As HR Departments evaluate their priorities and greatest ROI, Talent Acquisition is no doubt one of the top initiatives that is important to the business. Some companies have tried to combine Talent Acquisition and Talent Management into one discipline called “Talent,” but there is a legitimate argument from many HR professionals that these two areas require different skill sets to be highly impactful.
Talent Acquisition is comprised of employee branding, marketing, selling the organization, understanding the business and skills required, efficiently managing the Applicant Tracking Process, building relationships internally and externally, positioning on social media, effectively screening applicants, and ultimately attracting the highest quality applicants to the company. Sometimes, we underestimate the importance of this role and value add to the top and bottom line.
The demands of a Talent Acquisition professional seem never ending since they need to flexible for connecting with applicants (sometimes 7 days a week) and juggle recruiting for multiple positions. The skill set is similar to that of a sales consultant since the TA professional needs to have a great elevator pitch, solid working knowledge of the company and function, be great at presentations, and assist with closing the deal. Talent Acquisition is typically the first and last impression of the company.
There are multiple process challenges for Talent Acquisition that represent an opportunity for simplification in order to speed up the process. Feedback from applicants and managers typically revolves around systems being too complex, the application process taking too long to complete, too much information being collected, volumes of applications received on-line making it impossible to effectively screen all applications, significant number of unqualified applicants applying, and the time it takes to respond to applicants and direct resumes to managers. If the company does not have a strong brand, the opposite may be true that you receive very few resumes in response to your ads.
How do you win in today’s market from a talent acquisition perspective? Some of the things you may evaluate for change include:
A simpler more integrated human resource management system
A more efficient and faster process with your vendors for processing pre-employment requirements
Re-evaluate how much information you need to collect on the application (i.e., how many positions, salary (not allowed in all states), etc.
Pre-populating information from an uploaded resume vs. making the applicant upload and populate the same information
Work with legal to consolidate/streamline the information that needs to be disclosed to applicants
Understand at which point in the process you lose applicants so you can focus your efforts on improving
Defined process for reviewing, screening, and dispositioning
Commitment from managers to make screening and interviewing a priority
Clear understanding of the position, competencies, and skills required
Consider video interviews to save costs and build in flexibility for applicants and managers
Smooth transition from offer to onboarding
Whatever your process, make sure you are aligned and communicating with senior management on priorities, proposed changes, feedback, and piloting new ideas and programs to maximize the effectiveness of Talent Acquisition and positioning the company as an Employer of Choice.
