Talent Acquisition

What is talent acquisition?

Talent acquisition is the umbrella term for the HR functions necessary to source, attract, process, screen, qualify, and hire talent. They include:

  • Developing a hiring plan
  • Creating a job requisition process
  • Writing job descriptions
  • Posting jobs to job boards, careers pages, and social media accounts
  • Tracking hiring metrics
  • Receiving and tracking applications and resumes
  • Creating screening questionnaires, candidate scorecards and interview scripts
  • Scheduling and conducting interviews
  • Performing background and reference checks
  • Writing offer letters
  • Negotiating employment contracts
  • Creating employee referral programs
  • Sourcing and nurturing passive candidates

Who manages talent acquisition?

Depending on the size of the company, multiple job roles might include talent acquisition tasks. In a small business, the owner might handle all all talent acquisition. In larger organizations, a Human Resources director or hiring manager would perform talent acquisition. Enterprise-level companies may have a talent acquisition team that includes many talent acquisition specialists. Companies also outsource talent acquisition to staffing agencies or professional recruiters (sometimes called headhunters).

How does a talent acquisition specialist fill an open job?

Here is the general process a talent acquisition specialist or hiring manager would follow:

  • Submit a job requisition to the necessary members of leadership and obtain approval
    • Perform a job analysis to determine the requirements for a new or open position
    • Decide how the new position will be filled: with an outside candidate or through internal placement
    • Write a job description based on the position analysis
    • Create the application including any screening questionnaires included in the application process
  • Post the job to job boards, social media sites, careers pages or other job advertising venues
    • Seek referrals from current employees
    • Review applications and resumes
    • Isolate a group of top candidates from the overall applicant pool
  • Manage the interview and evaluation process:
    • Determine which candidates from the initial pool will advance to a phone interview
      • Of those candidates, choose which candidates to invite for in-person or video interviews
      • Schedule interviews
      • Conduct interviews
      • Gather feedback from the hiring team
  • Make the final hiring decision
    • Obtain approval from the executive team (or other necessary stakeholders)
    • Conduct background and reference checks
  • Extend an offer letter
    • Negotiate the employment contract

See also

Additional resources

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