Talent acquisition - Are you doing what it takes?

Jll organizations want and need talent. But how equipped are organizations to search the talent pool? Are organizations truly doing what it takes to build their recruiter brands? Are they leveraging the next gen tools and models to calibrate hiring processes and build recruiter capabilities? Are organizations using advanced analytics to improve candidate sourcing?

Talent acquisition is not just about hiring anymore. It is an amalgamation of frameworks and encompasses concepts like employer brand strategy, candidate experience, recruiting optimization, talent partnership and last but not the least, engagement. And from being metrics-driven to tech savvy, recruiters and hiring leaders need to learn the fundamentals of recruiting right and right recruiting to establish credibility and build sustainable relationships with candidates and clients alike.

This cover story presents People Matters – Indeed Study on “India Hiring Outlook 2017-18” that captures trends in talent acquisition, India’s hiring outlook, key strategic priorities and business readiness of the TA function, and the role of the recruiter; while also featuring what organizations and TA leaders are doing for dynamic talent acquisition in terms of user experience, personalization, social connections, collaboration or using a 360 degrees TA approach.

Jobless growth’ has been a much talked about issue recently, which coupled with the lower than expected GDP numbers has put a question mark on the job opportunities expected in the coming year. Despite a growing economy, the level of utilization of the demographic dividend in the country has been a key concern. 

Added to this is the disruption that technology has fostered in the world of business. With the recent news about the retrenchment of employees in the IT sector, there has been a renewed interest in the impact of new technologies like artificial intelligence, automation, cognitive technologies, virtual reality, and advanced robotics that have re-defined the job market. In India, the impact is beginning to be felt, albeit in a small and indirect manner.

For HR professionals and jobseekers, it is important to know what corporate India is planning in terms of Talent Acquisition, the concerns of the TA fraternity and how they plan to address such challenges. With such a context, People Matters – Indeed Study on the “Hiring Outlook 2017-18 and trends in talent acquisition” attempts to understand the key trends in the talent acquisition. 

• Hiring outlook: What does the hiring outlook look like across different sectors? Are companies increasing their hiring budgets for the upcoming year? 
  
  
• Key strategic priorities and business readiness of the TA function: What are the most used and effective sources of hiring? What areas of investment are crucial to recruiters?
  
  
• Role of the recruiter: The gap between the skills that recruiters possess currently and the skills required to navigate the future.

The survey respondents of the study comprised of senior HR and TA professionals from 128 companies across different sectors. In the following pages, the key takeaways from the responses are presented, along with the opinions and insights of HR and TA leaders.

The hiring outlook for the upcoming year ranges from optimistic to stable. 55 percent of the respondents stated that they are planning to expand their workforce while 35 percent plan to maintain the current levels of the workforce. Talent acquisition will be driven by expanding business activity and replacing talent lost due to attrition.

Similarly, Hiring Budgets are also expected to increase for a majority of respondents, though the spending patterns are likely to shift in favor of technology and employer branding. Ramesh Shankar, HR Head, Siemens says 'Hiring budgets are looked upon as investments in future building, and covers both the direct (logistical/administrative) and the strategic investments in brand building & recruitment technologies.'

Despite news of layoffs in IT and Communications sectors, majority of respondents from these sectors indicated plans to hire aggressively. Deeper analysis indicates there is continued optimism due to opportunities in IT enablement in growing sectors such as the BFSI, Infrastructure and Retail.  Also, small and medium sized IT companies are more bullish on expansion compared to large ones or those dependent on outsourcing business from overseas clients. Other sectors that plan to hire in the coming year are Manufacturing and Engineering, Pharmaceutical/ Medical Devices/Healthcare Services, Banking, Financial Service and Insurance and Consulting. Incidentally, N. Chandrashekar, Chairperson of the TATA Group recently noted that outlook in IT for job creation will continue to boom and will have 7 million direct jobs and 10 million indirect jobs by 20251.

What type of candidates are recruiters looking for? 

An analysis of the hiring demand across different sectors revealed that the demand for mid-career professionals will be the highest in the upcoming year with 40 percent of the companies looking for professionals with a work experience between 5 years to 14 years. This is closely followed by the Associate level i.e., experience between 2- 5 years. A focus on managerial and team leader levels indicate that organizations are building broad and flat organizational hierarchies, by keeping the top-levels light. Companies are working towards making organizational structures simple with minimum number of layers. 

The focus on hiring in the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare space will majorly be on mid-senior levels and in the IT sector and manufacturing sector, it will include both associate and mid-senior levels.

What tools are recruiters most likely to use?

The survey’s findings show that the most effective channel of recruitment has been Employee Referrals followed by Job Portals & Campus hiring. Social hiring has not been found to be very effective by respondents. In the coming year, companies plan to increase the usage of Job portals and Referrals. In fact companies such as L&T have made “getting reliable referees” as one of their strategic TA priorities. Despite the buzz around social hiring techniques, it is mostly used in IT and consulting sectors and companies that use the channel say it is effective.

Another trend which stands out from the survey is the expected increase in use of automation and analytics in recruitment. Three key areas of investment that are at the top-of-the-mind of HR professionals include: Employer Branding, increasing the use of Data Analytics and building or acquiring robust technology platforms to aid recruitment.

Shalini Pillay, Partner and Head of People, Performance and Culture, KPMG India notes that “it is vital for the TA community to reflect on which aspects of the life cycle of hiring need to be automated and which ones need a personal touch.”

The traditional role of the recruiter is set to change. In the words of Yogi Sriram, SVP–HR of L&T group, “The role of a recruiter is no longer about filling a vacancy; it is about creating a compelling employee journey to attract the right talent.”

Similar sentiments are expressed by Meenakshy Sridhar, Head Recruitment for Corporate and Services at Reliance Industries Limited. She says that “The role of a recruiter has become similar to a marketing role, in the future, they will carry marketing and branding role to engage the best talent available for the role”

For TA teams to become successful brand ambassadors for their organizations, they need to have a greater understanding of business, beyond the HR function. These requirements are reflected in the survey results which indicate that the top priorities for the TA team are greater “business alignment” and “culture fitment”. The need to tie-in the “Talent strategy and deliverables” is evidently the top priority across sectors, with almost an equal number of ‘product’ organizations and ‘service’ organizations choosing this response as a top priority.

35 percent of respondents have expressed the intention to invest in “Employer Branding” with higher allocations of hiring budgets but an area of concern across respondents was the organization culture being aligned to the TA strategy. 65 percent of the organizations felt the need to work on the culture to achieve desired results. 

With focus on employer branding and culture fitment of candidates increasing, the role of a recruiter is getting increasingly demanding and complex because there is a need to understand business requirements and the technical competencies that the business requires.   

To be able to meet the challenges of the future, TA teams will need to polish and augment their skills. Our survey showed a gap between what skills recruiters possess today and their aspirations for the future. While the current talent acquisition professionals possess interviewing skills, empathy and listening, business curiosity and understanding, in the future, they will need strong domain knowledge of other HR functions, data analytics and strategic thinking also figure in the list of priorities.  

The way TA teams measure their efficacy is also likely to alter in the coming year. As per the survey , the most commonly used metrics  ‘Applicant drop off’ and ‘Tenure/Retention rate’ are likely to be augmented by monitoring of  ‘Reviews on Social and Professional network’ in the future. In fact the social media is more likely to be used as means of propagating and managing the employer brand rather than a source for talent.

The hiring outlook for the year 2017-18 is bullish but cautious. Despite the buzz around artificial intelligence and automation, leaders across different sectors believe that it will take time for any significant disruption in the job market to take place. The need for business alignment and culture fit is a crucial area that talent acquisition professionals will have to focus on.   

The future also calls for a new role of the recruiter, which simply does not stop once the recruiter is hired. Since the skills that an employee brings to the organization, their culture fit and ability to be agile directly impacts the performance of the organization, the recruiter is required to be more specialized and aware of the pulse of the organization and the industry.

The future of the TA function is aptly summed up in the words of Ramesh Thakur, HR Head, Siemens: “Hiring has changed from mere ‘job requisition fulfillment’ to becoming a window for employer branding, business partnerships & engagement with the target talent pool.” 

Reference

IT industry to have 7 million direct and 10 million indirect jobs by 2025: N Chandrasekaran

(Insights and expert views compiled in collaboration with Prashanth Bhatla and Anushree Sharma)