Should Your HR Strategy Contain Recruitment or Talent Acquisition?

The term “talent acquisition” (TA) has taken on an almost unearthly importance in the post Pandemic world. The changes to the labor markets, the increased turnover, the quiet quitting, the refusal to give up remote or hybrid working arrangements have all increased the challenges of finding talent and acquiring it in a way that harmonizes the goals of both parties.

I have found it confusing. Talent management, talent acquisition and recruiting all sound very similar and are often used interchangeably. Before we can consider how a strategy might be designed, we must clarify our terms and the problem we are solving.

Historically, talent management (TM) was either coined by McKinsey & Company in 1997 or David Watkins of Softscape in 1998. Research indicates talent management is considered the overall “program” and the following components are part of that program according to a 2022 article by HRForecast (https://hrforecast.com/what-is-talent-management-and-how-can-it-help-you-find-and-hire-great-employees/ ) :

·???????? Talent acquisition

·???????? Talent pool

·???????? Talent process (more accurately, talent development)

·???????? Training

·???????? Career management

·???????? Leadership development

·???????? Talent retention

·???????? Performance management

·???????? Succession planning

I notice two things from the HRForecast article – there is no mention of recruitment and few TM programs I have encountered contain all nine components. It’s seem logical to me to assume that a TM program is the upgrade to the previous function of recruitment just as “human resources” replaced Personnel. Now we have some understanding of the interchangeability that is happening. ?

But I’m still a little confused. So in order to consider what our HR Strategy might need, we need to dig a little deeper because some organizations are still operating with “recruitment”. Is there really a difference? I suspect it depends on the organization. Often, adoption of newer terms is a tactic to upgrade a job description, align with compensation markets and refresh strategies according to the current trends. I often see these upgrades happen in larger organizations first before filtering to mid-market and government, which creates a mixture of terms and approaches in operations everywhere. So let’s consider some examples of the definition of talent acquisition below…

·??????? Forbes Advisor (https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/what-is-talent-acquisition/ ) 04/17/2024

o?? Talent acquisition is a strategic approach to identifying, assessing and acquiring new employees for a company. Unlike general recruitment, which sometimes values quantity over quality, talent acquisition is a carefully curated process that businesses rely on in order to find the very best fit for their team. There are often talent acquisition specialists within a company whose primary role is to source candidates who have the exact skill set that is needed to help a company thrive and grow. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, talent acquisition and recruitment are two very different approaches. Recruiting is best described as filling current vacancies in a company.

·??????? Indeed.com (https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/what-is-talent-acquisition ) (date n/a)

o?? Put simply, recruitment is a reactive solution. Someone leaves their job role, and managers and HR fill that position. However, talent acquisition is a proactive solution for sourcing a pipeline of potential employees who have the skills you might need. Recruitment can solve a company’s immediate problem, while talent acquisition is an ongoing process that advances a company’s mission.?

·??????? Jobvite.com (https://www.jobvite.com/blog/talent-acquisition/ ) 04/08/2024

o?? Many people think that recruitment and talent acquisition are synonymous, but companies focused on smart talent acquisition know there’s a crucial difference between the two.?Recruitment and talent acquisition occur at different times — recruitment strategies focus on quick fixes, while talent acquisition focuses on developing a longer-term approach. Both approaches are important to consider, but recruitment is more tactical, while talent acquisition is more strategic.

·??????? TechTarget.com (https://www.techtarget.com/searchhrsoftware/definition/talent-acquisition ) 03/2024

o?? Talent acquisition is the strategic process an organization uses to identify, recruit and hire the people it needs to achieve its business goals and optimize its processes. Companies analyze their long-term talent needs, identify and develop talent sources, and then execute the strategy by recruiting, evaluating and onboarding candidates. Talent acquisition is usually a function of the human resources (HR) department working in collaboration with talent acquisition specialists, with input from senior executives. Talent acquisition is usually the first step in an organization's talent management strategy. Talent management is the process employers use to hire, deploy, train, evaluate, compensate and retain employees.

Finally, there is an excellent explanation from the following writer on Medium…

·??????? Medium.com (https://medium.com/@michaelbettley/im-not-sure-who-needs-to-hear-this-but-talent-acquisition-isn-t-about-hiring-people-2abf494d5db5 ) 08/19/2019

o?? In most organisations, Talent / Recruiting / HR are treated as a service. They are only to be consulted once decisions are made and you need someone to execute on them. Right? Wrong! The Talent team is a huge driver of business success and has a direct line to both revenue generation and revenue loss based on the caliber, fit, and balance of the people that you bring into the company. It is time to change the status quo….Struggling to convince your leadership team that Talent is more than a service? Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, once estimated that bad hires have cost them “well over $100 million” . That might be an extreme example, but I think we can all agree that no CEO wants to waste money onboarding employees who don’t work out or spend 9 months searching for a candidate that doesn’t exist. To be effective an organisation needs to view each department as subject matter experts who are all looking at the same core set of business problems but each from a different lens. That way, each team can focus on their strengths and bring a unique point of view to the table… Talent is no different.

Using our critical thinking cap, what is the common theme – the pattern - in these explorations of what talent acquisition is?

?? Recruiting is reactionary. Talent acquisition is planned.

?? Recruiting is volume based. Talent acquisition is specialized based on the work.

?? Recruiting is transactional. Talent acquisition is strategic.

?? Talent acquisition is the first phase of a talent management program and recruitment is a process under talent acquisition.

So, what is the next step in designing your HR strategy? You need to determine where your organization actually is – what kind of language, structure and reference is used to provide talent to the organization. This is important because if you build a strategy to change from a “recruitment” structure to a “talent management” structure – you have more work to do and it will take longer. You need to assess the organization’s “readiness” to change and adopt the new structure before you jump into requesting resources. If your executive team considers talent acquisition as a fancy way of saying recruitment, you are also going to be selling your HR strategy from a disadvantaged position - even if you are certain of its value to the organization’s strategic plan.

If your HR strategy design requires new tools, you must also sell your talent management program to gain funding and resources. For example, you may need additional or upgraded technology to track data to fulfill your new program. Be sure you are aware of any limitations on your current resources before you over promise and under deliver. In addition, implementing a more strategic approach will have impact on stakeholders (i.e., management) because of the increased planning perspective.

It may seem like unnecessary extra work to research differences in definitions and terms. But this is the beginning of your strategy by educating yourself on the business argument for and against and the current landscape of thought leadership. Without this knowledge, you could spend a lot of time developing an HR Strategy that will be viewed as unimportant and not really….well, strategic.

In my next newsletter, now that we know what Talent Acquisition actually IS, we can dig into defining the business requirements that can be used to prioritize what’s important and what is not for an organization.

Share