Community Challenge: Mid-Year Talent Strategy

Great prompt, ​@Courtney-Community Manager! For the second half of 2026, my focus is on building a Continuous Sales Pipeline Infrastructure.

Instead of reactive hiring, I’m implementing an 'Always-On' sourcing project on LinkedIn Recruiter, mapping top sales talent across multiple strategic locations in our country. My strategy relies on two interconnected pillars:

1. Precision Sourcing: Creating dynamic, location-based talent pools fueled by hyper-specific keyword mapping. This allows us to have a curated 'ready-to-engage' list before the business even feels the headcount pressure.

2. Brand as a Magnet: I’m pairing this technical sourcing with a strong focus on Personal and Employer Branding. When you combine proactive outreach with a visible, authentic brand presence, you flip the script: candidates don't just get sourced; they feel attracted to the vision.

By treating sourcing as a continuous journey rather than a destination, we ensure that when the year-end sprint hits, we aren't starting from scratch—we're simply activating a warm, pre-calibrated community!

I love it ​@Priscila! Really like how you framed this as a continuous journey. That’s the difference between scrambling at year-end and being ready to go.

The mix of structured sourcing plus brand that attracts people in is powerful. It turns outreach into a two-way pull.

I think this calls for a ‘deeper dive’ via roundtable discussion - what do you think? 👏🏼

​@Eduardo Alves You always share such great insights! Wanted to make sure you saw this one, in case you have more gems to share.

Welcome to the Community to a few new members - wanted to make sure you saw this - would love for you to chime in if you’re up for it. ​@mike_walsh_atx ​@Kristine Diamonti ​@CamilleL ​@Sam Rainey 

Hello everyone,

Thank you @Courtney, this is a great topic! It’s like you were reading my mind, as this is exactly what I’m currently focused on. I’m prioritizing these three pillars:

• 🧩 Skills gaps: Identifying and closing them before year-end.

• 🤝 Stakeholder alignment: Strengthening hiring manager partnerships.

• ⚡ Workforce trends: Adapting strategy to rapid market shifts.

Right now, my main "battle" is ensuring we stay aligned with current market dynamics. The world is spinning fast; every day, new AI-driven tools and workflows emerge or evolve.

Consequently, I’m focused on keeping our operational teams and hiring managers ahead of the curve while simultaneously adapting my own strategy. I want to ensure everyone has the right tools to tackle these new challenges, whether through training, workshops, insight driven newsletters, or the introduction of new tech.

To address this with surgical precision, I am currently developing internal AI tools, such as automated hiring workflows and job ad optimizers. The goal is to increase efficiency and speed across all departments.

The positive consequence, is the fact that , our team gains back time to provide true added value. Instead of manual tasks, we can focus on delivering deep workforce insights and data-driven trends. We want to be riding the wave, not chasing it.

This may not be new to some, but I strongly recommend that every Talent and Recruitment Manager get closer to their IT and Development teams. Our role is becoming crucial in translating the nuances of hiring into effective, scalable tools. By automating the routine, you’ll have more time to develop the human side of the role and lead the next chapter of our industry.

Have a great week, and I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Eduardo Alves - Sourcing & Talent Attraction Manager

Hello everyone,

Thank you ​@Courtney-Community Manager Courtney, this is a great topic! It’s like you were reading my mind, as this is exactly what I’m currently focused on. I’m prioritizing these three pillars:

🎯 Seasonal hiring surges or cyclical demand: In healthcare recruiting especially, we’re also preparing for seasonal hiring surges across allied health, nursing support, behavioral health, and healthcare IT roles, where demand can shift very quickly in the second half of the year. The biggest challenge is balancing hiring speed with quality, compliance, and long-term retention.

🧩 Skills gaps you're working to close before year-end: One major focus is strengthening recruitment capabilities around sourcing niche healthcare talent, improving market intelligence, and increasing recruiter adaptability to AI-driven recruiting tools and automation. We’re also working on improving speed-to-submit, stakeholder communication, and candidate engagement strategies for hard-to-fill and high-demand healthcare roles.

⚡ Workforce trends or market shifts impacting your strategy: AI is becoming a major factor in workforce planning and recruiting operations. Teams are expected to work smarter, faster, and more strategically while still maintaining the human side of hiring.

I’ve also submitted a few ideas for healthcare-specific updates that could be implemented within RPS to improve recruiter workflows, credential tracking, specialty-based talent mapping, and AI-assisted candidate matching for hard-to-fill healthcare roles. Those ideas are currently with the product team, and I’m excited to see how LinkedIn continues shaping healthcare talent acquisition moving forward.

1️⃣ Feature Request: “Outside 50 Miles” Sourcing Filter
For travel and contract healthcare recruiting, recruiters often need to source candidates only from outside a 50-mile radius, intentionally excluding local talent.

2️⃣ Feature Request: State License-Based Candidate Sourcing Filter
Advanced sourcing filter that allows recruiters to search candidates based on the specific state licenses they currently hold, making multi-state healthcare recruiting significantly more efficient.

​@Courtney-Community Manager 2nd half of the year focus - 

• 📈 working on my professional development via SHRM/HRCI events, webinars, and reading books - particularly motivational, self-improvement focused
• maximize inhouse learning opportunities/training that is offered via our organizational development department as they are a wealth of knowledge
• addtionally, our roles will transition from recruiter to consultant - so working on prepping for the change mentally and professionally
• using the position shift to learn in other areas of human resources - broaden my knowledge base as much as possible 

Let’s rock out the 2nd half of 2026!!! 💪🏼🚀

My role has changed from Partner to Consultant. I have new clients to partner with. So my main focus is stakeholder alignment. I will be focusing on building and strengthening trust by having 1:1 weekly meetings to discuss strategies and workflows. 

Hi ​@Courtney-Community Manager ! I will send you a message, many thanks!

Our two biggest points of focus for the second half are working with clients to tighten their hiring process, and continuing our implementation of AI solutions to automate administrative work in our ATS and front end processes that get talent to human conversations faster. (I’ve attached a draft of a piece we’re planning to share with clients on the interview process, hopefully to provoke conversations with them.) We implemented an AI candidate screening tool eleven months ago that has helped significantly with getting candidates feedback on their applications and doing resume scoring and front end screening so our recruiters are able to speak with candidates much faster. Now we’re layering a tool inside our ATS that can automate many of the routine tasks that slow recruiters down or distract from their core work. The goal is to increase the time they are spending on human interaction to make them more successful (not to replace them - that’s for sure!).

The biggest hurdle I see day-to-day is finding experienced candidates in market for certain roles- been doing a lot to try and show our hiring managers how limited the pool becomes and encouraging them to lean into more remote candidates who have the skills, but who won’t be able to have a physical presence in certain locations. It’s difficult, because there are valid instances of wanting someone in market to interface with clients- but the C-Suite is on board with remote workers across the board. So it’s a bit of a balancing act, but by looking at candidates nationwide it really expands our overall talent pool.

Still don’t have a perfect solution, but you gotta put the effort in in terms of volume across both reaching a lot of candidates and hitting those candidates multiple times to get the data together.

Hoping to continue encouraging our teams to get more comfortable with remote talent!

Hi ​@Courtney-Community Manager  this is a great conversation prompt started! One of my biggest areas of focus for the second half of 2026 ( I can’t believe we are already in the second half of 2026, where has the time gone!) is moving beyond reactive recruiting and strengthening a more proactive and intelligence driven talent strategy.  

Rather than relying on the good ol “post and pray” I am dedicating time to building talent pipelines before roles become urgent. I start with understanding candidate personas, identifying adjacent and transferable skills and mapping emerging skills for future roles. I am also spending more time bringing market insights to hiring managers.

In one of the Technical BUs that I support I am noticing an increased competition from data centers, cloud infrastructure, and AI-related companies that are looking for the same skills that I find myself sourcing and recruiting for. Helping my leaders understand where talent is being pulled, how compensation, talent supply vs demand has shifted and what alternative talent pools exist or new partnerships that need to be created for a talent pipeline in addition to passive sourcing. 

The biggest opportunity I see is helping leaders shift from hiring for exact experience to hiring for capability, culture fit and transferable skills. The companies that do this well will have an advantage in an increasingly competitive talent market.  

One of the biggest talent challenges I'm preparing for in the second half of 2026 is balancing business growth with a highly competitive talent market.

We're seeing increased demand for bilingual and multilingual professionals, especially for leadership and specialized roles, while candidate expectations around flexibility, compensation, and career growth continue to evolve.

To address this, I'm focusing on strengthening hiring manager partnerships, improving workforce planning, and building proactive talent pipelines rather than waiting for positions to open. I'm also investing more time in market mapping and candidate engagement to ensure we're ready when critical hiring needs arise.

The goal is not just to fill roles faster, but to create a more strategic and sustainable hiring process that supports long-term business growth.

​@Eduardo Alves and ​@Harry Parikh, thank you both for jumping in with such thoughtful, strategic responses. This is exactly the kind of real-world planning insight that makes this community so valuable.

Eduardo, your focus on building internal AI tools and partnering closely with IT/Development teams is a perfect example of proactive talent strategy. I love this: "We want to be riding the wave, not chasing it." That's the mindset shift. Automating the routine so your team can focus on delivering workforce insights and true added value is where the role is heading.

​@Harry Parikh Harry, the healthcare-specific challenges you outlined really highlight how different seasonal surges can look depending on your industry. Balancing speed, compliance, and retention during those spikes is no small feat. And those feature requests you submitted (the "outside 50 miles" filter and state license-based sourcing) are incredibly smart and show how deeply you understand your talent market. If you have not already, I strongly encourage you to add your ideas here in the Community for added visibility and ‘upvotes’ by peers. We submit these ideas directly to the product teams driving the roadmap, so we value your directly feedback.

What stands out across both of your approaches is the intentionality. You're not just reacting to what's coming. You're building the infrastructure, tools, and team capabilities now so you're ready when demand hits.

Question for both of you (and anyone else following along): As you're introducing new tools, automation, or processes to support these second-half priorities, how are you bringing hiring managers and stakeholders along? Are you seeing curiosity, resistance, or a mix of both? 🙌

​@tee & ​@Tracie_Bouye - Congrats to you both in your transitions - I love seeing the focus on growth 

Tee, your commitment to professional development through SHRM/HRCI events, internal training, and self-improvement reads is inspiring. And the transition from recruiter to consultant is a big shift. Using that change as an opportunity to broaden your HR knowledge base is such a smart move. You're setting yourself up to add even more strategic value. I’m with you - let's rock out the second half! 💪🚀

Tracie, congrats on the role shift to Consultant. Your focus on stakeholder alignment through consistent 1:1s is exactly how trust gets built with new clients. Weekly touchpoints to discuss strategy and workflows show you're not waiting for problems to surface. You're co-creating solutions from the start.

Both of you are leaning into change instead of resisting it, and that's what separates good talent pros from great ones. Thanks for sharing your priorities and good luck with your transitions!

​@Dan Catlin  love this. Tightening client hiring processes while speeding up your own workflows with AI is a smart dual focus.

The fact that you've been running AI screening for nearly a year and now layering in ATS automation shows you're scaling what works, not just experimenting. And your framing matters: "increase time on human interaction, not replace them."

Keep us posted on how the new ATS tool impacts recruiter capacity! 

Hello ​@Courtney-Community Manager , thank you for replying. 
That’s an important question. It’s super important to envolve the stakeholders and hiring managers that will be directly impacted by these new tools and workflows. It only makes sense to develop them if they use it, and it really helps them on a daily basis.
My main strategy has been quite simple. Show them the tools and the different usage we can have with them, to make sure we are aligned with the business unit requests and daily workflows. And with that real time feedback, I can adjust and adapt the tool to be even better. Almost like a product management type of strategy.

Hope it helps and I would love to hear more inputs from the others. Have a nice weekend.
Eduardo Alves - Sourcing & Talent Attraction Manager

It’s correct, I agree with you ​@Eduardo Alves. This helps increase awareness of our work.