What is Talent Acquisition?

Talent acquisition is the continuous process of searching for candidates for positions that require a specific skill set. Companies that are aiming for high growth usually adopt a talent acquisition process due to their requirements of extensively growing teams.

Talent acquisition managers and teams are also concerned with employer branding, future resource planning and diversifying the labour force. This can often lead to cross-over with HR, marketing and PR teams too.

Why is Talent Acquisition Important?

People are the heartbeat of any company. For companies to grow quickly and successfully, companies need to focus on finding, sourcing and hiring great people.

To do this, your talent acquisition process, including employer branding, needs to be a stack above the rest to position yourself ahead of the competition.

When you get your hiring right, people are more likely to stay with you long-term, allowing you to grow your teams quicker while saving you hiring and replacement costs.

1. Lack of focus when it comes to employer branding

2. You don't have a long-term mindset

3. You don't know what you really need

4. You're not competitive

5. You don't have the right recruitment partner

Your employer branding represents your brand in every way. Not many people are going to know the ins and outs of your business and culture, so your employer brand offers them a snapshot insight into what working for you is like.

Employer brand doesn’t just include your logo, website and marketing material. It also includes what your current employees say about you and what your clients, partners and customers say about you too. In order to create an attractive employer brand, you need to focus on gaining great testimonials and creating a genuinely positive culture and image. The very best people are looking to work for the very best companies.

Invest in your marketing, business process and customer service if you’re serious about strengthening your employer brand.

Great people want to make a difference and continuously improve in their careers.  That can only be done in companies that have a long-term mindset when it comes to people’s development and growth. If you want to attract the best people, your company needs to have a development and growth plan in place so people can see a successful future with you.

Think about how your employees are going to progress and what you’ll need to do to support them to get them to where they want to be. What are your growth plans, and how are you going to support these people to grow with the company?

You can only set out and find the right people if you know what you’re looking for. Establishing exactly what you need will help you search for the right people with laser focus rather than hiring people simply because you like them. Create a job description that includes the type of skills, experience and personal traits you want the ideal candidate to have and set out to find those people.

Include the right people in the interview process and use the process to qualify people thoroughly.

Being competitive when it comes to salary, employee benefits and hybrid working can be the difference between someone great joining you or not. Establish what people want and negotiate on what you can realistically give them. Employees expect more than a basic salary. Benefit offerings attract new employees and prevents your current employee’s jumping ship. Keep your benefits up to date to stay competitive against your competition.

Benefits can include a whole range of things including a day off on their birthday, discount vouchers or regular team days.

When it comes to hiring for specialist roles, having the right recruitment partner can be the key to successful talent acquisition. One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to recruitment partners is picking the wrong one.

Ensure you qualify your recruitment partner correctly and that they have a successful track record of hiring in your industry and on the roles you’re looking for. If you are looking to hire senior software sales executives but have partnered with a local recruitment agency, they’re unlikely to have the network or the specialist skills it takes to source these people.  

Ensure your recruitment partners know you and your culture and can represent you accurately to potential candidates. Your recruitment partner should feel like an extension of your business, not a separate entity.