Is Recruitment and Talent Acquisition the same?

Is talent acquisition just another way of saying recruitment? According to some human resource thought leaders, the difference between these terms is only strategic.

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What is recruitment?

Bringing new talent into an organization is risky, so much can go wrong if the wrong person is hired. Recruitment is the term used for years to send out signals into the marketplace to bring a new person into the organization to satisfy an important role. It is an action or can be seen as a tactic that usually involves processes such as sourcing, screening, interviewing, selecting, and hiring.

But the concept of bringing new talent into the organization should be more than a tactic. People are the costliest expense and the most essential asset to a company. Bringing new people into the company introduces new culture, ideas and allows the company to reach a broader market. When the new person adds value, the organization becomes stronger, but it might lead to serious problems when it doesn’t. To avoid such issues, bringing new talent into an organization should be considered as a strategic initiative. Hence, arises the need for Talent Acquisition.

What is Talent Acquisition?

Talent acquisition includes the tactic of recruiting but also adds strategic components such as:

1. Talent planning and strategy: Used to ensure that the hired talent is aligned with the organization’s interests.
2. Target audience: Define and understand the requirements. This helps identify the target audience from the widely available talent pool.
3. Engage potential candidates: Take steps that offer a positive candidate experience and build relationships with people and audiences who might be potential candidates someday in the future.
4. Metrics and Analysis: The talent acquisition process involves analyzing the recruitment decisions and candidate performance to improve the quality of future hires.

Conclusion

Recruitment is the most familiar form of talent acquisition, but talent acquisition is a strategic initiative that helps the company grow holistically. Talent Acquisition and development routinely rate as the top one or two things that CEOs worry about, as business plans are built on the assumption that they have access to the right talent, at the right place, and at the right time. Companies can make the most out of the people’s talent by going beyond recruitment- by “thinking strategically”.