“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies.” Lawrence Bossidy quoted this. HR is a prime player along with organisational culture garnering the responsibility of retaining the workforce for the longer term.
The duties and responsibilities of personnel related to the HR department are far more hectic, similar to other departments. From the prosecution of announcing job vacancies through vendor teams to the hiring of best among the best candidates aligned with organizational goals, all these responsibilities fall upon HR and if there is even a mini error in between job posting and hiring, the foundation of the organization can shudder. In this scenario of selecting and hiring, HR plays a crucial role in talent acquisition which is not a cakewalk for HR enthusiasts.
Recruitment, talent acquisition, talent management, and HR management are often used synonymously and interchangeably. But HR management includes more than recruitment. Recruitment is the basic function of hiring employees to fill the relevant roles within an organization whereas talent acquisition refers to the quest for the right talent to fill specific roles to meet specific organizational and business objectives.
Talent acquisition is a carefully curated process that organizations rely upon the procedure to determine the suitable fit for the squad. The modern incipiency of talent acquisition kicked off in the 1940s during the war and post-war reintegration when the advertisements of jobs and staffing firms began to shape up. In the process of talent acquisition, technology has acted as the major catalyst for revamping the recruiting profession from its beginning to now. Until the technological changes started to pave the way, the recruiting process was all a hectic process with a manual system. Job hunting was done by the people searching for job opportunities through paper job vacancies, and inquiry of such job opportunities in person through visits, phone, or mail whereas hunting of the talent was tracked through paper applications, resumes, and references.
In the former decades, the HR department was focused mainly on administration, searching for the appropriate fit for the team, and other risk management tasks. With the evolving time and technology, HR functions are not just limited to the checking of attendance of the employees or managing administrative tasks of the office only, the formulation of new operational norms and the trending era of digital evolution have redefined the responsibilities of HR and the definition and implementation of talent acquisition procedures have changed too. It is a refined process that assists in the analysis of strategies to recruit the right talent for the company that suits the company’s goals and objectives.
The responsibility of finding the right choice among the pool of numerous talents and how that ‘chosen one’s talent is useful for the company falls upon the shoulders of HR. He/She has to undergo every step to hire the best-suited talent from the job advertisements’ allocation interviewing to onboarding.
The galloping corporate Empire needs to enmesh the potential contenders and retain them for a longer time so that they don't shift to another organization after devoting their efforts and commitments for a while. Investment in the talent yields the best ROI and the investment may include compensation, better position, flexibility, productive work culture, etc. Employees who feel aligned with the organizational culture, work, and other factors tend to commit for a longer time. Hence, it's a great responsibility for HR as talent acquisition is not only about finding the ideal candidate for a vacant position but it also indicates the retention rates of employees. Employee acquisition hence reduces the risk of cost, and maximization in the long haul as frequent turnovers impact the organizational culture, brand, and public relations with other stakeholders negatively.
We have discussed a lot about talent acquisition and the responsibilities of HR. Now, let's hop into how HR managers or leaders play a significant role in talent acquisition.
With the ongoing digitization and updated technology, automation has been done from job postings to employee onboarding. Even the records tracking of the needs of organizations and employees have been automated with no manual research team required. Proactive HR leaders adopt quality talent acquisition strategies such as:
Adopting a foresighted hiring function
Considering the strategy of the organization and discussing with management the talent requirements
Scrutinizing and doffing the gap between available and required candidates
Elaborating talent pipelines with the requirement of staffing needs
Hiring prime candidates have the dexterity to meet the organizational needs
Managing compensation, benefits, rewards, vacations, etc.
Engaging new employees
Onboarding
Conducting behavioral interviews through team-building, decision-making, analysis
Making the recruits understand change management and teamwork
Talent acquisition is merely a routine-based task but it is a long-term project that requires plenty of meetings, examinations, research, talent management, exercises, homework for reviewing the performances, and many more.
Acquiring a talented workforce and retaining them is a pick-and-shovel task. The major significant steps involved in talent acquisition are enumerated below:
(i) Ads and Lead Gen
You need to advertise either through word-of-mouth or publish in social media or newspapers to attract potential candidates for the organization. Networking through various industry events, conferences and online platforms like LinkedIn can be quite helpful in generating the leads for acquiring the desired talents.
(ii) Establishment of a stronger brand
Corporate branding plays a crucial role in acquiring the best-suited talents. If a negative image is formed amongst the public about the company regarding fraudulent, average remuneration, then such negative branding can drive away several potential candidates who may be the right fit for the organization.
(iii) Interviews and assessment
Assigning tasks to the candidates that bring out most of their creative and productive sides along with tricky questions in interviews can help the interviews evaluate them easily so that the hiring decisions may be quicker. Personality evaluation tests may be of greater assistance.
(iv) References
References can also help the decision-makers to hire the candidates. Information can be obtained from the details of references which makes HR decisions smoother and confident.
(v) Finale
After the interview sessions, testing, and analysis of the references, grading can be given or the evaluation software can be used which makes the elongated manual process of announcing final decisions accurate and non-hectic.
(vi) Onboarding
After the candidates are informed about their getting hired, HR must make sure to address their confusion towards work organization so that they can prove their worth in the best way to catch up with the department as well as organizational goals.
The role of HR from job posting to hiring is immense in the talent acquisition process. Furthermore, he/she should be consistently working towards training and development of hired talents to boost their skills and productivity, devising a plan for performance and career management, and many more. HR must be strategic and tactical enough to create a pool of talent in the long haul that targets organizational growth and a strong productive workforce.
With a good morale and productive workforce, the strong pedestal is stood up for the long term and the role of HR can’t be neglected here.