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5 Point Strategy To Rejig Your Talent Acquisition In The New Normal
It need not even be said now that the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted work and daily lives of people around the world. In the middle of all this, there is uncertainty across industries, and recruitment, of course, is no different.
Experts believe that there will be long-lasting effects on the recruitment industry even after it is left behind us. It will change how organisations attract, hire, and retain talent. While saying this, change was always on the horizon with new ways of work emerging, like working from co-working spaces, gig economy and automation. However, Covid has not only accelerated this but cemented it. The nature of businesses itself is undergoing drastic change. The lines of the business itself pivoted; one of our clients has changed their business model from floral decor to selling organic vegetables, based on the demand and situation.
In such scenarios, without redefining talent strategy, one cannot succeed. Hence, recruiters and hiring managers have to prepare themselves to brace the changes brought about by the Covid-19 outbreak and continue to hire talented candidates.
Here we are looking into a few important points to cover in a renewed talent strategy.
1. Align talent strategy with business goals:
The purpose of talent management is to create a high-performance, sustainable organisation that meets its strategic and operational objective. Therefore a company’s talent management strategy must be linked to its business strategy. All employee-related processes, including job descriptions, training and development, performance goals, metrics and performance reviews must be linked to company goals.
It is easy for an employee to feel lost and become disengaged when they don’t understand where they fit in the organisational hierarchy. But when their goals are aligned with those of the company, they see the impact of their actions. It gives everyone a role to play and encourages accountability while promoting recognition and celebration of good work.
2. How to source the talent?
Employers will need to step up and become more creative at finding great talent now. Efforts should be made to reduce dependence on off-line recruitment processes. Developing a new online recruitment strategy will play a far important role to attract talent in addition to the traditional ways of using recruitment consultants or using internal referral programs. As an organisation, you must ensure that when a prospective candidate considers working for you, they should have a positive experience right from the moment they start researching the company and applying for the job. This can be taken a level further by developing interactive assessment tools and providing a realtime response to candidates. A positive experience throughout the recruitment process will help attract talent faster and better. Beyond the selection too, the candidate needs to continue having a positive onboarding experience. A good recruitment process helps save valuable time and resources which can be repurposed for more productive tasks.
Finally and most importantly, the candidate needs to have a great employee experience. If all of this is taken care of, you are in a good place.
3. How do you keep employees engaged?
All employee-centric initiatives like learning & development, rewards and recognition, growth and coaching must all be aligned with factors that will help the business meet its objectives. For instance, L&D initiatives will have to set for itself clear short term and long term goals. While the short term goals are essential to meet the immediate needs of the business, the long term strategy must support the direction which the business is likely to take in the future.
Employee reward and recognition is a straightforward way to provide positive feedback and promote both individual development and organisational growth. Including recognition into your company culture creates an environment of respect and is a powerful way to recruit and retain the best talent. High employee turnover rates are proven to get expensive quickly. Increasing the loyalty of your team is only one advantage of a strong reward and recognition programme. Some other benefits include higher productivity, and engagement levels, as well as enthusiasm to develop new skills and be more involved. Other initiatives like coaching also keep employees engaged.
Whatever you do as an organisation to boost employee engagement, our experience also says that only those engagement programs which are aligned to personal needs and aspirations are successful as compared to a one-size-fits-all approach.
4. Employee unlearning:
This is a new element of a talent strategy that will help you repurpose employees, align them to new business lines, and prepare them to upskill. It is expensive to keep hiring from scratch. Offering employees growth opportunities within the system is more prudent for the company. According to an earlier article, we wrote about several areas that have to be “unlearnt” for employees to succeed in the future. Hierarchies must be broken down, work flexibility, as well as virtual workplaces among other things, need to be considered while hiring itself.
5. Virtual recruitment strategies:
Virtual interactions like using video and chats are replacing in-person job interviews and employee onboarding. Virtual platforms help the recruitment team to stay connected with candidates throughout the entire interview process. For example, Amazon has set up virtual interview portals for candidates to quickly connect with recruiters and complete necessary documents. The company has cancelled several in-person interviews and leverages its video conferencing software, Amazon Chime, to conduct remote interviews with candidates. Google has reported a 60% increase in the use of Hangouts.
Another thing is, on-boarding in a virtual environment. It can work If you haven’t done it before, the idea of a new person starting without coming into an office and meeting with a team in person might sound odd. However, having a solid plan about what they will do on day one, week one, and week two is key. For instance, ensure new hires have a detailed welcome email, as well as an onboarding kit. Set up virtual meetings with managers and team members, and ensure that all technology and tools are ready to go from day one. Some organisations are even resorting to automated systems that offer a virtual interviewing environment as well as providing a great onboarding experience.
The main advantage of using alternative recruitment strategies is they can help companies hire remote workers from all over the world without having to worry about flying people in for meetings. And in the case of a crisis or a company-specific issue, the recruiting process can continue without any hitches.
Having said that, just because you’re changing the medium doesn’t mean you should completely scrap your old hiring process. If you normally have your candidates go through five interview rounds, then you should continue that. Ask the same questions that have worked for you in the past, while allowing for a bit more personalisation that may happen because interviewees are in the set up of their own home. But even beyond using virtual platforms for interviews, companies that learn to incorporate such platforms in new ways can open up a world of possibilities for reaching and communicating with candidates. That’s why virtual platforms and digital tools will be one of the most relevant online recruiting strategies in the days to come.
At Yellow Spark, we can aid you to rework and implement a new talent strategy. To know more write to us at contact@yellowspark.in
Author Profile: Aparna Joshi Khandwala is a passionate HR professional. She co-founded Yellow Spark to work with like-minded people who believe in the power of leadership, which is the only business differentiator in today’s time.