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- Growing a business
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What does talent acquisition mean?
Talent acquisition is the process of identifying and hiring employees with the skills needed to meet your business objectives. Hiring the top talent, and ensuring any skills gaps are filled, can help improve productivity, boost revenue, enhance product design and streamline operational efficiency.
What does a talent acquisition specialist do?
A talent acquisition specialist is responsible for implementing your business’s talent recruitment strategy by sourcing, attracting, and recruiting candidates who can enhance the effectiveness of your workforce. This requires a combination of strategic planning and an understanding of how to attract employees.
What is the difference between talent acquisition and recruiting?
Recruitment is the process of filling immediate vacancies, typically in entry level or non-specialist roles. Talent acquisition, on the other hand, is a long-term approach involving the creation of a recruitment plan for meeting the future staffing needs of your business in alignment with your commercial priorities.
Why is talent acquisition important for business growth?
In a competitive business landscape, the companies who can attract and retain talent to meet long-term business goals will enjoy a competitive advantage over the competition by supporting growth, driving innovation and improving workplace culture.
Talent acquisition contributes to business growth by attracting employees likely to foster innovation, drive creativity and provide leadership. This can help enhance the organisational structure of your business, improve operations, and support business development.
What are the steps in the talent acquisition process?
Broken down into six basic steps:
1. Preparing
Gain an understanding of the role you are seeking to fill and the attributes and skills you are looking for. Create a clear job description that articulates your brand identity, outlines duties and responsibilities and includes details of incentives such as benefits and remuneration.
3. Screening
The screening stage is your opportunity to compare the applications and CVs you’ve received against your candidate criteria, to ensure you hire the right person for the role. Organise interview rounds that give candidates appropriate time to prepare and outline the recruitment process to keep them updated and to maintain a positive reputation as a recruiter.
5. Hiring
Once the hiring process concludes it’s time to extend a job offer to the right candidate as well as agree a start date and contract terms. This process may involve negotiation, so it’s important to work to find mutually beneficial solutions as well as establishing clear expectations for the role.
2. Sourcing
Focus on casting your net as wide as possible to reach the right people with your job ad. This can be done through a broad mix of channels, including job boards, social media platforms like LinkedIn, internal candidate databases, graduate schemes and an employee referral programme.
4. Selecting
The candidate selection process is your opportunity to narrow down your pool of potential recruits and see if they align with your desired skills, work experience and aptitudes. You may also assess factors such as alignment with company culture and potential for professional development.
6. Onboarding
The onboarding process is an opportunity to welcome employees to their new role and familiarise them with internal processes and training resources. The goal is to set new employees up to hit the ground running. As well as ensuring an efficient employee onboarding process, it’s important to establish a positive tone for building a successful long-term relationship with employees.
How long does the talent acquisition process take?
The average time to fill a vacancy in the UK is over 40 days. However, the talent acquisition process can take longer; from a few weeks, to several months. This is because talent acquisition is an ongoing process that needs to constantly adapt to changing circumstances and involves nurturing strong relationships with potential candidates over an extended period of time.
How to attract the right talent in a competitive market?
In a highly competitive market, it’s important to effectively articulate your brand values and vision to enhance your appeal to talented job seekers. Demonstrate your value as a business, communicate the appeal of a career with your business and explain the benefits of working for you. Consider gathering employee testimonials, publishing content that communicates your values and achievements, and developing an impactful brand narrative.
What makes a company attractive to candidates?
Candidates are looking for employers who value their skills and experiences, offer a competitive salary and benefits package; and provide a positive, inclusive workplace culture where they can develop their talents and progress their careers.
Common challenges in talent acquisition
Common talent acquisition challenges include a shortage of candidates with the right skills for your business, as well as budget restraints. Rapidly evolving technology also calls for an influx of fresh skills into many businesses, meaning it can be hard to keep up. Effectively articulating your brand identity as an employer and communicating the benefits of working with you can help you navigate some of these challenges.
How to overcome the talent gap
If there’s a talent gap in your business that’s holding you back, it can be helpful to identify the skills and capabilities required to meet your business objectives and prioritise the roles which will deliver the greatest return on investment.
You could:
Develop a marketing strategy
Which articulates your appeal to top talent, and ensure you’re building a brand presence across a wide range of channels that can effectively engage your target audience.Improve your internal learning and development
Including processes and strengthen professional development strategies, which can help nurture skills within your existing workforce.Consider a mixed approach
From recruitment, talent redeployment and outsourcing, to help you respond with agility in an evolving labour market.
Building a long-term talent pipeline
To improve the long-term success of your recruitment efforts it’s important to develop a long-term talent pipeline that ensures you have a consistent pool of talent to consider for present and future vacancies. These steps may help:
- Identify key areas where new talent is needed and outline what you can do to reach out to relevant job seekers.
- Align your talent requirements to your business strategy and ensure you’re prepared in advance to recruit for crucial roles. Don’t wait until the last minute!
- Engage in succession planning to ensure you have a recruitment strategy for replacing talent when employees leave or retire.
Why candidate experience matters in talent acquisition
Creating a positive candidate experience, even if a candidate is not eventually hired, is important in maintaining strong relationships with job seekers, protecting your brand from negative sentiment by minimising complaints and avoiding putting off candidates who may also be future customers.
A positive candidate experience may also:
- Reduce the time to hire by eliminating delays or confusion in the recruitment process.
- Increase the likelihood candidates will accept your job offer.
- Support your staff retention strategies and help build your team by successfully integrating new employees into your organisation.
How to improve your hiring process
Here are some quick tips for improving the hiring process:
- Clearly defining the talent gaps you need to fill and the experiences, qualifications and capabilities which can help you grow your business.
- Consider your ideal candidate profile and establish the appropriate target audiences when promoting your vacancies.
- Ensure your HR processes are efficient, consistent and reviewed regularly. They should also take into consideration the candidate experience at each stage and align with your brand values.
Disclaimers
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