In the world of hiring, there are recruitment and talent acquisition positions. At first glance, they appear to be the same. But a deeper look reveals that though the end goal is the same, being to staff a company with great people, the roles of talent acquisition and recruitment take on a very different approach to their job and very different people are successful in these positions.
What is recruitment?
Recruitment is very reactive in nature. The main purpose of recruitment is to fill positions when they open. They seek out candidates that have the right degrees and certifications, as well as possess the required years of experience in their respective field. It’s a very straightforward objective.
The primary duties in recruitment are:
- Sourcing
- Screening
- Interviewing
- Assessing
- Selection
- Hiring
- Early stages of onboarding
Because recruitment is about filling roles that are currently open, the strategy to accomplish this goal is more tactical. This brings the focus to navigating sourcing options and networking in places where candidates are more likely looking for work or will be more open to switch jobs.
Recruitment takes energy and effort. When the organization is understaffed, they are typically working with less people to accomplish regular duties. There can be pressure to find replacement employees right away. So, recruitment will spend a large amount of their day on the phone or emailing potential candidates to get people in the door. Because of this, there’s the potential of not always getting quality workers because of the need for the sheer number that are required to help fill in the gaps.
Who would be best in the role of a recruiter?
For someone to be successful in this role, they should possess the personality of a salesperson. It’s a job and lifestyle that consists of selling a role or position to a candidate to ensure that a business is fully staffed. They need to be able to listen to what the business and the candidate want, making the opportunities unable to be resisted by ideal talent.
The best skills for someone in this role would be:
- Communication
- Marketing and sales
- Persistent motivation
- Relationship building
- Multitasking
- Time management
- Tech-savvy
There are a lot of opportunities for growth in recruitment positions as well. Recruiters can work for a company or work independently, as well as benefit from commission. These people are go-getters and comfortable with meeting new people and quotas. They work well under pressure and get fulfillment by discovering the perfect person for the role.
What is talent acquisition?
Slightly different from recruitment, talent acquisition is more strategic in nature. This position is more strategy-oriented as people who perform this role are looking at what the company may need in the future and begin planting seeds for positions that might be needed as the company grows. Talent acquisition focuses more on the talent of the candidate instead of just their credentials as many of the roles they would be sourcing are usually the “hard to fill” roles.
The primary duties of talent acquisition are:
- Identify staffing needs
- Planning recruitment processes
- Designing job descriptions
- Organizing recruitment events
- Forecasting hiring needs
- Fostering meaningful relationships
- Advising business leaders
Because talent acquisition is more about filling such roles as specialists, leaders, and future executives, they focus more on the values a person can bring to the company. They work to build better relationships with potential top talent by creating more meaningful networking, developing more significant referrals, and constructing more give & take in their engagement with others.
By understanding the value of a person, their outreach and networking not only involves people outside the company, but also looks at those currently employed with the business. They will evaluate the soft skills of a person and determine if the skills the company may need in the future can be mentored and developed instead of just having the knowledge already.
Who would be best in the role of talent acquisition?
For a person to be successful in talent acquisition, they need to have a strategic personality. They need to enjoy solving problems and overcoming challenges. Talent acquisition is more than just going through the motions of filling empty seats with warm bodies. A company’s success is determined in part by how passionate and driven a person in this role is for making worthwhile changes.
Though the talent acquisition position shares several needed skills with recruitment such as communication and multitasking, best skills to have to be successful in this role would be:
- Active listening
- Planning
- Learning
- Relationship building
- Empathic & social
- Analytical
- Tech
- Social media
Opportunities for a person in this role are more leadership-driven. They are most likely found working for organizations and heading departments. Many times, they have a seat at business meetings and advise corporate leaders of best strategies and practices.
How companies can use HR analytics to support those in positions of talent acquisition and recruitment
Like all processes that involve company procedures, data supports company growth and improvements. With HR data and HR analytics, the entire hiring process of the company can be efficient and benefit the organization through every stage in the hiring funnel.
Collecting data for recruitment, companies can:
- Review their hiring process – so they can evaluate if it is working effectively or not
- Analyze conversion rates – so they can determine what is working along the application funnel
- Evaluate applicants – so to identify top candidates
- Study processes – so that areas in need of improvement can be identified
Since talent acquisition is more about the future and strategy, they can barely perform their job without HR data. HR metrics helps them:
- Forecast company future needs – so to be sourcing for the right candidates before the need becomes open
- Allocate budget – so to decide the funding that will be set aside for hiring efforts
- Analyze labor market – so they can create best practices to discover the Rock Star
- Determine company branding – so they can work to improve company culture where is needs it
- Evaluate current employees – so to create succession plans for potential employees who show promise for promotions
Embracing talent acquisition and recruitment
Every company tries to fill positions with great employees. By embracing both talent acquisition and recruitment and what they can offer an organization – your chances of attracting and employing the best people for the job only grows as they implement the most effective HR tools, including collected HR data and HR analytics to discover top talent.
Discover how to take HR analytics to the next level with Employee Cycle to support your talent acquisition and recruitment needs. Make data-driven decisions about hiring and learn more about the ideal candidates you’re seeking with valuable HR data insights. Schedule a demo today to see how it works.
