HRs need to step up their game when searching for top talents. In today’s times, job seekers have various opportunities to choose from. We have compiled a list of the top 6 talent acquisition strategies to build a solid hiring process. 

• Be transparent about your organizational goals and structure: Before you start with your hiring process, ensure that you are aware of your company’s goals. By this, we mean both short-term and long-term. Now, you know about your goals, begin with 

• • Be clear about what type of people you are looking for in your organization. You can consider factors like skills, experience, alignment, etc. 
  • Familiar your potential candidates with the mission and objectives. It will help you find the employees that can take you there based on their skills and knowledge. 
  • Also, be transparent about salary, perks and benefits, work culture, and other important information. 
  • Ensure that you care about your retention rate too. This can be done by promoting your current employees to a higher positions. You can also be shifting them to the department that fits best with their skills.

• Diversify your talent strategy: Investing in diversity, equality, and inclusion strategy should be your top priority. This means that you should hire people from different backgrounds. The key criteria here should be what they can bring to the table. Diverse backgrounds include ability, nationality, ethnicity, background, professional background, skills, or gender. 

To begin with, 

• • You should include inclusivity and diversity in your organization’s policy. 
  • But before that, you must ensure that everybody in the workplace is on the same page. By that, we mean to provide them with proper training regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. 
  • Ensure that you write an inclusive job listing. So, that it can be understood by all candidates irrespective of their background. 
  • Unconscious bias is common. No matter how much you try to ignore it. Ensure that you have proper training and awareness before you hire the candidates.  
  • Also, make sure that it begins at the top. This would prove to be a perfect testimonial itself. 
  • Diversity will let you get different perspectives on things. It will also make the employees valued and proud of who they are. 

• Renew your focus on retention practices: Retaining employees saves a lot of time and money. When you hire people, keep in mind that you are having them for the long run. 

• • Keep your current employees happy and motivated. When the work culture is good, they will contribute more. They will also refer the organization to their acquaintances. 
  • Make sure the potential candidates are well-versed in the following aspects

1. 1. Compensation
   2. Perks and benefits
   3. Feedback channel
   4. Autonomy 
   5. Training and development 

and other important factors.

• • You can ask the new joiners about their hiring experience. What did they find best as well as room for improvement. This will let you update your talent acquisition strategies accordingly. 
  • Also, the onboarding process needs to be strong. If not, it will lead to a high turnover rate and lower productivity levels. 

• Nurture a growth mindset: Skills and experience matter. But, it is the growth mindset that is important. Your organization should focus on resources, courses, and tools for upskilling. Job seekers are usually interested where learning and development are taken into consideration. Hence, make sure that you encourage learning opportunities for the employees. 

• • People who have growth and flexible mindset are likely to contribute beyond their job role. 
  • You can have conferences, workshops, discussions, groups, educational programs, etc at your workplace. It will give them a better position to innovate and be with the organization in the long run. 
  • Ensure that the potential candidates will be open to feedback. 
  • To understand if the potential candidates are right for the organization, you can ask them a few questions like 
    • How did the people at your previous organization help you to develop?
    • How do you take up feedback? Do you consider them to be a learning experience for you?
    • Have you ever happened when you disagreed with your senior manager? How did you handle it? What are your learnings?

• Build a positive work culture: HR professionals should know their three target audiences. Customers, prospects, and employees. Your work culture should be positive and healthy to attract the right talent.

This doesn’t only imply the work environment after joining the organization. It also includes the candidate’s experience before they are part of the company. As happy candidates result in happy employees. 

You can do this by 

• • Exchanging feedback on the interview process. By this we mean, asking how did they feel about the interview process. And also letting them know their strengths and improvements. 
  • Sharing your company’s mission and objectives with them. Also, be firm with what you said during the hiring process. 
  • In case the employee is rejected, don’t make them feel unworthy. Let them know where did they go wrong. Or if they just weren’t the right fit at that point. But, whatever it is, try to make it less painful. 
  • Having open and honest communication with job seekers. Be transparent about your salary, perks, benefits, work culture, etc. 

• Invest in employer branding: As per CareerArc’s 2021 Future of Recruiting Study, 82% of candidates consider employer brand and reputation before applying for the job. In today’s times, salary is not the only factor in choosing a company. You must ensure that your company’s reputation is attractive too. And this can only be done when your employees and managers have a positive connection with your brand. You can do this by 

• • Before you hire new employees, understand what your existing employees think about the organization. Gather feedback from them and act upon it as soon as possible. 
  • Understand that a strong employer branding strategy is a long-term strategy. 
  • Pay attention to how your job seekers are reaching out to you. If they are mostly referred by the existing employees, then it’s likely a good sign. But, when you are investing more in ads and job portals, your company culture ain’t strong. 
  • Your web presence matters too. You can post about your company culture on social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. But, make sure you only post what you preach. 
  • You can arrange an open house day or event that can connect you with target candidates. It will show your company image in a positive light.