Outsource Magazine Issue 24 - (Page 74)

TalenTspoTTing Yvonne Williams is MD of MDA Executive Resourcing and a board member of the NOA (not to mention a member of the Outsource Editorial Board). As such, she has a perspective from the heart of the industry on one of the biggest issues facing it: the talent-acquisition question… outsource: Yvonne, let’s kick off with a little background on your role at the NOA. Yvonne Williams: I’m coming up to the last year of my second three-year term on the NOA Board. During that time I’ve been responsible for individual professional development, the HR working party and launched the NOA Pathway. Currently I’m working to launch the Fellow initiative which is for leaders in the outsourcing world who can inspire others. I am also looking to run the Pathway programme across Spain and France. o: So looking at talent within outsourcing o: And you’ve been working closely with Chris Halward who heads up the Pathway programme? YW: That’s absolutely right. I led the selection process to source the training provider for the NOA Pathway initiative and we chose True North, of which Chris is the training director. is something at the heart of what you do at the NOA. Do you think there is a sufficient degree of expertise in outsourcing currently – or is there a bit of a scrabble for people who are actually good enough to be doing the job? YW: There’s certainly more talent around now than there was: In my day job, as owner of MDA Executive Resourcing, I’ve been specialising in outsourcing for over ten years. When I first started recruiting in this industry there was a deficit of experienced people – but one would expect that because outsourcing was relatively immature. As outsourcing has developed as a well-recognised business tool there are more high-quality and experienced practitioners around. One of the reasons we developed the NOA qualification was to ensure that professionals working in the industry could follow best-practice guidelines, with a qualification underpinned by a UK university. It was sometimes difficult for recruiters to ascertain the degree of practical and technical involvement somebody had in an outsourcing deal. In extreme cases it felt as though the candidate had been listening to what their colleagues were doing in the next room, with no practical knowledge whatsoever! We designed a qualification that created a valuable input and practical contribution to the outsourcing industry. Now, I’m getting CVs through from candidates with the qualifications highlighted. I see this as a real achievement. Generally speaking outsourcing suppliers have a much better-qualified and more experienced workforce, and the same can be said for advisory firms. It is the endusers – especially those who are novices to outsourcing – that still have a talent deficit. For more information on MDA Executive Resourcing see www.mallarddrake.co.uk 74 www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk ● ● ● http://www.mallarddrake.co.uk http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Magazine Issue 24

Editor's letter
News & comments
Seeing through the cloud
Steve Forbes
Embracing a lean culture in recruitment
The roar of the crowd
Andrew De Cleyn
Greening the chain
Private properties
NOA round-up
PR Chandrasekar
Ten ways to shake your world
Matt Barrie
Roundtable: an excellent process
Talentspotting
The talent question
Transition and change
Never the twain
Setting the standard
Touching base
Head-to-Head
Top ten
The legal view
HfS research
Online round-up
Sourcebites
Inside source
The last word

Outsource Magazine Issue 24

http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/outsource37
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource36
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource35
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_issue_34
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_issue_33
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_issue_32
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_31
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_issue_30
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_issue_29
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_issue_28
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_issue_27
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_issue_26
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/Outsource_issue_25
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/outsource/OM_Issue_24
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/issue21
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/issue23
http://europe.nxtbook.com/emp/outsource/issue22
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com