Talent acquisition usually refers to the process of searching for, assessing and then hiring employees and contractors who help accomplish both short term and long term company goals and complete projects as needed. Acquiring top talent is critical for every company and a talent acquisition strategy should be in place to solve the constant challenge of sourcing, recruiting and on boarding the best talent for long term growth of your company. In fact, according to a recent Deloitte global survey, 60% of companies responded that they have or are currently updating their talent sourcing strategy.
There are dozens of ways to assess and acquire talent, and with the wide variety of different methods it can be a bit difficult to determine the methods that will work best for your individual business. If you haven’t had much experience with talent acquisition strategy or if you haven’t had much success with it thus far, try the tips and strategies below which might spark some ideas for you.
Hire an HR professional for talent acquisition
If you haven’t already, it can make sense to hire an HR professional on a part time or full time basis to help out with your company’s talent acquisition. With all of the detailed steps that are required for finding great talent, it can be very time consuming, and if your business has the budget it is well worth the money to hire an experienced HR professional to find the best available workers to fill roles at your company. An HR professional will know the ins and outs of talent acquisition and will be familiar with all of the most effective modern recruitment methods such as freelance websites and the traditional job websites.
Test out freelancers
If your business has a lot of short term projects, hiring freelancers can be the way to go, at least initially. Hiring a freelancer will give the opportunity to test out the skills and experience of a contractor without having to commit to a long term employment contract. It’s a great way to learn about what a particular worker can do for your business with as low of a risk as possible. If your projects go well, you can always look at hiring the freelancer for a long term contract rather than having to deal with the logistics of screening potential employees for full-time work.
Reward your best workers
It may seem obvious, but you should reward your best contractors and employees with more opportunities and higher pay. This can eliminate your needs to hire others if your current talented workers can take on new roles and expand within your company. The workers who are already familiar with your business are more likely to be able to take on new obligations that are related to what they are currently doing.
For instance, you might have a part-time contractor who has proven to be efficient and reliable, and if they have the availability you can try out new projects and ask if they would be willing to increase their hours. Rewarding your current workers with more work and higher pay will increase the chance that you will retain them, and they’ll be more motivated to contribute to your company and will want to stick around to see it become more successful. Retaining your existing talent and nurturing your employees are the foundation to a successful talent acquisition strategy.
