6 Things Your Boss Needs to Know About Talent Acquisition

5 min readOct 17, 2016

Technology is changing the world. It always has, and always will. But we don’t always see how or where those changes are happening.

In HR, modern technology is forcing a huge paradigm shift in how we acquire talent. And this shift *must* be understood by your company, your hiring managers, and your HR department lest you almost literally be forgotten.

This shift is in how we hire; how we acquire talent. In the past, much of this was transactional: you hired people with specific skills, for a specific job with a set routine. Now, we hire people with high level skills and flexibility to solve a wide range of problems. Though hiring has always been more about networking, this has never been more true than today where we hire based on relationships. Not just personal ones, but relationships between people, and their skills, and their passions, and their jobs.

Over 70% of people are hired through networking, because that is the best way to actually know if someone is not only qualified for a job, but has the emotional intelligence and personality you desire for your team.

Armed with that knowledge, we can understand these 6 trends augmenting HR.

1. Have an Engaging Hiring Process

Applicants are more selective about where they want to work, and can find plenty of information about a company prior to even applying. Use this as an opportunity to showcase your company’s values, culture, and passion. Don’t have unrelated people who are not even on your team simply write 500+ words, or a generalized summary of the position that you need filled. That is boring, uninspired and fails to inform or interest the candidate. That is the best way to create a bad first impression of your entire company. If you want the best talent, you have to attract them with an intriguing problem and an awesome team. Furthermore, they need to feel engaged in a hiring process that is not cold and transactional. There is always a more exciting or engaging job opportunity building innovative solutions. Stay competitive by showcasing your brand and company personality. Don’t just post a job, tell your story about what you do and how much their role is needed. Use the application process, not as some callous transaction, but as an opportunity to build relationships. This is what truly engages the best talent.

2. Tell a Story Through Talent Analytics

Listening to your gut is great in the field. When one does not have enough information, those snap decisions are powerful. However, when considering who will be a part of your team and a new addition to your brand; a decision that will concern people and their added value to your company and baseline, such a choice must be as informed and unbiased as possible. Today, you can arm yourself with data to make real-time analysis and help make those important decisions. Whether it’s choosing between internal or external hiring, or figuring out what type of person is best for a specific role, or having proof of real talent and skills that a resumé does not provide; dedicated talent analytics that tell a story is paramount to showing the costs and benefits of your decision.

3. Create an Employee Referral Systems

As stated before, networks are by far the premier way people get jobs. Relationships allow you to get applicants that are likely low risk and high value due to the personal testaments of people you trust. Furthermore, these people who are passionate enough about your company to tell their friends are far more equipped to engage that new applicant and espouse the best principles of your brand and culture. As referrals grow as a source of great hires, you should grow your referral system to encourage such a valuable opportunity.

4. Measure the Quality of New Hires

We all want the best talent, the most qualified people. We want to make sure after all the trouble and money hiring a new employee, they are going to be great, or at least not a wasted hire. Therefore, why not quantify the quality of your hires? By using strong analytic platforms, companies can measure manager satisfaction, new-hire performance, as well as turnover and retention stats. Level up your tools to produce data-driven metrics that will give valuable insight on your operation.

5. Keep Track of Employee Retention

Retention specifically is a very important metric to measure. You may be spending thousands of dollars on training, not even counting salary and perks and various on-boarding costs going into each and every hire. Thus why it is of critical import to get a firm grasp on how your employees are doing and to proactively engage them once the data predicts they may be unsatisfied or under-performing. This can also help you predict and prepare for the next hiring quarter and overall be more engaged and competitive.

6. Source Passive Candidates

Employees are no longer employees for life. The average employee moves on to a new position or job, even a whole new industry, every 2 to 5 years. In a time where people are not sure if or how their job will be impacted by automation or globalization or politics or any other kind of disruption, the best people are the ones who are always covering their backs and looking for a new job, even if they are enjoying their current position. Therefore, you need to also be looking for your new talent even while they are not actively in the job market. A system that keeps track of its applicants to contact them later, as well as allows telecommuting and remote work. This will keep you competitive, relevant, and desirable in any job market at any time.

There is a lot changing in the world. Technology makes life easier, but it also adds complications… just the sheer amount of information and unfiltered data out there makes it hard to create a strategy that can account for all of these variables. But you can easily turn this into a major asset by utilizing a service or platform or savvy system to crunch that data and provide you with the key things you need to know in order to make smart decisions. There are plenty of such systems dedicated to doing just that out right now.

Of course, at EmployToy, we make it our mission to be the best, simplest, and cheapest solution. But we will leave that for you to decide. Just like our metrics and personality/skills-based matchmaking, we provide you with the best information, and let you do the decision making.