---

Talent Acquisition Process

Growing companies and job seekers today all have questions about the talent acquisition process. What are companies thinking about when it comes to talent management, or how to attract the right person for the job? There are some time-proven skills and processes that are essential to employee recruitment and retention. Technology is also driving new best practices and strategies, as are the expectations of today’s candidates and employees. A talent acquisition process is how businesses make the most of new opportunities while preserving elements and values that are the foundation of company identity.

Essential Talent Acquisition Skills

A successful talent acquisition process starts with a talent acquisition leader. These individuals possess recruitment skills that make them a talent acquisition specialist, such as:

• Curious: This role requires naturally asking follow-up questions to learn more about people and their experience. It also requires someone to self-motivate and seek answers and insight when exploring new markets or pools of talent.
• Good Conversationalist: These professionals must make others feel comfortable sharing personal details. They need to be engaged listeners and remember key details like names and other specifics.
• Confident: These people can’t let rejection stop progress, or get intimidated by a big task like staffing an executive position. They also need to show confidence while retaining and supporting current employees.
• Savvy: These employees need to be able to detect when someone is being untruthful, or not going to follow through on a promise. That sort of savvy can save you lots of dollars and wasted time in a mishire.
• Tech-Literate: Those who are successful in talent acquisition know how to use technology, and learn new tech easily. This helps with marketing to talent as well as screening, onboarding, and employee retention.

These talent acquisition skills can and sometimes must be developed over time with experience. Signs someone has worked to improve these skills through practice is one indicator of a how to be a good talent acquisition specialist. Recruitment specialist skills are honed through activities like networking, continuing education, and volunteer work.

• • Networking ability on a resume might show up as retreats or conferences attended, community involvement experience, or even project management experience.
  • Continuing education on a resume shows that someone has taken on education to grow competence and confidence. Anything from a certification to a single course is worth asking about.
  • Volunteer work on a resume will speak about the applicant with its nature. The type of organization, frequency of involvement, and level of responsibility are all factors to explore.

These experiences also grow talent acquisition competencies like tenacity, due diligence, and written or verbal communication. When evaluating a talent acquisition skills resume look for evidence these skills have been prioritized.
If you are hiring for available talent acquisition roles at a company, chances are that those positions are relatively new. Some of the wide range of job titles that apply to talent acquisition are:

• • • Recruitment Manager
    • Talent Officer
    • Recruitment Specialist
    • Relationship Manager
    • Staffing Consultant
    • Candidate Attraction Specialist
    • Head of Recruitment
    • HR Manager–Recruitment

In fact, there are over 140 job titles for talent acquisition professionals identified by CBI Group. The idea of a talent acquisition executive or a talent acquisition company wasn’t around a few decades ago or even a few years. Until recently most only thought of talent acquisition as being the recruitment of new hires. Today, employers are realizing that talent acquisition capabilities go much further, including a need for current employee retention and maintaining a talent pool for future openings.

Talent acquisition’s role in employee life has to go beyond the simple process of finding someone to take on the role. Human resources has the role of making sure employees get the processes, benefits, support, and freedom to meet the organization’s goals and do their personal best, too. But if that doesn’t work out, talent acquisition are the ones who have to do their job over again, and find a new employee. This is why it makes sense for these individuals to also have a role in employee engagement, like leading training or other initiatives.

Individuals who get hired to do talent acquisition typically have a bachelor’s degree in a study like business, human resources, management, or other humanities. Those who pursue master’s-level education usually earn degrees in fields like management, human resources, or organizational development.

The Talent Acquisition Process

When the talent acquisition process is considered from a recruitment perspective, the talent acquisition framework is established and hasn’t changed much over time. The talent acquisition process steps are simple:

• • 1. Define The Position
    2. Communicate Your Brand and Need
    3. Narrow the List
    4. Conduct Interviews
    5. Make an Offer

However, what is unique today are the talent acquisition goals and objectives. It’s no longer adequate to simply post a job opening and hope the ideal candidate is looking for you. Meeting hiring goals now requires talent acquisition experts to engage with the ~70% of the workforce that is made up of passive candidates. That means the people who aren’t looking for a new job…but might take one if it came up and happen to have the skills your company needs to grow.

This need to appeal to a candidate and convey your brand is why talent acquisition strategy development is essential. To get started, here are some resources you can use:

• • • Talent acquisition process flow chart at Creatly.com allows you to plan for decision points
    • Talent acquisition process map presented by Stanton Chase Chicago reviews steps for talent attraction and assessment
    • The talent acquisition process pdf from the Society for Human Resource Management conveys industry best practices
    • A recruitment process flowchart editable by anyone on www.smartdraw.com
    • Several talent acquisition process ppt and strategic trends in talent acquisition ppt from the Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference covering everything from screening to onboarding
    • The Cielo Talent talent acquisition strategy presentation that compares in-house recruitment with outside sourcing

Talent Acquisition Research and Publications

These resources are a great way to do it yourself, but defining your talent acquisition process can also feel more secure when you have expert insight and perspective.

The talent acquisition definition by authors varies. Journals on talent acquisition like Human Resources Today share articles about recruitment and beyond, including reviewing new technology, sharing insights or conference recaps, and materials about employee engagement or other elements of talent acquisition. Others like the IOSR Journal of Business and Management publish talent acquisition research papers.

One research project on talent acquisition cited in the June 2019 issue of Harvard Business Review found only one-third of companies monitor if talent acquisition processes lead to quality employees. This means many organizations are thinking a lot about their talent acquisition and putting lots of effort into recruitment. But they aren’t tracking if all that work and effort leads to a quality employee.

Talent acquisition is about a lot more than just filling vacancies, it’s about sourcing people that a business can develop and employ as leaders and experts. The talent acquisition project report pdf “Talent Acquisition Process in a Multinational Company” in SSRN Electronic Journal describes the many levels of staffing that might be at play for an organization, plus the stakes of today’s competitive global hiring market.

If you’re looking for more practical talent acquisition process development support, the talent acquisition book pdf Talent Pulse from jibe.com shares insights about appealing to passive candidates and using social media as a talent acquisition tool. Too bad we can’t send you to the talent acquisition Wikipedia, but there isn’t one yet.

The Best Talent Acquisition Strategies

When considering your talent acquisition strategy 2019, you might think it doesn’t need to be that different from talent acquisition strategies 2018. But different candidates are on the market, looking for the right opportunity. This is why innovative talent acquisition strategies should never be overlooked or passed by. For those concerned with diversity in talent acquisition, a talent acquisition policy pdf provided by the NCAA shares insight into processes and approaches.

Here are the four essential approaches that should drive any modern talent acquisition strategy framework.

• • 1. Make Hires That Support Business Goals: When you set out, ask why you are hiring this person, and what extra skills it would be incredible for them to bring to the table
    2. Prioritize Company Values Shared with Hires: Conduct research and locate candidates who have similar values. Ask questions during interviewing to discover more about their feelings, ethics, and drivers to success.
    3. Remember Your Past and History: When sharing the job opening, use strategies that have worked in the past. Also, remember what others have done before on social media in the name of your brand
    4. Be Authentic on Every Channel: Don’t change your message to suit every candidate

More strategies are provided online in resources like the talent acquisition strategies pdf from HubSpot that lists ten recruitment strategies. These talent acquisition strategies are general enough that any business can apply them to find some success, but the best talent acquisition strategies are informed by your own company culture and experience. The talent acquisition strategy framework provided on this page will help guide you to develop your own talent acquisition policies and even a global talent acquisition strategy. Good luck!