Steve Jobs said, “It makes no sense hiring wise people and telling them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. “

This expression makes even more sense and value, given that most of the companies around the world, including even the Albanian ones, call it cost or loss to invest in the development of their employees.

But studies show the opposite. An employee regularly trained and in touch with new innovations and new work processes is more productive and a greater value for the company itself.

This group has created the “Talent Pool” program, a program that consists in the identification, training and professional development of talents and their preparation for taking on the highest professional and managerial positions at Group level, (up to CEO level) of any company that the Balfin Group owns. This program identifies the steps of talent development, realizes them and enables the creation of a team with prepared employees (who work in various Group companies) who are offered the opportunity to advance their career in leading and challenging positions that the Balfin Group offers.

The steps that are followed to identify and train talents

1. The selection is done according to a well-thought process and divided into several steps. The first step is the announcement of the program’s opening to Group companies.
2. Subsequently, each company submits proposals to candidates who must meet certain criteria and assessments in defined and specific formats for this purpose.
3. After selection at this stage, all selected candidates pass a number of written tests in logical fields or areas related to professional and managerial skills
4. Upon completion of the test phase, a second selection is made based on the results. The candidates who pass the test phase are then subjected to the last phase, the interview at Balfin’s headquarters, and lastly the candidates who successfully complete this phase become part of the Talent Pool group.

This process is followed by large companies and corporations in the world.

“Talent Pool’s program is designed to develop candidates in three directions: the one in leading and technical knowledge, the knowledge that is taken in the format of the classroom training. Work knowledge, training on the job-shadow combined with coaching, both in group companies at senior management and at headquarters in Balfin. The training continues with the follow-up through the mentoring technique, where the talents are attributed to the highly qualified leaders of the Balfin Group, which are a point of support in their advancement through distance support,” said Anjeza Kelmendi, Human Resources Director at Balfin Group.

“All three of these ways are a combination, that in the employee development language, is called “Blended Learning”, and the goal is to give employees the ability to gain knowledge, practice and advance them in their work. This makes these employees more capable themselves of managing not only the responsibilities they currently have, but also taking on new bigger challenges and even more successfully coping with these challenges “– continues on further Kelmendi.

The main purpose of this project is to create a transparent, quality and safe development framework for all employees with the qualities and the potential to be in managerial positions within the Balfin Group. The Balfin Group’s talent team is created by the most promising and capable employees in order to be managing managers.

Effective talent management is performed by:

• Electing the right individuals in key roles.
• Guaranteeing integrated interventions that support the creation of new leaders
• Developing new trails and empower the young generation to be successful on these trails.
• Inciting and rewarding high-level performance.

The project is organized once every two years and is led by the Balfin Group’s Human Resources Department. The criteria for being a participant in Talent Pool are:

• • A very good performance in the current position
  • Very good communication skills
  • Good team leader
  • Ability to organize and manage people
  • Good level of English
    This process includes 15 candidates who are trained to become leaders. They are selected by the respective companies and are then subjected to an interview by the Talent Pool’s steering committee. After the interviews, the Department of Human Resources at Balfin informs the selected candidates and makes the training program and relevant information available.

From Balfin Group, in this programs are these trainers: Human Resources Director, Legal Department Director, Finance Department Director, Head of Audit Department, Group Communication Director, and Project Department Manager.

Defining a new position for successful candidates

Once the candidates complete the training program successfully, the HR Department prepares a file for each participant. The file contains the evaluation form for each training phase. Based on the results and comments, the Evaluation Committee takes a decision and appoints successful candidates for promotion or new title, which is also done in accordance with job vacancies in the company. Talent Pool candidates successfully completing the training process are the first candidates to be considered for the new managerial positions that are available in the Balfin Group. Possible positions in the Balfin Group that can be offered to these candidates are: starting from Deputy Chief Executive Officer or Executive Director of one of the Group companies, up to the Project Manager, Director of Department or Regional Manager.