Finding the best talent isn’t always easy. A survey of more than 40,000 employers found that 75% of companies reported having problems with talent shortages and complicated hiring strategies.[1] The demand for professional skills is high in every market, so it’s important to up your recruitment game to stay ahead of competitors.
Regardless of these shortages, your business should have the resources and framework to hire the most talented employees. But what strategies can you use to attract top talent, and what are the latest trends in improving talent acquisition methods?
For guidance and expert advice, read our guide on the top eight talent acquisition strategies that can help you find the best employees for your business.
Table of contents
What are talent acquisition strategies?
Talent acquisition strategies are methods that focus on locating, attracting, and hiring top candidates. These planned actions help you find the best employees who suit specific roles in your business. You need a talent acquisition strategy to grow your organization, improve the candidate experience, and stand out among tough competitors.
As the survey we cited above indicates, many businesses struggle to find qualified candidates. Because of this, open positions often take a long time for them to fill. If you want to avoid this problem, you’ll need to create the best talent acquisition strategies that make candidates feel excited about working for your organization.
Types of talent acquisition roles
Here, we’ll list the roles involved in talent acquisition and describe their responsibilities.
Talent acquisition specialist
A talent acquisition specialist has a hands-on role in the hiring process. They support succession planning, sourcing, candidate interviewing, training, and legal reporting. Someone in this role typically creates job descriptions and posts them on job boards.
In addition, specialists are always involved in the interviewing stage. They give managers suggestions on how to make candidate screening even more effective. It’s important for talent acquisition specialists to possess communication skills to help them discuss talent strategies and tips for upcoming interviews.
Talent acquisition manager
Talent acquisition managers oversee the planning and development of each strategy before it is used in the hiring process. They evaluate employee needs to further improve candidate sourcing. Certain managers use job posting websites and social media platforms to spread awareness of the company’s open positions.
Head of talent acquisition
The head of talent acquisition is usually at the top of the department. They closely monitor staffing requirements and discuss recruitment strategies with other HR professionals. Some even develop programs to retain top employees and help them learn more valuable skills.
Their common day-to-day tasks include running company reports, identifying high-quality candidates, and collecting important data to improve the overall hiring process.
Latest trends in talent acquisition
Next, we’ll cover some of the latest trends in building talent acquisition strategies.
Remote interviews
Remote work has become a major trend since the pandemic. Many people now have the opportunity to stay at home and complete their tasks without traveling to offices.
Despite organizations re-opening their offices, remote work is here to stay. Online interviews should be a part of your talent acquisition strategy if you wish to attract even more candidates.
There are now three times more remote jobs than there were in 2020. This gives your business a chance to cater to more job seekers’ needs.
Interviewing candidates using virtual platforms enables collaborative hiring with other departments. Remote recruitment is the new way to improve your employer brand and overall employee satisfaction.
Diversity and inclusion
Studies prove that three out of four candidates seek companies that implement diversity and inclusion. This means you should actively seek a workforce with a range of characteristics. Job seekers may feel more comfortable applying to certain jobs at your business if they feel more appreciated during hiring.
Robotic process automation
Robotic process automation is a technology that can perform business operations on a large scale. This includes verifying candidates’ applications and sending them to your applicant tracking system.
Investing in such an automation process could save you plenty of time you’d otherwise spend reading documents and uploading results to your database.
8 talent acquisition best practices to help you find top employees
The following are some talent acquisition best practices you can use in your organization to attract and recruit the most skilled applicants.
1. Build your employer brand
A strong employer brand can help you find the best talent. Employer branding is how you present your organization to those searching for jobs in the market. Organizations with a positive reputation appear more attractive and may encourage professionals to apply for their open roles.
According to Glassdoor, 86% of job seekers search through company reviews before applying.[2] If they see one bad review of your business, they might look for something else. This is the last thing your recruitment process needs, especially given current industry demands and increasing talent shortages.
Remember that your employer brand isn’t a slogan or logo. It’s about how you take care of employees, customers, and candidates. People want to work for an organization that values work-life balance and accomplishments that come with consistent personal growth.
2. Improve your career website
Your career website represents your employee value proposition, work culture, open positions, and employee benefits.
Recent research has discovered that 59% of candidates visit the company’s website after finding a job ad online. This is because they want to understand more about your business processes and how easy it would be to apply for that role.
Consider adding information that covers the following:
- Background information about the organization
- Perks and benefits
- Departments and teams
- Current open positions
- The application process
- Employee testimonials
- Career blog posts
- Job site reviews
3. Enhance job descriptions
Your job description is the first thing potential candidates will see. They are more likely to skip job postings that don’t seem interesting or comprehensive. You need to add details that show your transparency regarding the role and how your company supports employees’ career growth.
To write good descriptions, include the job title, purpose, main duties and responsibilities, required qualifications, preferred experience, and employee benefits. Candidates don’t want to spend a long time reading, so make the job descriptions easily scannable.
4. Focus on social recruitment
You can hire a social media manager to reach a wider audience. Around 59% of the world’s population now uses social media. With so many people spending time using social media nowadays, it’s worth broadening your advertising campaigns. Create eye-catching posts that describe the job title, compensation, and required skills.
5. Engage with brand advocates
Your current employees can help spread awareness of your organization. Job seekers also trust them to speak the truth about their personal experiences. You need reliable brand advocates to attract new people and prove that everything you put online is true and transparent.
According to a CareerBuilder study, 82% of employers rated employee referral programs as the most effective source for top talent. Referred candidates have more trust in this type of recruitment process since they already know your company is authentic, honest, and secure when it comes to its open roles.
6. Provide a strong candidate experience
Some employers forget about the candidate experience when urgently trying to fill open positions. However, this can put people off applying in the long term. You have to make the candidate experience positive and easy to retain their interest throughout the hiring process.
Statistics show that 48% of candidates respond positively to receiving interview information in advance. Tell them exactly what to expect and how they can prepare for each stage of the hiring process. Never leave them hanging throughout this process – they could lose interest and find another position.
Using a reliable skills-testing platform is another way to enhance the candidate experience. Pre-employment testing gives candidates an opportunity to show you their skills objectively.
You can also completely replace resume screening with skills tests, enabling you to more quickly select the top applicants to invite to an interview and give them feedback on their performance that they can use to improve their skills.
7. Track your talent pool
Consider tracking all shortlisted candidates for future reference. Your talent pool is your personal database of potential employees. It may contain people who have applied in the past or those currently interested in strengthening their skills for open positions.
The following are some benefits of expanding your talent pool:
- Reduced hiring costs
- Better candidate experience
- Improved diversity
- Live database of qualifications
- Increased engagement
- Better employee retention
8. Consider succession planning
Succession planning is the process of identifying talent gaps. It can help you to prepare employees to take on future roles in the company. This strategy is technically an internal hiring practice, but knowing what skills to find in candidates can speed up recruitment.
As a talent acquisition strategy, succession planning prevents roles from staying empty once your employees retire or leave. If you plan effectively, you’ll have other employees with strong managerial qualities who are ready to step into the open positions and grow their leadership traits even more.
What is a talent acquisition framework?
A talent acquisition framework guides your hiring team to help them recruit top talent and create a positive candidate experience.
The framework should focus on the personal knowledge, skills, work experience, qualifications, and traits needed for a position. This will inform candidates and recruiters of exactly what to expect during the hiring process.
Enhance your talent acquisition strategies with pre-employment assessments
Creating your own talent acquisition strategies can help improve your recruitment process. To attract candidates with the right experience and knowledge, you’ll need to build a strong employer brand and focus on recruiting via social media platforms.
TestGorilla can help you screen your candidates to make easier and faster hiring decisions. Simply create a free account today to start making your hiring process more efficient and bias-free.
Sources
- “The 2022 Global Talent Shortage”. (2022). ManpowerGroup. Retrieved January 26, 2023. https://go.manpowergroup.com/talent-shortage
Glassdoor Team. (August 31, 2020). “The ROI of Employer Branding”. Glassdoor. Retrieved January 25, 2023. https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/the-roi-of-employer-branding/
