Talent Acquisition

The recent HCI conference did not disappoint and offered us all a lot of really interesting take aways on where Talent Acquisition is, or may be, heading. Important and timely topics such as employer branding technologies, candidate and employee engagement, and the next horizon for performance analytics were all in focus – as expected.

There is a famous quote that states, “The only thing you can control in life is your reaction.” For talent acquisition leaders constantly facing the challenge of hiring volatility, these words ring very true.

I know what you are thinking as I am thinking it too. Not another Employer Branding article. Hear me out.

Anyone who has been reading my blogs of late has noticed my new “thing”; Recruiter Experience. My theory being that if we look after the Recruiter Experience (things such as scalability, agility, tools, tech, process, allocation etc) and Hiring Manager Experience (relationships, coaching, visibility etc) then the holy grail that is Candidate Experience should look after itself.

Common sense, right?

Following our 2019 UK Start-Up of the year win – EVA.ai team attended  Unleash America, which was on May 14-15 in Las Vegas. This year’s theme was “The Bridge Between Work and Technology” – although Unleash is focused on HR tech, the conference also features wide review and discussions on key trends and issues at the forefront of the industry. This year's focus was on data privacy and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation which is being reviewed by the US Congress as a potential template for a renewed effort on protecting people’s data.

As the dust starts to settle on the troubling results of Britain’s first race disparity audit published by the UK Government on 10 October 2017, many Talent Acquisition leaders are now becoming more aware of the critical role they play in this diversity issue. The facts and statistics paint a clear picture. UK employment rates are lower for ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) than the overall population across the country. In 2016, just over 4 percent of White people were unemployed, which is lower than the rate of unemployment for people from all “Other” ethnic groups.

Emerging technologies are changing the way companies recruit. One of the rising offerings is artificial intelligence (AI), which can level the playing field for candidates. Top recruiters predict AI will eliminate the unfair advantage of a fancy resume or pedigree for candidates. Instead, applicants will need to rely on different abilities to stand out in processes using AI.

As one of the most globally recognized brands in the world, this client had challenges within one of its biggest hiring profit centers in Sales. Their prior decentralized Talent Acquisition structure placed a heavy staffing burden on line managers who struggled to get the hiring results and achieve a balance between staffing and their functional business responsibilities. This combination of missed hires and lost productivity time from line leadership put revenue at risk. In 2013, this client turned to Sevenstep to drive a laser-focused TA strategy for this high impact hiring area.

The third instalment in my mini guide to TA Transformation is one that is probably my favourite (I do apologise in advance to anyone who is not a Game of Thrones fan for the title).

We have covered what we need to get the transformation ball rolling, how to create experiences rather than processes. Now we will look at for me something that should be not only the backbone of any transformation, but the heart of your TA function; Data.

The Business Transformation Network recently hosted an event on ‘Strategic Talent Acquisition in the Digital Age: An HRD's Perspective’ in partnership with VONQ. VONQ offers smart recruitment marketing solutions to help recruiters target the right talent.

The conversation was varied, touching on a wide variety of points around the following questions:

1. What is strategic Talent Acquisition in a digital age and how is it different?