Article: Relooking at the recruitment function

Talent Acquisition

Relooking at the recruitment function

Technology and social media are changing the way talent acquisition functions and its accountabilities to business

The winds of advancements in technology are blowing fiercely and transforming each aspect of today’s businesses. The Human Resources function is also undergoing changes in the way it works and aligns with the overall business agendas. In the wake of such changes, the primary arm of HR that needs to embrace this make-over is the recruitment function as it is the face of an organization when it comes to candidates or potential employees.

This is why the People Matters TA Half Day Conclave that took place on the 18th of September 2014, had a focused table host discussion on ‘The New Recruitment Function – What brought you here, will not take your there’. This discussion focused on how recruitment leaders need to re-think process, technology, metrics, structures and required skills & competencies for a successful Talent Acquisition Team. The discussions were around the following themes:

The transformation: Hiring as a function is undergoing a transformation enabled through technology, social media and the ever growing range of sourcing channels. The highly competitive talent market is making the job of TA professionals, complex and demanding.

Developing an employer brand: It is highly critical to develop an employer brand that is unique and compelling. It should be one that differentiates every employer. It is important to ensure that the employer brand aligns with the values and strategy of the company. This will in turn help attract the right kind of talent.

Not an art but a science: Hiring the right employee is not an art any more but a science. There are various tools that help select the best candidates. Tools that deliver the best results are the ones that are not off the shelf or standard ones, but those that are customised to each company's strategy, values and competencies. Numerous organisations now use assessments to be able to select the right candidates. These are a combination of personality, psychometric or competency based assessments and cognitive or logical reasoning etc.

Changing measures of performance: Measures that CEOs and CHROs are looking at today are changing. It's not days taken to hire or reference candidate vs sourced from partner etc. but measures that are likely to impact the performance of an organisation, likelihood of a hire to be a top performer, potential to impact business performance, ability to positively deliver on customer experience etc.

Not just hiring but ensuring alignment: TA professionals’ job doesn't end today with just hiring the candidate. They are also accountable for the performance candidates deliver in early years, ensuring proper on-boarding, engaging the candidates during the first few months etc. This implies there is a need to align HR processes in a manner that TA processes also speak to the rest of the organisation as manpower planning, employee engagement, performance management etc. do. This will ensure a better experience for candidates and also make the TA teams more aligned to the employee experience that the rest of the organisation wants to deliver.

Lastly, Social media will play an even bigger role in the days to come. Hence, hiring teams must build social media plans and strategies to influence the objectives they want to achieve. Needless to say, the talent war will not only continue but intensify in the coming times. Going further the TA teams need to gear up and build skills and capability that will deliver best for the new reality.

Key Takeaways

  1. Embrace the new TA technologies and sourcing channels like social media
  2. Focus on creating a strong and unique employer brand, aligned with the strategy and values of the company
  3. Adapt a combination of hiring and assessment tools like psychometric personality tests etc. to find the best fit
  4. Be accountable for a candidate’s performance and overall business impact of each new hire
  5. Ensure alignment of TA processes with other HR and business processes
Read full story

Topics: Talent Acquisition, Technology, #BestPractices

Did you find this story helpful?

Author

QUICK POLL

How do you envision AI transforming your work?