretive quantitative trading teams in finance—demonstrating how talent intelligence can drive critical business decisions far beyond hiring.

Until next time, stay curious, stay strategic, and most importantly, stay intelligent!

As ever - big thanks to our sponsors: ⁠https://lightcast.io⁠