Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2020 - 48

CASEBOOK

LINKEDIN'S BUSINESS LEADERSHIP PROGRAM:
FINDING, DEVELOPING AND SUPPORTING
EARLY-CAREER TALENT
BY HOPE WILLIAMS, CPTM

Professionals across the globe look
to LinkedIn to connect them with
professionals in their field, career
opportunities, key skills needed in
today's workforce, and LinkedIn
Learning courses to contribute to
their personal and professional
development. Afterall, "LinkedIn's true
north," says Tiffany Poeppelman, global
head of LinkedIn's Business Leadership
Program, "is to create true economic
opportunity for every member of the
global workforce."
Honoring their mission to provide economic
and development opportunities to cultivate
the future workforce, LinkedIn launched its
Business Leadership Program (BLP) in 2013
- a program for early-career talent providing
young, high-potential professionals the
opportunity to gain experience in shortterm rotations in various business functions,
ranging from customer support to sales
productivity departments - resulting
in strong business acumen and critical
leadership skills upon the completion of the
program. Today, BLP has expanded from
LinkedIn's San Francisco headquarters
to include a European division in Ireland
and a cohort based in LinkedIn's Chicago
office. LinkedIn has also announced it
will expand BLP's offerings to include new
career pathways in sales analytics, sales
enablement and media sales to ensure
upcoming Gen Z talent gain the skills
needed to navigate and succeed in the
future of work.

| 48

In
today's
fast-paced
business
environment, many companies are
seeking the best mechanisms and
strategies for developing talent at scale
and retaining high-potential talent once
they've found them. Moreover, the
coronavirus pandemic has highlighted
the need for skilled - and versatile -
employees who can quickly adapt to
shifts in customer and business needs.
"If you look at our mission and our
vision as a company, BLP continues to
be a great mechanism to help create
that opportunity - specifically for earlycareer talent - to give them the right
level of experiences and create a strong
foundation for their career to help amplify
and start them off on a strong foot," says
Poeppelman. Since the launch of the
program, BLP has grown from serving
an associate cohort of 20 to roughly 100
across multiple locations, offering more
young professionals the opportunity
to develop the skills they need to lead
organizations forward in the future.
FINDING, DEVELOPING AND
SUPPORTING DIVERSE TALENT
The coronavirus pandemic has posed
many questions regarding best practices
for recruiting, developing and supporting
diverse talent over the course of their
career journeys. LinkedIn's BLP allows
the organization to discover, leverage
and "[expand] talent much further across

the business based on their interests
and growing business needs," says
Poeppelman. As well as answer the
question, "As companies' talent needs
shift, how do we continue to prepare
early-career talent to do those roles?"
Let's examine how LinkedIn's BLP finds,
develops and supports its associates
to contribute to a more equitable and
skilled workforce of the future.

LINKEDIN'S TRUE NORTH
IS TO CREATE TRUE
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
FOR EVERY MEMBER
OF THE GLOBAL
WORKFORCE.

Finding
"Ultimately, our aspirational vision is to
create the next generation of sales and
business leaders," says Poeppelman.
However, not only does LinkedIn strive
to develop the next generation of
leaders but it "strives to do so with an
eye toward diversity, inclusivity, and
belonging to cultivate an equitable and
innovative workplace for all." To do so,
LinkedIn and its recruiting team has
looked beyond traditional recruiting

https://www.linkedin.com/business/learning/blog/top-skills-and-courses/fy21-fastest-growing-skills-corp https://www.linkedin.com/business/learning/blog/top-skills-and-courses/fy21-fastest-growing-skills-corp https://careers.linkedin.com/students/business-leadership-program https://careers.linkedin.com/students/business-leadership-program

Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2020

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