It's only January, and it's already clear that the Great resignation will continue to be a huge talking point in 2022 as companies fight for the talent and skills they need. However, some employers are already reframing this challenge as a fantastic opportunity to attract talented people they might not have previously persuaded to move roles.

This isn't easy, and obviously, employer brand and employee experience are huge factors. However, there is a lot that talent acquisition teams can be doing to stand out from the crowd by focusing on the areas within their control that make a real difference.

My guest this week is Maggie Spong, VP of Talent Acquisition at Astra Zeneca. Astra Zeneca has certainly been thrust into the spotlight by the pandemic, but they have also spent the last few years developing several initiatives to differentiate themselves in their talent markets. In our conversation, Maggie shares a number of these, including their talent scout programme, building a personalised and inclusive candidate experience, and focusing on training and development for their talent acquisition team.

In the interview, we discuss:

• How Talent Acquisition is evolving at Astra Zeneca

• Using Talent Scouts to build external talent pipelines for hard to fill roles and where there are gaps in internal succession planning

• Building a personalised and inclusive candidate experience.

• Giving feedback to all interviewed candidates

• The challenges of the pandemic

• Encouraging candidate self-selection by showcasing the authentic employee experience

• Turning The Great Resignation into The Great Opportunity

• The role of technology

• Employer brand advocacy

• Investing in development and the Talent Acquisition Academy

• Astra Zeneca's focus for 2022

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcast.