Talent attraction, acquisition, and retention are critical components of a successful organisation's human resources strategy. These processes involve identifying the right and skilled candidates, recruiting them, and retaining individuals who contribute to an organisation's growth and success.

The global talent war is an ongoing phenomenon that requires strategic thinking and adaptability from companies, and individuals alike. As the world of work continues to evolve, hence policies, strategies, and approaches used to attract and retain the best talent need to be reviewed.

The fast-paced hybrid working environment and dearth of expertise and skill are something that is compelling companies to have a very focused approach.

Thanks to technological advancement that has brought some ease to talent acquisition leaders in getting the right talent, verifying them, and helping them in their finance planning among other facilities. And, the People Matters TechHR India 2023 was the platform where leading organisations showcased how technology helped them in solving an urgent talent problem during the talent snack sessions through case study presentations.

The changing work culture in a post-Covid world has given employers access to a talent pool beyond their geographical boundaries. Industry leaders are seeing global talent mobility as a crucial aspect of sustainable business growth.

Suggesting significance, strategies to be implemented to overcome cultural barriers and promote seamless integration, and ways to retain and develop globally mobile talent, Rahul Kanuganti, CEO, FLYTTA Innovations, said that hand holding, language training, and local support are three things that must be taken care of for globally mobile talent.

“The fast-paced working environment, dearth of skilled employees, and expertise are accelerating the demand for global talent mobility,” said Rahul.

The power of hiring metrics in AI-driven talent acquisition

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a long-lasting impact on talent acquisition. The increasing supremacy of AI in day-to-day life at work has compelled talent acquisition leaders to learn to use metrics such as candidate sourcing effectiveness, employee retention rates, and talent performance to optimise recruitment strategies and achieve business goals.

Sarbojit Mallick, Instahyre and Rajat Bansal, FReecharge, emphasised that talent leaders are needed to gain insights into how organisations are creating transformative impact by using data-driven AI talent management solutions.

Trust & transparency

Time and context are changing very fast and change always brings advantages as well as disadvantages. Technology has impacted every aspect of hiring and background verification is not immune to this. Jitender Panihar, Fitelo , and Praful Vinayak, Hirestar.io, an employee verification company, believe that in a post-pandemic landscape, technology must be used to enhance background verification through blockchain innovation.

“By harnessing technology at work, organisations can unlock new levels of efficiency, trust, and innovation, ensuring a seamless and secure talent acquisition and background verification process,” said Panihar at the recently held TechHR India 2023.

Digitalising campus engagement and fresher hiring

Ancy Varghese, Nestlé India in conversation with Shekhar Halder, Internshala called for focusing on youth or future generations to complete talent strategy.  A lot of effort is needed to be in place while engaging with youth. “Nestle has a very clear strategy when it comes to hiring, engaging and attracting youth. Our strategy also includes upskilling youth and making them ready for corporate jobs.

According to Ancy, engaging with youth is not a challenge, in fact, it is an ongoing process. It is about connecting and engaging with youth. “Digital ways to connect with the youth has revolutionised the way we used to engage, connect, collaborate, and showcase their skills, passions, and aspirations to potential employers.” She advised talent leaders to crack this pool of talent.

Interview as a service to power up your hiring process

Hiring is not just about getting a candidate assessed based on his experience and skills. The objectivity of prospective employees also needs to be checked. “Talent leaders should not hire anyone just based on the assessment. Personal intervention and identification of how fit the person is and innovative approaches to hiring is a must,” said Anil Agarwal InCruiter and Vijay P Otomeyt Tech Pte Ltd during their Talent Snack session at TechHR India 2023.

“Interview as a Service (IaaS) helps us to take better decisions, improve candidate experience and create more value for the business,” leaders said.

Exposing the fake employment game

All of the newly-hired employees are asked to produce experience certificates as part of the background verification. Vikas Jawa, IDfy through a video presentation exposed the modus operandi of a fake employment game.

According to him, fake experience certificates can be obtained by paying just Rs 15,000. Explaining the hugeness of the fake employment game, Jawa mentioned how a Fortune 500 company let go of 1000s of employees who used fake documents to bag their jobs last year. This industry has taken it to a whole new level!

Suggesting ways to spot a fake employment letter, even when experienced BGV vendors flag such documents as green, Jawa said that verify the authenticity of the company that is providing the experience certificate. “They can be checked on their business, GST, PF records, and company registration among others to confirm the authenticity of the certificate provided by them,” said Jawa.

Financial advantage

After getting all the onboarding process, financial and tax management, and benefits are other aspects of the hiring process that needs to be taken care of. To integrate and streamline all financial transactions for employees and help employees save additional taxes and digitise all their expenses.

‘Technology comes to rescue can help build a more efficient and modern approach to financial management and enhance employees' experience,” said Arati Parashar, Zaggle SAVE.

According to Sachin Tiwari, FarMart, who have been using Zaggle SAVE’s, said that flexible benefits can be added to the salary component to help employees get an increased amount of money in their account.

Building a recognition culture & empowering employees

Sandeep Girotra, DCM Shriram, and Tapas Lenka Gratifi in a conversation during the TechHR talked about how can organisations create a recognition culture that goes beyond superficial gestures and truly empowers employees to excel.

Girotra said that embracing meaningful and tailored rewards and recognition practices, companies can unlock the full potential of their workforce. “Employees can be inspired to excel and create a lasting impact.

Cultivating a robust recognition culture, Girotra emphasised on having innovative strategies, values for employees, impactful initiatives, and the remarkable outcomes achieved in empowering employees and fostering a culture of excellence.

“If you are able to get a good set of values and you get recognised and rewarded this helps in getting the long-term value,’ added Girotra.