Talent acquisition is the strategic process an organization uses to identify, recruit and hire the people it needs to achieve its business goals and optimize its processes. Companies analyze their long-term talent needs, identify and develop talent sources, and then execute the strategy by recruiting, evaluating and onboarding candidates. Talent acquisition is usually a function of the human resources (HR) department working in collaboration with talent acquisition specialists, with input from senior executives.
Talent acquisition is usually the first step in an organization's talent management strategy. Talent management is the process employers use to hire, deploy, train, evaluate, compensate and retain employees.
Talent acquisition is important because finding and hiring the right people is a crucial element of an organization's business plan and directly affects its success. Without the right employees, a business is likely to struggle with poor productivity, bad decision-making and unmotivated staff.
Talent acquisition is forward-thinking. Instead of simply hiring a candidate to fill an opening, a talent acquisition team considers the potential employee's possible career path in the organization and places a priority on employee retention. As a result, talent acquisition ensures the organization hires people who could eventually become managers and make other important contributions.
A good talent acquisition strategy begins by assessing candidates' skills and the value they would bring to an organization. It also involves consistent communication to foster positive experiences. This in turn makes candidates feel welcomed and valued once hired. Candidates who feel valued are likely to stay with an organization, reducing employee turnover and churn and ensuring more continuity and knowledge retention.
Recruitment is the biggest component of talent acquisition, and some organizations use the terms interchangeably. However, while talent acquisition and recruitment share a similar goal -- to fill open positions -- there are important differences. The biggest is that recruitment focuses on the present moment, while talent acquisition focuses mostly on the future.
Recruitment is invested in filling an open position as quickly as possible. Talent acquisition gives consideration to a company's goals and takes the time to find the candidate who best fits its business' needs. To gain this broader perspective, talent acquisition teams analyze a prospective employee's skills, how they fit with the company's culture, as well as their potential for future development to take on other roles in the company.
Other differences extend from this essential difference and include the following:
While the recruitment process is mostly reactive and linear, talent acquisition is cyclical and strategic. Recruitment focuses on current needs, while talent acquisition focuses on creating a talent pipeline in anticipation of future needs.
Creating a talent acquisition strategy requires adding a strategic perspective to the recruiting process. The best steps to take when doing this include the following:
Some approaches to talent acquisition that can be used in conjunction with an organization's internal strategy include the following:
Recruitment marketing is a subset of marketing focused on promoting the organization as a desirable place to work, reinforcing the brand and gathering leads, including passive candidates who aren't actively looking. Employees participate in the marketing campaign through referrals, video testimonials and social media.
The SoH is the place or way that employees in an organization are commonly hired. Knowing an organization's SoH for its top-performing employees can focus recruiting on the most productive sources, such as passive candidates, employee referrals and job boards. Often, an applicant tracking system is the best place to track and analyze SoH information.
Besides helping to promote the employer brand, social media sites, such as LinkedIn and GitHub, serve as communication channels for posting jobs. They're also a good place to interact with candidates in the early stages of recruiting.
Experts advise doing the following to ensure an effective talent acquisition strategy:
Various metrics or key performance indicators are used to measure the success of an organization's talent acquisition process. Different organizations refer to them by different names, yet the information they convey is key. They include the following:
Talent acquisition is sometimes included as part of human capital management (HCM) suites. These tools automate core HR functions, such as payroll and benefits, and often have recruiting modules. However, applicant tracking systems are the real hub of recruitment and talent acquisition. They manage every step in the recruiting process, and provide analytics on candidate and employee data.
Many employers opt for talent management suites, such as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM and SAP SuccessFactors. These types of software-as-a-service systems offer recruiting, performance management, compensation management, learning management and sometimes succession planning modules. More narrowly focused tools that provide talent acquisition and recruiting capabilities are also available.
Additionally, as artificial intelligence (AI) permeates various industries, more talent acquisition specialists are relying on software with AI-driven capabilities. Examples include existing software that incorporates more AI features over time and AI tools that screen candidates' data through analyses more efficiently than humans can.
Another talent acquisition option are job boards and job marketplaces where employers post open positions. Examples of these sorts of websites include Glassdoor, Indeed, Monster Worldwide, SimplyHired and ZipRecruiter. In addition to job postings, some of these sites also provide estimates of average annual salaries for various jobs and current and former employees' reviews of companies.
Major social media and technology players, such as LinkedIn and Google, also provide job-matching, business networking and job-search services. Talent acquisition specialists and recruiters increasingly use these platforms for social media recruiting.
After a candidate is hired and becomes an employee, they go through a company's onboarding process, which includes steps like benefits enrollment, issuing of equipment, training on IT systems, and team introductions. Increasingly, onboarding is conducted online, especially for workers who will always work remotely. This has been crucial in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Onboarding has become a universal component of talent management and talent acquisition software suites. A comprehensive talent acquisition platform will likely include an onboarding tool to streamline processes.
A talent acquisition specialist is an HR professional who focuses on sourcing, identifying and hiring specific types of employees. Companies in competitive job markets that are growing and changing hire these professionals to deal with recruiting for in-demand jobs, such as tech, healthcare and finance.
Responsibilities of a talent acquisition specialist include the following:
Requirements for a talent acquisition specialist typically include a bachelor's degree in a field related to human resource management, ideally with a specialization in talent acquisition or management. These professionals usually need to have at least five years of previous HR experience.
AI is increasingly being used in talent acquisition and recruiting. Its use coincides with the rise of data-driven AI. As talent acquisition data continues to expand exponentially, AI and machine learning tools are being used to analyze data and streamline recruiting.
An AI algorithm can screen candidates' resumes and other credentials to identify the best candidates faster than humans doing the same process manually. These algorithms can automate repetitive tasks like talent sourcing, which also speeds up hiring.
Organizations are also expected to emphasize strategic or cultural changes that are attractive to younger job candidates. These include workforce diversification efforts, better benefits and transparent salary policies.
As AI becomes more pervasive in the hiring process, it's important to be aware of the AI-based recruiting tools and software that are available.
18 Mar 2024