Talent Acquisition Strategies for the 21st Century.
In the past five years, we have gotten a taste of what is going to feel like in a market where there are simply not enough qualified people to fill jobs needed to be filled. The recent downturn has caused organizations to stop many of the programs that were starting to show promise in the field of Human Capital Management, particularly on the recruitment side of the house. In these testing times, one needs to have proper strategy in place to be successful in any venture.
In business you cannot do everything by yourself. You need capable and highly accomplished people to assist you in achieving the goals that you have set for your organization. Today, we are in the era of ‘War of Talent’. Wherein it is becoming more and more hard to get right kind of talent and keep hold of them. Many organizations are trailing to competitors because they are not able to hire “right type of people” and retain them. “What is the difference between ‘Recruiting’ and ‘Strategy Talent Acquisition’? Recruitment is nothing more than filling the vacant positions, whereas Strategic Talent Acquisition is a long term process. It is not only concerned with filling the vacant positions today, but also using the prospective candidate data for filling similar positions in future. Strategic Talent Acquisition allows an organization have a pool of competitive talent that could be used for filling the positions in future. Executive leadership cites the procurement of human capital among their top concerns.
The first step to address this reality is the recognition that successful talent acquisition is no longer an annual process, but instead is the process of building long-term strategies. Whether it is board room pr factory floor, a combat is swiftly taking shape. It will unquestionably redefine how organizations do business in the 21st- century market. A prophesy of the warfare came two decades ago, when Mckinsey consulting predicted a progress in the business setting that could later on become the most serious issue facing HR managers.
This ‘Talent war’ or skill shortage is threatening the very existence of many corporations. It is believed that around 1/3 of business failures are due to inappropriate hiring decisions and their inability to draw and keep hold of right kind of talent. ‘Star Performers’ who don’t get enough opportunities for growth and advancement in their current job often change jobs, and the shortage of talent becomes apparent. In this ‘War of Talent’, there’s a need for long-term, and strategic talent acquisition. Organizations can no longer erely fill the positions as and when any vacancy arises. They must think ahead to deal with the sudden exodus of talent and adapt their strategies to allay the high turnover risk. Traditionally organizations do not consider the recruitment process as one of tactical importance, but in recent years many organizations are facing this harsh reality that they no longer have a wide pool of candidates to choose from. Several changes in the past few years have tipped the balance in support of the highly talented individuals. Internet is one such change.
It has brought the whole world into your living room. Candidates can now look for jobs online and send and receive enquiries about prospective positions within hours. Things are Further complicated by ‘Generation Shift’. It is the change in outlook amongst the generations of workforce who’ll stay put in the next few decades. Today’s young generation of workforce has the outlook and pattern of behaviour that differ noticeably from preceding generations. No longer pleased to waste their whole career with one company, generation Y prefers work-life balance over loyalty.
They are very much mobile and do not waver to look for a different position somewhere else if work-life balance is hurt or if they are treated badly. Furthermore, they may merely look to alter the landscape every couple of years, moving to different part of the country to experience diverse cities or industries. Disparate to their parents or grandparents, they are ready to change jobs and switch to different company and might even regard as staying with the same company to be an indication of lethargy or lack of objective. Acquiring ‘Star Performers’ is a both art and science.
The key to success is to be able to attract the ‘Top Performers’. Encouraging ‘Top Performers’ to identify other top performers outside your organization is an extremely useful tool. Corporations offer reward to their employees in order to get these names. Money can be an important factor in attracting ‘Top Performers’, but it’s not the only element. Being able to shape an opportunity and make it look exciting will always attract top talent. Today more and more organizations are using benefits and perks as incentives to retain the talent.
The main idea behind the talent acquisition is to move away from a reactive thinking i. e. to recruit when an individual is either promoted or leave the organization to a more pro-active one involving building of the desired skill sets. An all-inclusive, competency-based procedure will assist in identifying, developing and retaining top performers, and ensuring sufficient knowledge transfer for the subsequent generation of workforce. A focus on retention will not only aid in implementing a succession plan, but will also work to tackle generational differences when recruiting these new generation employees.
Supporting employees in maintaining a positive work-life balance will aid in retaining younger employees, and also young mothers who are raising children, or employees who are pursing educational opportunities. An assortment of scheduling options – and eagerness to work with your workforce on those options – makes an organization attractive to work in, and boosts the morale of existing workforce. It is also important that you make your employees clearly aware of their performance. This will not only build confidence of your employees but will also help them to grow.
Provide feedback to your employees, and encourage them to improve their performance. Engagement is everything for new generation workforce. Habituated to receiving feedback via a multitude of technologies and social media. The members of this generation wish to see that their contributions and efforts are appreciated and recognized. Companies which demonstrate appreciation for hard work of its employees and which recognize the value of their workers contribution will be the ‘Employer of Choice’ and find it easier to retain top talent.
Keeping existing workforce happy can be one of the company’s most efficient promotion strategies, as workers praise their employers and extend positive buzz both inside and outside the organization. In the similar fashion, the talk of discontented employees can negatively influence the company’s hiring and retention efforts. Poaching is one of the quickest way to get talented people onboard and it is not unethical as well. If I identify a talented person who fits my requirement and is working in another company and if I can lure that talent in to my organization then there’s nothing wrong in doing that.
In the end, I like to conclude that there is no “silver bullet” that will guarantee that a company succeeds in its efforts to construct a prolific, and adaptable workforce which is competent enough to meet and exceed the companies goals. Understanding a candidate’s motivational fit is extremely crucial in all recruitment and retention efforts. Studies have proved that motivational fit is the sole major predictor of malingering, turnover and overall employee satisfaction. If people are pleased with their position and pleased with their compensation and other benefits, they will be more prolific and in turn your company will be more productive.
