It can be difficult to find the ideal candidate for a specific position. Regardless of the state of the economy and your talent pool, to succeed long-term, your business should be able to hire and retain the best, most talented employees. But hiring can be a daunting task, which is why you need a talent acquisition strategy.
To succeed long-term, it's critical you attract and retain talented employees regardless of vacant roles. Talent acquisition can help you do this, while solving for long-term organizational needs.
- Align with your business goals: Consider your business goals for the next one to five years, and use those objectives to tailor your acquisition strategy to meet those needs. While recruitment tends to focus on filling vacancies within departments, talent acquisition is more about considering how your company is going to expand long term and then finding employees who can help take you there.
Certain roles might not even exist yet, but you'll want to consider what type of talent you'll need to hit your business's long-term goals. Remember, investing in the right candidates will pay off for your company, long-term.
- Use data and marketing to create better acquisition material: Talent acquisition should be treated with just as much importance as any of your marketing campaigns. Convincing people to join your company is just as necessary as incentivizing people to buy your products. Additionally, your HR team should partner with your marketing department to refine job descriptions, career pages, emails, and more.
- Expand outreach strategies: To find better talent, you'll need to expand your sourcing strategies. Different skill sets require different methods of outreach. You'll find your best marketers in a different place than your best programmers, so you'll want to diversify your sourcing approach.
Rather than spending all your time on LinkedIn, consider other specialized job boards, academic programs, or networking events where you might find a specific group of talented professionals.
- Build your company brand: Millions of millennials and older Generation Z candidates make up the current job force. This group of potential employees came of age with the internet and social media. In researching your business, these individuals look at social media accounts, websites, and job boards to understand your work culture.
Note the focus on employees. A company that focuses on the well-being of its staff is a place where people will strive to work. Building your company identity to reflect a positive, expanding environment can be an effective tool in your talent acquisition strategy.
- Emphasize the company’s corporate social responsibilities: Companies have taken a step back from policies that only benefit them. Your company needs to focus on pursuing its goals while benefiting others. Your company’s corporate social responsibilities (CSR) are a considerable tool for attracting top candidates aligned with your organization’s values and beliefs.
On the career landing page for your company, your CSR should be immediately noticeable through images and videos throughout the page. If your company focuses on diversity and inclusivity, demonstrate that.
- Offer updated work options: The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the American work model. Talent acquisition specialists adapt their work models to conduct online onboarding versus meeting candidates face-to-face. As the workforce evolves with more technological advances, workers will strive for more work/life balance.
- Design a competitive and comprehensive benefits plan: When it comes to compensation packages, employees may be willing to accept a lower salary if balanced by comprehensive health benefits e.g. medical, vision, and dental. Employees want good health benefits, and that includes mental health.
- Promote internal diversity: Many industries are dominated by men leading to women feeling underrepresented within the company's culture. While the number of women in the workforce has increased significantly over the last few decades, men still hold most positions of power. To build a diverse and inclusive culture, your company needs to give a voice to people from a wide range of backgrounds.
- Add other incentives: When talented candidates are comparing companies, they're going to consider values, culture, and work-life balance, too. By cultivating an impressive employer brand, you'll attract better talent and find more long-term success.
It's important to broadcast these unique attributes through employee review sites as well as your "About Us" page on your company website. When highly qualified people are contemplating your company over your competitors, it just might be those reviews that end up convincing them.
