Talent
Also called candidate, job seeker
A person being considered for work, also called a candidate or job seeker. Also used collectively for everyone an organisation could hire.
Last reviewed
In practice
The word has two uses. "Talent acquisition" and "talent pool" use it collectively, for everyone an organisation might hire. Some hiring platforms also use it for the individual, writing "a talent" where others write "a candidate". CalHire is one of them: talent is its word for anyone who joins to be hired, also called a candidate.
The change of word is partly a change of framing. "Candidate" describes someone in relation to one vacancy and one employer’s decision. "Talent" describes the person and what they can do, independent of any single application, which fits a process where someone proves a skill once and carries the evidence from role to role.
The vocabulary changes nothing legally. Data-protection, fairness and notice obligations attach to the person being evaluated, whatever a platform calls them, so a talent has exactly the rights a candidate has: to know an automated tool is in use, to ask for an alternative, and to see the data held about them.
Not to be confused with
- Talent pool
- A talent pool is a group of people an organisation has kept on record, with consent, for future roles. Talent on its own means the people themselves, whether or not anyone has pooled them.
Related
Candidate ghosting
Ending contact with a candidate without telling them the outcome of their application.
Vetted assessment
A skills assessment a person passes before being presented to employers, so what reviewers see has already been tested rather than self-reported.
Skills-based hiring
Selecting candidates on demonstrated ability to do the work, rather than on proxies for it such as degrees, job titles or previous employers.
Anonymous screening
Evaluating candidates on a record with no identifying attributes, because those attributes are withheld at the source rather than hidden from the reviewer.
Read further
Longer pieces on this and the arguments around it.
How to get hired without a degree
A practical guide to competing on demonstrated skill: what to build, how to describe it, which employers to target, and how to handle the question directly.
ReadWhat skills-based hiring actually is (and what it is not)
Skills-based hiring decides on demonstrated ability, not proxies like degrees or job titles. What it means in practice and where it fails.
Read