Talent sharing program evolves to provide job rotation, career development opportunities

The first iteration of the Purdue Together: Talent Sharing program met an urgent need and filled employment gaps during the pandemic. The new version of the program, Talent Share 2.0, launches today (May 10). This unique new program embraces the value of job rotation and career development.

Employees may consider participating in Talent Share as a way of developing skills for their current role or as a means to expand their skill set for future roles. Host departments benefit from the process as well, by sharing best practices and having additional talent to move projects and initiatives forward.

Talent Share provides a platform for implementing the development goals identified during an employee’s annual performance management meeting. Supervisors and employees are encouraged to discuss how the employee may benefit from the program, as well as the department’s support for the activity. Reference the Talent Share Manager Guide for things to consider for a meaningful Talent Share experience.

The program is designed to match employee participants to both current and future development opportunities. Human Resources’ Talent Acquisition Team will manage the program and identify where desired professional growth matches up with host opportunities. Project communication and coordination will be facilitated through the program’s Careers website, Purdue Together: Talent Share.

For employees to take advantage of the program, managers will need to complete the Talent Share Participant Survey. The survey asks managers to review the current list of opportunities and identify one that may be a good fit for the employee. The survey also collects the employee’s desired skills and experiences in the event there are no applicable openings. Talent Acquisition will manage those requests and use them as the program expands.

Departments wishing to serve as a host will submit a Talent Share Development Opportunity Survey. The submission will provide an overview of the position responsibilities and skills/competencies participants will develop through the role.  

Participants from the first phase of the program tout the benefits of the program.

“The Talent Sharing program has turned out to be a fantastic opportunity to use my MSED in learning design and technology to help out in areas that have seen a sudden increase in the need for this particular skill set,” said Evelyn Howard, program coordinator for student services. “I thoroughly enjoy working with my new friends in the College of Engineering and have been able to build onto my course development, project and time management and LMS [learning management system] navigation skills. It has been a truly wonderful experience, and I am so glad I took the risk."

Departments such as Purdue Online built out their online programs through the original program, thereby avoiding the need to hire additional staff.

Gerry McCartney, executive vice president for Purdue Online, said, “As our volume of online course development, deployment and support work has burgeoned, we've needed additional staff to get things done. When Human Resources announced Purdue's Talent Sharing Program in April of 2020, Purdue Online saw it as a great opportunity. We advertised regularly for help in a variety of positions. We now have a dozen talented employees from other campus units working part time.”

This new phase is the program’s next natural evolution: a program focused on discovery of new roles or skill sets, which will lead to growth and best practices for all participants.