The 2023 Ultimate Guide to Talent Acquisition

You may be struggling to look for the highest quality candidates for your job vacancies, but your talent acquisition strategy doesn't seem to be working. Finding them can take you weeks, even months, and it can be exhausting without an effective strategy in place. 

Here's where a great talent acquisition strategy comes in. See if any of these are being implemented by your human resources (HR) team as part of the recruitment process and if you would need the help of acquisition specialists for your processes. 

What Does Talent Acquisition Mean? 

Identifying, attracting, and acquiring the most qualified candidates make up the scope of talent acquisition. The candidates that experts look for must have the potential to contribute to a business's results and success. 

Talent acquisition is an important function within the human resources department as it focuses on hiring the right people that meet your organization's needs. It has become even more significant today as companies desire to gain a competitive edge through their team of professionals. 

The Difference Between Talent Acquisition and Job Recruitment 

The two may seem interchangeable at times because both talent acquisition and job recruitment are about placing people into vacant roles in a company. However, there’s a difference. Recruiting only focuses on the short-term task of filling a vacancy or headcount. 

Meanwhile, talent acquisition is an overall strategy for the business that considers its long-term goals. It is the acknowledgment that people play a huge role in a business’s success in the future. It is a continuous process that identifies candidates for positions in leadership and specialized roles. 

Job recruitment is usually a response to immediate hiring needs. It could be a result of poor succession planning, where someone quit the role and someone else needs to come in right away and take over the position. Talent acquisition, on the other hand, doesn’t need a vacancy to be active.

It involves effective human resource management, engaging candidates ahead of time, before specific job vacancies may even arise. Talent acquisition experts may source passive candidates and form a talent or applicant database to make sure that the company can tap into a number of qualified individuals when the need arises. 

The Qualities of a Talent Acquisition Specialist 

The job of a recruiter in talent acquisition is for people who love people. They are very comfortable meeting new people and look forward to building and maintaining relationships across all personality types, jobs, and industries. 

People who thrive in this are also good at looking at the big picture of what the business needs and how to meet them. Someone who has a background in sales may also do well in the job as the specialist will be signing up the best candidates for open roles. Think of it as "selling jobs".¹ 

Here are the other qualities needed in members of a great talent acquisition team. 

• Possesses effective communication skills 
• Flexible and adaptable in any situation 
• Able to cultivate relationships easily 
• Pays meticulous attention to detail 
• Must be data-driven and analytical 
• Possesses professional and ethical conduct 
• Possesses strong expertise in recruiting 

How the Effective Talent Acquisition Process Works 

Working in talent acquisition can be tedious at times, but it doesn't have to be if you have a strategy that works for you. Here are some of the steps usually considered by experts: 

1. Form a network through community engagement. 

The best places to find the best candidates are at industry events and conferences. This is where people who want to learn from each other gather. In events like these, you can make a lasting impression as an employer by showcasing your brand and work culture to the people you meet. 

Don’t forget to gather their data and contact details to include them in your potential pool of candidates. 

2. Attract candidates through your career pages and websites. 

Make the most of your website and career pages. Build your positive brand image by promoting your unique work culture. Talk about your best teams and employees and how the processes work for them in the company. 

Once you have established these on your pages, get on with posting your strong job descriptions and competitive compensation. Make sure that what you post is true to your work culture and offerings, with nothing exaggerated that may let people down once they start working with you. 

3. Have a very meaningful interview with your candidates. 

Instead of just asking candidates the standard interview questions about their work experiences and what they can do, be more specific by asking what they've specifically done for their previous teams and projects. 

Ask about their work habits and processes, how they manage multiple deadlines, and how they work with colleagues they don't see eye to eye with. 

These specific questions can give you a better picture of what they'll be like to work with. 

4. Verify with the candidate-provided references. 

Don’t be one of the hiring managers that skip this step. Speaking with the references your candidates nominated will solidify your belief that this candidate is the best for the role. Speak to at least two of them to be very certain. 

5. Choose your best candidates through an applicant tracking system. 

Make selecting your final candidates out of many easier through software programs like applicant tracking systems (ATS) with evaluation tools. ATS are applications that automate parts of your hiring process such as the evaluation and grading of candidates. It allows you to handle a larger volume of applicants than the traditional hiring process can. 

ATS minimizes your time spent on time-consuming administrative tasks such as application tracking, resume analyzing, and candidate updating and communication. This allows you to focus on more strategic and relationship-building tasks like secondary and final interviews. 

6. Have a welcoming onboarding for the new hire. 

A welcoming onboarding would most likely result in a positive candidate experience and can turn your best hire into your best-performing employee. It usually happens before a new hire starts working with the company. The talent acquisition team can help care for the candidates by giving them an overview of what to expect at their new job. 

Being welcomed by a representative of a company can help a candidate see that their new employer will care for them in the long run. They will be engaged from the beginning and will be inspired to grow with the company.² 

Tips on Acquiring Better Candidates 

There are more creative ways you can include in your talent acquisition strategies, and they can even speed things up for you. Here are some that you can benefit from. 

Leverage membership in social media groups. 

In engaging your talent pool, try forming an online group. You can create them on Facebook, Reddit, or even Discord. Through these channels, focus on building the relationship of your candidates with you and with each other. 

You can also use this space to discuss relevant topics in the industry and to learn together through quick online training programs. 

Record interviews to save time. 

Recorded interviews can help you screen more candidates at a time. What you can do is send out a set of questions to them that they can answer through a voice or video recording. Through this process, you can make sure that you're asking the same set of questions to all of them. 

It can also help your candidates to be their best selves during the interview because they wouldn't have the time to be shy in front of someone else. They will also have more time to prepare themselves for the interview. 

Focus on building relationships to acquire the top candidates. 

Focusing on building your relationships and employer brand can result in meeting the organization's goals. Make sure that your process is effective for you and can continually support your company's need for great talent in the long run. 

ALLIED ONESOURCE CAN HELP TAKE CARE OF YOUR TALENT ACQUISITION NEEDS 

Allied OneSource has been creating relationships with both our candidates and our clients in the industry for over 50 years. Our expert recruiters are always ready to solve your staffing needs through exceptional opportunities and processes. 

Talk to us today! 

References 

1 Lybrand, Sarah A. "What Is Talent Acquisition?" LinkedIn, 21 Mar. 2018, www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/what-is-talent-acquisition. 

2 "What Is Talent Acquisition?" ADP, www.adp.com/resources/articles-and-insights/articles/t/talent-acquisition.aspx. Accessed 25 May 2023.