7 ways to improve your talent acquisition to help your organisation

No matter how great your organisation looks to the outside world, you can’t deny that it’s your people who work with you who make or break the company’s name. A company needs a driven workforce to accomplish all its goals. A workforce that is not just skilled but also fits in the company’s culture like a puzzle piece. But finding such talent isn’t an easy task to accomplish. Learning the skill of screening and interviewing alone is a continuous learning process as the market keeps evolving. Of course, you have to move with the market and keep yourself updated with what’s currently working out and what might work for you. 

Here are 7 ways to improve your talent acquisition to help with the growth of your organisation.

Shed the culture fit from time to time

Okay, before you prepare a list of arguments against the thought, hear us out. While finding the cultural fit is a vital part of talent acquisition search, more often than not, it leads to building a team of similar people. It does benefit in terms of making all your employees connect and work together collaboratively, but it does come with a drawback- they tend to think alike too. This means that you might not have any new ideas after a while, or if you do, everyone’s opinion might end up being similar.

Studies have shown that companies with less diversity generate only 26% revenue from innovation as compared to 45% in the companies with more diversity. So, every once in a while, consider ditching the old parameters trying to find the cultural fit and instead go for someone you wouldn’t pick generally. It might be tricky at first but highly beneficial in the long run.

Prioritise personalised experience

We all have heard ‘customer is the king.’ Haven’t we? Well, in the recruitment industry, it is the same for candidates- they are the king. They pick the companies they would like to work with, so you have to convince them and not the other way around. Talented candidates have enough options and the free will to choose whoever they want. The only reason a candidate is going to pick you is based on the experience they have with you. If you talk big about being the best employers and fall short when it comes to treating the candidates right, be prepared for your offer getting rejected.

So, ensure to provide a personalised experience to all your candidates, even if it begins with just a personal touch to the mails sent. Don’t make them feel that they are just another resume; treat them as individuals. Be respectful and listen to them as well. This way, even if things don’t work out, they will always remember you and get back to you whenever they get the opportunity.

Don’t just ask; train them

Every employer expects their employees to upgrade their skills, but not many companies help in the procurement of the same. Companies want their employees to not just look for appropriate courses or certifications, enroll in them and invest their time and money to be able to perform better at work.  Rarely do companies take the initiative in helping their employees with the same. If you can’t take care of your employees’ course fee, the least you can do is guide them and provide time to complete the same.

Training them wouldn’t just help improve and enhance their skills and show them that you trust them and wish to retain them for long. And guess what! They will be less likely to switch as it gives them a sense of belongingness, and it will become an added parameter before they consider switching. 

Build your image

Have you noticed that brands like Starbucks and Google don’t have to work much to convince the candidates to choose them? If these brands are in the running, rest assured that the candidate is going to choose them over others. And no, this is not just because they are the big brands in the market. It’s because they are considered as the top employers of the market too. And considering the statistics that companies with strong employer branding receive 50% more applicants than those that don’t, this becomes a no brainer.

While you focus on being the top customer favourite brand, don’t forget to be the best for your employees and potential employees. Your product or service might build your brand image, but your employees are the ones who’ll advocate that image of yours, so make sure your employer branding is on point.

Focus on long term

Look at your current plan for candidates and employees, and try to answer a couple of questions. Does this provide enough freedom to them? Do they feel they are respected and part of the company? Are we taking care of their mental and emotional health? Will my current plan make them stay for years and years to come? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then it’s time to re-think your branding. Most companies forget that employer branding is not something done to entice candidates but also to keep the existing staff in the company. What’s the point of a great employer branding that’s good only for the freshers?

Hold regular calls with your employees, discuss their needs, support them, understand them, and look beyond work hours. When you buy a machine for your firm, don’t you invest in its maintenance? Then why shy away from investing in your employees who are the backbone of your company?

Train your team

Okay, so you have aced personalised communication, made yourself an employer brand hard to refuse, but forgot to train your recruitment team! Well, enough companies have made this mistake in the past and continue to do so even now; you don’t have to join the clan. With the current dynamics of the recruitment world, where we are adapting to new changes every other day, more than anyone else, your recruitment team has to welcome these changes. Educate your recruitment team to be mindful and sensitive towards what’s going on in the world. Everything will fail your recruitment team fails to execute them.

Help your recruitment team in building necessary skills and provide them with a learning space.

Evolve with the times

We all have grown up hearing the phrase- ‘change is the only constant’, and it is indeed the most vital life lesson to apply in all aspects of life. If you want your company to grow, you have to get on board with the idea of revamping your recruitment policy now and then to ensure optimal growth. Think about it, did we for once think that we would be recruiting our employees remotely in 2019? No, we didn’t. It just happened, and we had to get along with the idea, didn’t we? But there’s no need to wait for a pandemic to bring in that change every time.

Just like you consider your company’s policy for everything at the beginning of every year, make a strategic recruitment plan as well. This will help you always stay ahead of the game and be updated with the latest trends.

A company is defined by its people, so if you fall short in keeping your employees happy, you fail to grow as an organisation. Make sure you are the best employer there ever was by constantly evolving, adapting to change and having a strong employer brand.