Humanizing the world of Talent Acquisition
Let’s not forget the human-element of Talent Acquisition.
“Talent Acquisition is about people and connection. How do you bring the people-focus to Talent Acquisition?”
“Understanding the true value of placing someone in a job and providing a business with talent is significant. What do you believe is the impact of placing an individual in a job? Both to the potential employee and employer.”
“Every interaction with our brand is important to every individual you deal with (successful and unsuccessful candidates). A poor experience not only impacts the candidate but costs our organization millions. How do you reject candidates who are unsuccessful in their job search?”
“Your friends would describe you in a positive way. We’d like to understand how you treat candidates because your personal brand is a reflection of our organization. How would your candidates (unsuccessful and successful) define you, and why?”
Asked no one ever during my career within Talent Acquisition.
Let’s bring the people-focus back to the definition of Talent Acquisition.
Until recently, I had never questioned what Talent Acquisition really meant. In my mind, Talent Acquisition was about people and connection. It was connecting talent to our business whilst maintaining an outstanding experience for the candidate and hiring manager. I use the word “connecting” instead of “placing” because we are talking about humans and not commodities. I use the word “experience” because every interaction throughout the recruitment journey makes an impact on the job seeker and employer. More importantly, I knew what Talent Acquisition wasn’t — it wasn’t treating individuals as numbers, it wasn’t transactional, and it wasn’t close minded.
The beauty of the function of Talent Acquisition was that we were responsible for connecting people (job seekers) to people (employers). We were responsible for creating opportunities for employees (purpose, relationships, and meaningful work) and employers (creativity, innovation, commitment, and productivity). We were responsible for providing monetary value for employees (an income and a means to provide for their lives and families) and employers (commercial gain for sustainability and survival).
What sparked the conversation (or lack-of)?
I’ve recently attended multiple events held for Talent Acquisition Professionals. Global HR Leaders and Talent Professionals led the discussions and workshops, sharing their profound insights and stories about the world of Talent Acquisition.
Fun fact, the number of times the words ‘candidate’, ‘employee’, ‘job seeker’, ‘individual’, ‘person’, or ‘human’ got mentioned was less than 20 times (across 3 industry leading events). The consistent takeaway at every event was the non-existent people-focus and dehumanization of Talent Acquisition. The reoccurring theme was the “streamlining”, “cost-effective”, “efficient”, and “automated” end-to-end solution which will change Talent Acquisition forever. Is this the direction we want to be headed in?
I uncomfortably sat and listened to global leaders speak about revolutionizing and dehumanizing the world of Talent Acquisition. I threw out a question at every event, a question which unsurprisingly never got answered due to a “lack of time”. What is the benefit to candidates, both successful and unsuccessful in their job search?
Choose to humanize the world of Talent Acquisition.
Our employees are the most important asset to our business. In this rapidly evolving and competitive market, let’s choose to be known as the employer who is genuinely people-focused and who can answer the unasked questions about the human-element, candidate-experience, personal brand from the candidate’s eyes and humanizing an experience for job seekers and employers.
