Recruitment shouldn’t be all about filling an available vacancy but it also involves getting the right candidates that will achieve organizational goals and business objectives. The process of talent acquisition should be an integral part of the organization's long term strategy.
A strong talent acquisition strategy enables your organisation to stand out among it’s competition. This long-term and strategic effort at finding the most suitable talent to fill available vacancies seek to determine qualified individuals and to also serve as a means to entice the brightest, and also most motivated individuals for your organization. Having the best talent acquisition strategy is very important regardless the nature of your industry, whether it’s a niche market, competitive Industry or a fast-growing company. For instance, if your business is a fast-growing one, having the best talent acquisition strategy might be beneficial in reducing the time to fill available vacancies.
Furthermore, for a startup organizations where the key drivers of growth depends on executive strategies and motivated and talented employees, a good talent acquisition strategy might be beneficial in executive succession planning and operations management, processes and leadership for complex markets for which the organization is just entering for the very first time. Moreover, as technology keeps improving so does the job market. Furthermore, talent also evolves with evolving job market which thus require the prospective employee to be conversant with latest industrial trends. This is not to say that the prospective employee should be a tech savvy but a little understanding of how technology is shaping the industry will enable the right talent to have sufficient understanding of what works and what doesn’t work anymore.
The essential point is that for any organization to succeed on the long term, it is important for your organization to be able to hire and retain the best, most talented employees. However, this task is not an easy one. Hence the need for talent acquisition strategy. But a distinction has to he made between talent acquisition and recruitment. Recruitment refers to a short term human resources strategy that is mostly aimed at filling particular vacancies within an organization. In most cases it is only a short-term strategy. Talent acquisition on the other hand refers to a long term human resources strategy aimed at finding certain unique skillsets. It’s a strategy aimed at finding the best, and most qualified candidate regardless of specific vacancies.
Here are four talent acquisition strategies that will ensure success for your organization:
Align Your Talent Acquisition Process with your Employer Branding
The development of strong and prominent organizational culture is important in attracting the best talent for your organization. Culture that reflects organizational values, structure and processes might be a key attractant to like-minded and hardworking individuals. Hence, having someone who has an attitude that is in alignment with your company culture, values and that promotes a healthy work environment should be the human resources main goal. Furthermore, The more authentic and well structured is the organization’s culture and values are communicated, as well as the challenges and rewards of the role itself, the easier it is for highly motivated and individuals with unique skills to self-select themselves into the application process. Your company’s culture, and values should also be detailed in your About US page and on other platforms such as Linkedln profile page and other important social pages.
Let Your Application Process be Data Driven
Your talent acquisition strategies are just as important as your marketing campaigns. In fact, successful organizations have a structure in place that integrate the hr department with the marketing department in the hiring process. Data answers a lot of questions such as where the top talents are coming from and the major factors hindering unique talents from filling out your application forms. Data gives you insight into where to focus your acquisition efforts and even where to get the right talent and what the needs of the right talent. Furthermore, by using structured analytics and data, your organization is equipped with tools to ensure your job descriptions and career pages aren't deterring unique talents from applying for your job postings online. You could get data by looking out for possible questions that potential talent are asking on social pages such as Reddit. Quora and LinkedIn.
Optimize Your Sourcing Strategies
Sourcing the best talent is highly dependent on your outreach strategies. There are instances where some talent pools are often overlooked and you have to reach out to them. There are several overlooked and under-leveraged talent pools, including stay-at-home moms/dads, retirees/near-retirees, veterans, and non-profit organizations with career services and even individuals without a college degree but with the necessary experience and drive to get the job done. Here, it’s your approach that really matters. There are even situations where you have to hire based on potentials and not experience. And there are also situations where experience has to be considered over potentials depending on the role. Sometimes you could hire the most motivated and passionate individuals and train them for the required role. Hence the need for continuous employees growth and updated and well structured on-the-job training. Whatever method you adopt always review and update your talent acquisition strategies regularly. The strategy must answer certain questions for the potential talent such as ‘why should I work or contribute my effort for this organization?’ These questions are integral part of the organization’s branding as well as an important part of the sourcing strategy. This involves structured detailing of roles and objectives and organisation’s values. The cultivation of an impressive and attractive employer brand should be part of the sourcing strategy and this will result in the generation of better talent and find more long-term success.
Write Personalized Job Advertisements
To get the best talent, a unique approach in writing the best job advertisement should be adopted. The job advertisement should also detail the company’s mission and objectives in order to find the right talent with similar career goals. Your job advertisement should state how the person’s role will help achieve the company’s objectives and the benefits to the right talent.