The Key to Talent

Attract, Develop and Retain Exceptional Talent

Matthew Jeffery

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Edition: 1
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Business
• Print ISBN:
  9781398629639
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• eBook ISBN:
  9781398629646
• Index: Business

Build a talent strategy that fuels growth, performance and long-term organizational value.

The Key to Talent is a practical guide for senior HR leaders and business executives responsible for attracting, hiring and retaining the people who fuel long-term organizational performance. Written by Matthew Jeffery, this book shows why talent must be treated as a core driver of business growth rather than a cost centre and also explains how people strategy must evolve as AI, data and technology reshape the talent lifecycle.

Blending strategic insight with real-world application, the book explores how to build credible, data-driven talent strategies that reflect changing employee expectations, strengthen employer brand and deliver measurable ROI. Drawing on real-world examples from organizations including EY, SAP, Autodesk and Electronic Arts (EA), it demonstrates how to apply principles from consumer marketing to talent attraction, while maintaining a human-centred, inclusive approach.

You'll learn how to:
- Position talent strategy as a driver of growth and competitive advantage
- Build a data-driven EVP and employer brand that attracts scarce skills
- Design bias-free, human-centred hiring and assessment processes
- Enable skills-based hiring, internal mobility and long-term retention

With clear metrics, practical frameworks and guidance on leading through change, The Key to Talent helps senior leaders create resilient, inclusive and future-ready talent systems that deliver sustained performance in an AI-enabled business environment.

Themes include: talent strategy, employer branding, employee value proposition, skills-based hiring, inclusive talent, AI and the talent lifecycle, workforce analytics, business-led HR

Table of contents

• Praise for The Key to Talent
• The Key to Talent
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Part One Talent becomes strategy
• 01 Why talent became strategy
• 02 How hiring changed
• 03 How organizations must operate
• Part Two Employer brand as organizational truth
• 04 Employer branding reimagined
• 05 Why employer brands fail
• 06 Employer brand as operating system
• Part Three Recruitment in the open
• 07 The death of recruitment as we knew it
• 08 Recruitment in the light
• 09 Designing the hiring experience
• 10 The operating reality of recruitment
• Part Four The employee value proposition
• 11 An EVP is a deal, not a poster
• 12 EVP must survive contact with reality
• Part Five Recruitment marketing and talent influence
• 13 Recruitment marketing
• 14 Standing out in talent markets
• 15 How recruitment marketing actually works
• 16 From campaigns to hiring outcomes
• Part Six Social media and talent influence
• 17 Social media, storytelling and influence
• 18 Social media, trust and employer reputation
• Part Seven The hiring experience in the age of transparency
• 19 Candidate experience
• 20 Designing candidate experience for trust and talent
• Part Eight The power of talent relationships
• 21 Talent communities, referrals and advocacy
• 22 Hiring as a decision-making capability
• 23 Skills-based assessment in practice
• 24 Structured interviews and decision discipline
• 25 Onboarding
• Part Nine Reinventing the talent system
• 26 The collapse of job titles
• 27 Skills are the new currency
• 28 The AI talent engine
• 29 Who do we trust to decide?
• 30 Diversity, equity and inclusion as brand truth
• Part Ten Trust, measurement and long-term brand strength
• 31 Measuring and protecting employer brand
• Conclusion
• Index
• Copyright page