5 Effective Talent Acquisition Strategies that will Help Hiring Managers Scale their Teams in Half the Time

According to the National Federation of Independent Business’s monthly report for August 2019, the largest concern for “small firms is obtaining qualified personnel for their open positions,” with 26% citing this as their top challenge.

Regardless of unfilled positions, it’s vital to attract and maintain skilled candidates in the labor market if you want to win in the long run. Talent acquisition can assist you in accomplishing this while also addressing long-term organizational demands.

Therefore, having an effective talent acquisition strategy in place will help your hiring managers scale their human resources team in half the time. But to streamline these strategies according to your organization, it is firstly essential to scan through the first-hand problems and check if your company is facing one.

Is Your Talent Acquisition Creating Positive Value?

To know if your existing strategies are creating positive value for your organization, you must first start focusing on where it all starts:

The Problem

According to a 2016 study conducted by (SHRM), more than 2,300 hiring managers agreed that they wished to improve their talent acquisition skills and that recruitment was their most significant concern.

They listed the following:

• Finding the time to put fresh ideas into action can be as tricky as the work itself.
• To map the effectiveness of talent acquisition to business goals, there is a need for a Business Case, ROI, and data-driven recruitment.
• Part of the challenge in this new digital marketplace is rationalizing new charges to business accountants. The formula “give me Z individuals and Y finances, and I will deliver you X recruitment success” isn’t yet established in all recruiting teams. 

For example, companies adept in recruiting achieved 3.5X sales growth and 2X profit margin than their less-skilled peers,” according to the Boston Consulting Group.

Any rise in recruiting output and productivity has financial implications. This had stifled their efforts to analyze and comprehend where they are now and how they could progress.

 Here are five simple yet effective talent acquisition strategies for hiring managers to scale their talent acquisition team.

Five Effective Pieces of Advice Your Hiring Managers should Consider right away

1. Expand Outreach Strategies

You’ll need to broaden your sourcing tactics to find better candidates. It’s vital to figure out where you can find most of your top talent, whether at professional events, conferences, online forums, or social media sites. 

Then, focus on building relationships and networking with the right individuals. A few critical practices to follow to attract top talent:

• Always look back on your previous pipeline to see which channels brought you the top hiring, and consider expanding your use of those channels.
• Invest in digital outreach via virtual networking events and webinars, as such events provide the next best opportunity to acquire skilled talent strategically.
• Diversify your sourcing strategy to consider other specialized job boards, academic programs, or networking events.
• Create a candidate persona to determine the most effective channel and approach for attracting more qualified prospects. 

Once you’ve done so, you’ll be able to swiftly find applicants who best fit your ideal employee’s characteristics.

A study published on ResearchGate looked at how a Fortune 500 firm could shorten its time from sourcing to onboarding. The study found that employing a “multi-method approach” for candidate sourcing and more valid, reliable selection procedures (such as personality surveys and cognitive ability tests) helped firms understand candidates’ personalities. It also assisted them in determining how those prospects would fit within the company.

2. Make A Succession Plan

Instead of looking outside your firm to fill unfilled jobs, your hiring manager can re-engage former qualified candidates from the talent pipeline within your company. 

In a recent article, Jacqui Maguire, Director of Talent Acquisition at Greenhouse.io, describes how calling out former qualified individuals can accelerate the talent acquisition process of filling an available position and save hiring managers the time and effort in the recruiting process.

It all starts with recognizing the company’s top performers and training and preparing them.

Therefore, regular and thorough feedback, internal mentorship programs, high-quality staff training, stretch assignments, and interim / trial for qualified candidates are all things that a firm may strive towards months or even years in advance. 

3. Leverage Data And Marketing To Create Better Acquisition Material

Talent acquisition should be given the same level of attention as any other marketing strategy. You may use data in various ways to help you improve your talent acquisition strategy. 

How can using data help you scale your hiring team?

Consider the following:

• Based on that knowledge, you could use data to determine where your best talent came from and then target your talent acquisition efforts toward specific university programs or professional networking sites.
• In addition, your hiring managers should collaborate with your marketing department to improve job descriptions, career pages, emails, and other aspects of your company.
• You can use statistics to determine whether specific questions prevent prospects from completing job applications and delete such questions.
• Alternatively, you might discover that highlighting corporate culture via photographs or videos encourages more candidates to fill out job applications.

How can marketing help you create better acquisition outputs?

Tip #1. Brand your company as a great place to work.

You must not only use your website to show potential applicants what makes you unique, but you must also convey that brand message in all of your marketing materials, social media channels, and personal tales.

You may, for example, use written and video testimonials from current employees on your website and social media accounts, describing why it is a great idea to work for your organization.

Tip #2: Maximize employee referrals.

According to a 2016 SHRM benchmarking survey, employee referrals are considered the top sources of recruitment for 96% of organizations with 10,000 employees or more and 80% of those with fewer than 100 employees.

Tom Darrow, SHRM-SCP, founder of Talent Connections, says, “Employee referrals are well-known as the finest source of prospects. However, many corporations pay miserable ‘bonuses’ of $500 or $1,000 to their employees, while charging search agencies $20,000 or more for the same post,” he continues.

“Every employee should be a company recruiter,” he adds, but “To address this, businesses must provide great incentives so that it encourages employees to reach out to their connections rather than asking them to do so out of the goodness of their hearts.”

4. Furnish Updated Work Options

The pandemic of COVID-19 changed the American labor model. Instead of seeing job seekers face-to-face, talent acquisition specialists changed their work patterns to undertake online onboarding. 

A survey by a Goldman Sachs professional reported that on asking the working professionals that “Would you rather make $30k more by switching to a new job requiring you to work in an office, or continue your current pay but WFH wherever after covid?” 64% of professionals responded that they would prefer to work from home full-time over a $30K pay raise.

Workplaces that allow employees to work from home are more productive. When employees work from home, they are 13% more productive. 

Diane Albano, Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer at Globalization Partners, said that “31% of workers will be remote in 2022. A people-first approach is a way forward,” said Albano. She encouraged talent acquisition teams to see the rise in remote and hybrid work as an opportunity to set a new course.

As technology advances, your organization must adapt and consider implementing remote or hybrid work patterns and reducing expenses in old recruitment methods to invest in talent acquisition tools.

5. Harness Talent Acquisition Tools To Fill The Gaps

Lastly, leveraging automation for your day-to-day hiring processes helps expedite high-level repetitive operations like interview scheduling, applicant sourcing, and application screening using advanced analytical approaches and ultimately saves time and money.

Adopting AI-based software solutions, like applications and virtual platforms, can assist recruiting managers in reducing the time-to-hire and cost-per-hire.

According to a recent Thomas poll, most respondents believe that talent acquisition software and tools are significant assets that can help talent acquisition teams understand talented candidates more profoundly and intelligently. Tools and software can quickly help predict success and performance during the hiring process.

Other tech advances that Hiring managers can include into their everyday routines to help them scale quickly have:

• Chatbots
• Marketing automation
• Channels for video and mobile interviews
• Predictive analytics 

Making your decision by determining which tech-enabled solutions will work best for you by examining your current tech stack, hiring budget, and what your competitors are doing is your way to go.

To know more about how to build your talent acquisition strategy, Recruiter.com should be able to assist you and customize your strategies to scale your hiring team.

We have artificial intelligence (AI) recruiting technologies, niche job forums, and an extensive network of recruiters.

Contact us today to learn more about how you can formulate a successful talent acquisition strategy, boost your company culture, and employ excellent personnel for your business’ additional workflows.

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