The fundamental truth is - process, people and culture keep changing, no matter how much you try to remain oblivious to it. So, to stay in forefront your approach must also follow the change. In past few years, numerous HR practices have undergone a makeover. The traditional recruitment methodologies are fading away gradually, forcing the recruiters to maneuver and adopt the new trend. Today the adage, ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is more conspicuous for every single entity hence, being visible throughout is mandatory now therefore, the hiring teams must keep flashing their existence on social media because candidates are not the only one competing for jobs but recruiters too are competing to hire right talent. Even if you find the right fit, chances are there could be many others trying to catch the same fish. The change in technology has opened the floodgate of job openings in the related fields leading to more available posts than the qualified applicants, creating a situation of more demand and less supply. Then, what measures do you intend to use to attract these talents towards you and divert them from your competitors?

Out of many practices, rewards on ‘referral’ are one of the policies most companies follow however, there is still a need to be creative and invent new approaches to catch the most efficient talent. You may start with re-defining the current methods. Plan your interview schedules soon after posting your ‘job openings’ and always write an effective job description with clear descriptions of skills required, role, responsibilities, salary, benefits, and perks. A prolonged waiting period between two consecutive interviews may wear off candidate’s interest; therefore, try to speed up the process. Another effective way to ensure your discovered talent doesn’t leave you during the recruitment process is to create a great candidate experience.

As a recruiter, you are not just hiring but, representing your company/ organization. The responsibility falls on your shoulders to make the vacancy appear attractive and fulfilling. Today’s challenge as a recruiter is that you are not merely a ‘recruiter’ but a product manager and you need to:

1. Focus on making your brand attractive and lucrative
2. Work on an unrefusable compensation package
3. To avoid low retention issue, focus on finding and inviting candidates with high long-term earlier collaborations.
4. With too many options available today, people have become selective. To stay ahead of your competitors, you must present your company in a unique way. You may take the applicant through your company’s vision, benefits, and advantages of joining your company, etc. via an impressive video presentation during the interview.

The other challenges may include finding a legitimate resume as many tend to supply fake information and zeroing in the right candidate by making the right choice.

It has been further observed that the trend relating to Talent Acquisition in Indian companies are still different as compared to offshore companies. India continues to drive on the culture of “marriage of convenience” wherein organization still looks at service & instructional abilities as against focusing on hiring people for their performance independence, data inferential intelligence, and nature of constructive beliefs. The difference is deep-rooted in the culture of the organization. While there seems to be a definite focus on “Novelty and Being Unconventional” in approach in hiring the talent, as a country we still have a long way to go as we still focus on “keeping people happy”.  Instead, the efforts should be towards “creating happy people” where the individual’s tacit experiences in dealing with the situations are valued over the explicit of the process that revolves around it.

Talent Acquisition is an important role of HR for the sustenance of company or organization. You must now invest time in understanding the line of business requirements first then decide on what kind of people will be best suited and what background/ competencies will help the company to grow further. It’s not a rocket science to understand that the absence of manpower is equal to losing a business opportunity. Companies must constantly scout for people for all open positions and anticipate vacancies due to non-performance/ behavioral issues, etc.

Move with the flow and reach out to social media, job portals, employee referrals, self-source, company careers section, database, etc., as a medium for recruiting candidates. Keep placement agencies as the last option and approach them only when you need manpower on urgent, niche or immediate requirement. Talent Acquisition should be open for all 365 days. The longer you take to fill a position the higher the chances to miss out on skilled workers. So, keep your database updated and use it when the need arises.