Best Talent Acquisition Strategies and Tools

Gone are the days when any random person was selected to do a job. I still remember how my grandfather and his friends were recruited by a tech company only because they knew the company’s founder. But nowadays, in this fast-moving world, companies look to hire employees who are specialized in required skills and help the company grow. For this reason, HRs and HR managers look for talented people who possess these skills and are ready to contribute to growing the company. In order to sign up these types of people in the company, the human resources department functions in identifying, assessing, acquiring, and hiring. This process is known as talent acquisition. Training and retention are the cornerstones of talent acquisition.

In simple terms, talent acquisition refers to finding the right person with the right skills for the right job. 

What does acquiring the right talent bring to the company?

Bringing the right talent plays a crucial role in building up the future of the company.  Three advantages of acquiring the right talent are:

· Plays a key element in the organization’s business plan.

· Right hiring helps in boosting productivity, decision making, and motivation among employees.

· Business tends to remain in the competitive market.

Talent Acquisition or Recruitment: What should I say?

People often synonymously use acquisition, recruitment, and hiring. All these terms although mean the same; employing people for an assigned job, talent acquisition is a more advanced form of employment. Recruitment is generally fulfilled for short-term goals, whereas acquisition is more of a long-term, growth-oriented goal. Talent acquisition is forward-thinking and more inclined towards the strategic part of the company which aims to fill tougher job positions that influence growth and development. Talent acquisition considers what the potential employee's career path could be within the organization and eventually become managers and senior staff within the organization.

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Talent Acquisition Process

1. Potential Lead Generation

Companies and HRs look for candidates who possess the required skills for the job. Potential leads are generated through posting vacancies on job portals like Naukri, Angel list, LinkedIn, Indeed, have candidates who are searching for jobs, and HRs might find some of the best talents out there in the market. Some employee sourcing tools are Avature, Seekout, Wayup. Sometimes the organization also hires through internal recruits and referrals from employees.

2. Reaching out to the candidates

After finding the right talent, in order to reach out to them, there are numerous tools available. Contact Out and Hunter harvests publicly available contact information for anyone based on their name.

3. Interview and Assessment

After contacting the potential candidates, HRs screen the candidates through various rounds of interviews and assessments. Interviews consist of discussions, problem-solving, asking various critical, behavioral questions, and checking whether candidates will be able to adapt to the core beliefs and attitudes of the organization. Automated applicant tracking tools help in candidates’ data aggregation to interview results. HRs can make decisions based on these data whether or not to continue with the candidate. Bamboo HR, Zoho Recruit, SAP HR are some of the tools. Organizations also take the assessment in their unique way which includes analytical thinking. There are various assessment tools for IQ, EQ, and personality that firms use to screen their potential candidates. Devskiller and Kand.io are some top assessment tools.

4. References

After the candidates' clear interview rounds, their previous job records and roles are cross-checked by the company before proceeding further. Character and competency are checked thoroughly without leaving any margin for error. For HR managers it is mandatory to follow such protocol as they cannot take decisions based on their gut or intuitions.

5. Selection and On-boarding

The next step of the acquisition process is selecting the candidate who clears all the rounds. Scoring and ratings are given to the candidates. Decisions of selection are made by the talent team and the C-suite if possible. A strong onboarding process should take place which later on ensures strong relationships.

Also read: Top 10 employee onboarding software in India

6. Induction and training

After recruitment, HR’s job is to understand the performance of the employee and train them accordingly. Checking whether employees are living up to the standards set by HRs.  Are the employees achieving their targets? To get info on these terms HRs can use tools like WorkPlus, Assess Team, and Track Star.

Suggested: Upskilling your workforce is a key to growth by Ashwani Chaudhary, L&D Head, Provana

7. Managing payrolls

The final step of the acquisition process is managing monthly payroll which was once a hectic role for HR managers. But not now. HRs can manage monthly payrolls, as well as other benefits using tools like Xero, Wave, Prime Pay, and Sage, which helps in keeping track of where the money is going. 

What are some of the talent acquisition strategies?

There are numerous strategies companies use to onboard talent. Here are a few of these strategies:

Make or buy strategy

There are two ways a company can acquire talented candidates. One way is that a company can hire an employee and the organization can contribute to employee skill development and train for the required job. This is known as the ‘make’ strategy. The other way is that the company can hire experienced, skilled, and professional talented employees for the required job. This is known as the ‘buy’ strategy.

Analysing using data

In 2022 HRs around the world are advancing to recruit using data. The use of data in hiring makes the process easier and more advanced. There remains little or no margin in error. Accessing the database of a large number of employees, understanding behavioural patterns, tap on performance and productivity all become an essential part of the HR job. Recruiting metrics are used by HRs to improve hiring strategy. HRs would be able to track metrics using applicant tracking system software and help them make key decisions during the hiring process. Analysing data is not just to hire candidates, HRs would also be able to anticipate any future risks to the company and solve them without any further delay.

Building a strong social network and company image

People of high expertise are on social media; HRs can use this opportunity to get these candidates to sign up for their firms. Organizations must also build strong networks in the social media world. This would build a sturdy image of the company and also help HRs get potential recruits easily. This communication strategy focusing on the company's employees and potential employees is known as employer branding.

Getting your retention right

Talent acquisition, like mentioned before doesn’t end with hiring. You have put a lot of effort into finding the best resources suitable for your company and now you have to work on retaining the talent. Multiple factors like the development of the company, growth of the employees, workplace culture, salary, employee benefits, etc. influence retention. And if this criterion is not met, employees may come across better offers and benefits from other companies. HRs must ensure that they provide the best employee benefits in India, competitive pay, to their employees to garner a higher rate of retention. Retention of talented employees would further help in the growth and development of the firm.