Would you “Believe” Cher belted out the top song of 1999? So says Billboard, authority on all things pop music. Not far behind her was Smash Mouth, who made the musical “All Star” team (just that one time). But as we got distracted by “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and feared the impending Y2K bug, our sights should have been trained on another type of bug: the cicada.

Each group of the winged insects (known as a brood) reemerges in predictable 17-year cycles; the present one last visited us in 1999.

Forget the original Guns N’ Roses lineup reuniting for the first time in forever; these noisy cicada creatures are set to start their own long-awaited comeback tour of the American northeast next month. For those who don’t remember their last great hit, “The Mating Song of 1999,” (seriously, that’s what the sound is all about), it’s worse than an ‘80s hair-metal power ballad.

Sadly, for those who like to live in the past, almost none of the chart-topping musical acts of 1999 have the staying power of the cicada (which are referenced in Homer’s Iliad, people!). And companies that haven’t updated their hiring practices since the days of “…Baby One More Time,” well, their talent-management strategies may need fixing the same way Britney Spears needs Auto-tune.

  • How do you know if your means of hiring and retaining employees is dated? Are you using a scientifically valid tool that uncovers people’s workplace motivations?
  • Do you factor in a candidate’s potential (rather than simply experience) when making hiring or development decisions?
  • Are your job titles synced with competency models that get at the heart of a position’s crucial responsibilities?
  • Is analytics playing a role in challenging your best employees, perhaps even opening up avenues for stretch assignments?

If you answered “no” to most of these questions, chances are your talent-management practices could benefit from an update.

While we lived through computer bugs, and actual bugs, and came out of 1999 relatively unscathed, the dawn of the new millennium has brought the impact of the multigenerational workforce, the Great Recession of 2008, lean staffing, and automation—all of which have seriously changed the way companies do business. Seriously, the World of Work has changed greatly since we last danced to TLC’s “No Scrubs.” And those who haven’t introduced a more sophisticated tool to mine their human capital are way behind the times.

Luckily, with a trusted partner that offers a variety of robust talent-management options, anyone can begin the process of modernizing their hiring and development practices. Don’t wait for the cicadas’ return in 2033. Get started now!