Creating and delivering an effective talent acquisition strategy is no mean feat in the face of pressure for new employees. But, says Simon Kent, its well worth taking time to get it right.
Identifying and bringing talent into an organisation has never been more complicated. The diverse challenges that face businesses as they adapt to customer demand, alongside addressing the needs of their talent pool means organisations cannot – must not – rely on only one avenue for their new hires.
When a talent need arises, employers should not simply perform a knee-jerk reaction and send for the next pile of application forms. Constantly creating more job descriptions, processing yet more applications makes for an admin heavy HR function, hiking up costs and taking time from the function that could be used in as more valuable way. But laying the ground rules for this isn’t always easy.
Any strong TA lead can build an effective strategy, the challenge lies in empowering them to work in partnership with the rest of the business.”
“We often hear CEOs and board members publicly praising the importance of their people, yet in practice, Talent Acquisition is still treated as the poor relation within HR, let alone the wider business,” says Natasha Preocanin, Managing Director, IHR. “HR and leadership teams need to recognise that giving TA a real voice and access to the company’s broader strategy is essential. When TA understands the bigger picture, they can align their own plans and deliver real value.
“Workforce planning is often seen as complicated or even futile, but that’s usually because TA isn’t given the information needed to forecast properly,” Preocanin adds. “Any strong TA lead can build an effective strategy, the challenge lies in empowering them to work in partnership with the rest of the business.”
The heart of the search for talent
Professor Nick Kemsley of the HR & Organisational Capability Centre, Henley Business School agrees, stating that strategic workforce planning (SWP) should sit at the heart of any candidate hunt because it offers the chance of a thoughtful and talent-centric approach to attraction rather than relying on something that’s generic, reactive and ad-hoc. “A sustainable talent sourcing strategy takes into account the availability, preferences and affordability of specific talent segments and weighs it up against the employee value proposition, financial health and TA maturity of the organisation targeting the talent,” he explains. “Taking this approach makes it clear where we may require external TA support – for example with new skills or sectors, higher volumes, niche skills, seniority – or where it falls within our core in-house recruitment capability. Without this basis in rationale, TA efforts can be directionless and unfocused.”
Kemsley also recognises that the right approach for an employer might be a combination of methods: “Frequently hybrid approaches can make sense, for example, automated primary screening only,” he says. “New technologies like AI are increasingly allowing us to match skills profiles to work and to find and analyse talent market data ourselves. Research also shows that AI is likely to play a pivotal role in the future of SWP, even creating potential sourcing strategies for key skills segments for us.”
Claire Carlin, People Acquisition Specialist at global digital media company KOMI Group says her business is always on the look out for “passionate, hungry and driven candidates” and they have a range of tactics for finding such people, recognising that candidates will not all be in the same place. The company uses an applicant tracking system, diverse job boards, referrals from within the team, and LinkedIn. “Having conversations with both active and passive candidates – whilst working on our employer branding every week – keeps us on top of our sector’s brightest people,” she adds.
Diverse candidates, consistent approach
While her talent search may stretch over diverse areas, the business has sought to create a consistent recruitment process for candidates and hiring managers alike. The process varies according to role and seniority, but nevertheless gives certainty to everyone involved in finding new talent.
The process begins with a video call with Carlin, and includes an in-person interview where hiring managers get to meet the candidate, assess their experience and skillset and see if they are right for the role.
Interestingly, Carlin says the recruitment process has been brought in-house over the past few years, a shift which has prioritised candidate experience and enabled the business to pool talent ready for future hires.
“We continuously track and discuss acquisition data to understand what’s working, what’s not and where we can improve,” Carlin says. “Support goes both ways too, and all of KOMI’s hiring managers have to go through recruitment training before hiring, giving them confidence before the process even begins.”
Technology and AI has been introduced to the process but Carlin is clear that the human element will never be entirely removed from recruitment: “Every CV and application is read with attention and care, whilst AI helps with admin and efficiency so we can put more energy into our conversations with new talent,” she says.
Exploring the options
Taking a thorough view over available talent doesn’t just mean addressing external talent pools, as advised by Imran Akhtar, Head of Academy at talent and training partner mthree: “Before filling a vacancy, it’s critical to ask what kind of work is required, how long it’s needed for, and whether those skills already exist in the business,” he says. “Sometimes the answer is to upskill or reskill current employees, in other cases, bringing in new talent with fresh ideas and tailored training adds the most value.
Approaches like this help organisations stay agile, close skill gaps faster, and build capability that lasts.”
“Finding the right people works best when hiring teams build long-term partnerships rather than relying only on open job boards,” he continues. “Collaborating with universities and trusted training providers creates a steady pipeline of candidates who already have the foundations and mindset to grow. That makes hiring more focused and ensures people are ready to contribute sooner once in post.”
Akhtar believes a model such as his company’s Hire Train Deploy shows how employers can bring people into their organisation on the basis of their potential, provide tailored training and place them so they can contribute from day one. “Approaches like this help organisations stay agile, close skill gaps faster, and build capability that lasts,” he says.
Not on the CV
According to Ashley Mills, Senior Partner at Korn Ferry and author of Built Without a Blueprint, one challenge faced by employers is that some of the talent they are currently seeking simply doesn’t show up on a routine scan of a CV: “The most sought-after leaders today aren’t just strategic, they’re emotionally intelligent, adaptable and calm under pressure,” he says. Rather than being usefully listed on a CV these facets are generally developed through experience, adversity and more unconventional paths.
In answer to this, says Mills, employers need to study behaviours, patterns and moments of growth – a task which can be done through leadership diagnostics, deeper referencing and even exploring how a candidate handles failure. “Increasingly, it’s less about prestige and more about potential and the deeper story behind it,” says Mills.
Stay human
Even with this, perhaps unconventional approach to finding talent, Mills still highlights the importance of in-person interviews at the final stage, for alignment, stakeholder buy-in and cultural fit. Overall, he says, the hiring process is becoming more collaborative: “Companies are co-designing hiring journeys with their search partners, blending objective insight with internal priorities,” he explains. “AI may help shortlist, but it’s still human judgment that makes the final call.”
Talent Acquisition is, at its core, about people, so some parts of the process should stay personal.”
“There’s now a huge and growing range of technology providers in the TA space,” agrees IHR’s Preocanin. “Some of the tools available are excellent, but it’s easy to be distracted by shiny new platforms. Talent Acquisition is, at its core, about people, so some parts of the process should stay personal – interviews and offers widely being seen as the most important.”
Emerging best practice therefore should acknowledge the multiplicity of tools and techniques employers can now use to access the talent they need. It requires a different view on finding and assessing talent, one which acknowledges the potential of people as much as it does their achievements. And yet at the same time being certain of the right talent still comes down to a human being making a judgement on the suitability of another person for the task required. Ultimately the way to make a talent acquisition strategy work is to ensure the balance is always right and that decisions are made in the right way at the right time.
