What does it take to be successful in talent acquisition? In today’s workplace, with its complex list of demands, the answer isn't straightforward. We’ve focused on five of the most essential below:-
Ability to carry out structured interviews : Recent headlines have pointed out the increasingly unusual interview questions posed, including an ‘impossible’ puzzle from Microsoft. Quirky questions may be more suited to global tech brands with a surplus of job applicants. For most employers they may have a more negative impact. Successful people in talent acquisition understand the value of structured interviews, combining competency and situational based questions with online assessments during the screening process in order to assess cognitive ability and gain an insight into culture fit.
Commitment to reducing bias : Bias or discrimination in hiring is difficult to eradicate. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors is the latest organisation to bring attention to gender bias (only 14% of its global membership is female) and take steps to rectify the issue with the introduction in 2015 of its Inclusive Employer Quality Mark. The most successful HR professionals understand that business success depends on hiring the best candidate regardless of social background, education, race or gender. Supported by HR technology, they work towards removing confirmation bias or hiring on intuition from their talent acquisition strategy.
A flexible approach : The best people in talent acquisition find workable solutions. For example, HR Magazine recently explored the difficulty businesses face in successfully addressing the issue of flexible working. It highlights a division of BAE Systems that allows production workers to end their working week on completion of targets, which often occurs on a Thursday afternoon, giving them Friday as a free day. Nor is flexibility limited to extending standard working hours. It’s also about the simple gestures that can create a happier workforce such as allowing staff time off to watch Game of Thrones or Euro 2016.
They talk to their employees : So far, 2016 has seen stark warnings about rising levels of job dissatisfaction, people in the wrong job and employees who haven’t spoken with HR in the last 12 months. After a successful hiring process, the engagement, development and retention of new employees begins immediately. This should incorporate regular career conversations as well as more formal, ongoing assessments to replace the annual performance review. The best people in talent acquisition ensure these conversations happen.
Willingness to embrace change (ie, technology) : Negative headlines about automation have sent wary HR functions deeper into the comfort zone offered by their manual recruitment systems. While headlines have focused on job losses, automation can lead to the creation of higher skilled, lower risk jobs, as suggested by Deloitte. Furthermore, Natwest Bank’s latest report reveals that the UK has seen a 12.5% rise in highly skilled jobs, including doctors, lawyers, teachers and accountants, since 2008. It found that this increase offset a much smaller fall in the number of low skilled jobs, which were frequently repetitive roles replaced by technology. Employers who resist incorporating technology in their hiring process will struggle to attract qualified candidates to their job posts as they have no idea how long it takes them to recruit, or where their best hires come from. The most successful people in talent acquisition recognise that and take advantage of all that technology has to offer.
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