Talent Acquisition Explained [2023]

Summary

In this HR Deep Dive, Erik van Vulpen explores the intricacies of talent acquisition, highlighting its significance and potential pitfalls. The video follows the story of Trellogs, a fashion retailer, where hiring manager Johnny and talent acquisition specialist Isa collaborate to hire a new marketing team member. The process includes job analysis, candidate sourcing, screening, interviewing, and onboarding. The importance of aligning the employer brand, employee value proposition, and employee promise is emphasized to avoid mismatched expectations and ensure successful talent retention.

Takeaways

• 😀 Talent acquisition is a critical process that involves attracting, selecting, and hiring new employees to ensure a company's success.
• 🔍 Job analysis is the first step in the hiring process, where the hiring manager identifies the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) for the role.
• 📝 The job specification, derived from job analysis, is a list of KSAOs that a candidate must possess to be successful in the new role.
• 🤝 Collaboration between the hiring manager and talent acquisition specialist is essential for a successful hiring process.
• 📢 Talent acquisition specialists need operational, tactical, and strategic skills to effectively manage the hiring process.
• 🏢 The employer brand is a company's reputation as an employer and plays a significant role in attracting top talent.
• 💡 An effective employee value proposition (EVP) includes offerings, experiences, and rewards that answer why someone should work for and stay with the company.
• 🤔 The employee promise is the commitment an organization makes about what employees can expect, which is crucial for setting accurate expectations and retaining talent.
• 📈 Talent acquisition specialists must forecast hiring needs based on business requirements and align strategies with the company's mission and values.
• 🔗 Maintaining a strong employer brand and EVP is key to long-term recruiting success and can significantly impact a company's ability to attract and retain employees.

Q & A

What is talent acquisition and why is it important?

Talent acquisition is the process of attracting, interviewing, and hiring new employees. It's important because it ensures that an organization finds and secures the best talent to drive its success.

What is the role of a talent acquisition specialist?

A talent acquisition specialist, like Isa in the script, is responsible for managing the hiring process, from job analysis to candidate selection, ensuring the right candidates are found for the right roles.

What does the term KSAOs stand for and why are they important in the hiring process?

KSAOs stands for Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other characteristics. They are important because they form the basis for assessing a candidate's suitability for a role.

How does the job analysis phase contribute to the hiring process?

The job analysis phase involves collecting information on the new role to identify the activities, knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics required for success in the role.

What is the significance of the job requisition process in talent acquisition?

The job requisition process is a formal request to create a new position in the company. It's significant because it ensures the job is formally approved before hiring begins.

Why is the vacancy intake meeting considered important in the hiring process?

The vacancy intake meeting is important because it allows the talent acquisition specialist to ask hard questions to understand the role deeply and to find and select the right candidate.

What is the role of sourcing in the talent acquisition process?

Sourcing is the process of identifying and attracting potential candidates for a job opening. It can involve using platforms like LinkedIn or considering internal candidates.

How does the talent acquisition specialist ensure a diverse slate of candidates?

The talent acquisition specialist ensures a diverse slate of candidates by screening and selecting candidates based on the required KSAOs and considering factors like background, experience, and skills.

What is the purpose of an assessment during the hiring process for senior roles?

Assessments for senior roles provide additional data to help make more informed hiring decisions, ensuring the candidate's capabilities align with the role's requirements.

Why is the employee value proposition (EVP) important in talent acquisition?

The EVP is important because it outlines the offerings, experiences, and rewards an employer offers, which helps attract and retain top talent by answering why someone should work for the company.

How does the employer brand influence the talent acquisition process?

The employer brand influences the talent acquisition process by shaping the organization's reputation as an employer, which can affect a candidate's decision to join or stay with the company.

What is the employee promise and why is it significant in the hiring process?

The employee promise is the commitment an organization makes about what employees can expect from it. It's significant because it sets expectations and influences job satisfaction and retention.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to Talent Acquisition

Erik van Vulpen introduces the topic of talent acquisition, discussing common pitfalls such as new hires quitting early or employees finding the company different from expectations. He sets the stage for an HR Deep Dive, promising to cover the definition, process, and ways to avoid mistakes in talent acquisition. Erik starts with a humorous story about an HR manager named Cindy who, after dying, is shown two different versions of hell by the Devil, highlighting the contrast between recruitment promises and the actual work experience. This segues into an explanation of the importance of accurate talent acquisition to avoid such mismatches. The story of Trellogs, a fashion retailer, is introduced as a case study, with Isa as the talent acquisition specialist and Johnny as the marketing department head needing to hire new staff due to workload.

05:02

📝 The Talent Acquisition Process

The script delves into the talent acquisition process at Trellogs, starting with Johnny's job analysis to understand the role he needs to fill. Job analysis is crucial for identifying the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) required for success in the new role. The importance of KSAOs is emphasized as they form the basis for the entire hiring process. Isa, the talent acquisition specialist, collaborates with Johnny after the job requisition process, which is the formal request to create a new position. Isa's role includes asking critical questions to refine the candidate profile, publishing the job vacancy, sourcing candidates, and conducting initial screenings. The process continues with Isa creating a diverse candidate slate for Johnny to interview. For senior roles, assessments are advised to aid in decision-making. The narrative includes a successful hiring story of Norma, who after some negotiation, accepts the job offer and is set to start in two weeks. Isa's post-hire responsibilities include checking in with Norma during her onboarding to ensure expectations align with reality.

10:07

🛠 Skills and Components of Talent Acquisition

The video script outlines the skills required for a talent acquisition specialist like Isa to be effective, which include operational, tactical, and strategic skills. Operational skills involve communication and coordination, while tactical skills encompass job intake, selection criteria, and recruitment marketing. Strategic skills are about designing talent acquisition strategies and forecasting hiring needs. The script then focuses on three essential components of talent acquisition: the employee value proposition (EVP), the employer brand, and the employee promise. The employer brand represents the company's reputation as an employer and is part of the EVP, which includes offerings, experiences, and rewards that answer why someone should work for the company. The employee promise is the commitment about what employees can expect, which if not met, can lead to disappointment and attrition. The script concludes with a call to action for viewers to subscribe to the channel to support the creation of more content like this, and a reminder of the importance of aligning recruitment practices with the actual employee experience to avoid the pitfalls illustrated in the opening joke.

Keywords

💡Talent Acquisition

Talent acquisition refers to the process of attracting, interviewing, and hiring new employees. In the video, it is the central theme as Erik van Vulpen explains how to avoid common mistakes in this process. The script follows the story of Trellogs, a fashion retailer, where Isa, the talent acquisition specialist, and Johnny, the hiring manager, collaborate to hire new talent. Talent acquisition is crucial for companies to grow and maintain a competitive edge.

💡Job Analysis

Job analysis is a phase in the hiring process where the hiring manager, like Johnny in the script, identifies the activities, knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) required for a new role. This step is essential for creating a job specification that will guide the recruitment process. The video emphasizes the importance of job analysis in ensuring that the right candidate with the necessary KSAOs is selected for the role.

💡KSAOs

KSAOs stands for Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other characteristics. These are the essential qualifications that a candidate should possess for a job. The video script uses KSAOs as a basis for the talent acquisition process, guiding recruiters and hiring managers to find the right candidate. For instance, Johnny determines the KSAOs needed for a new marketing role, which Isa then uses to source and select candidates.

💡Job Requisition

A job requisition is a formal request to create a new position within a company. In the script, Isa sits with Johnny after he completes the job requisition process, which is necessary for the talent acquisition team to get the job formally approved before starting the hiring process. This step ensures that there is a clear organizational need and approval for the new role.

💡Sourcing

Sourcing in talent acquisition is the process of identifying and attracting potential candidates for a job opening. Isa, the talent acquisition specialist in the video, uses sourcing to create a list of candidates using LinkedIn and then double-checks their profiles with Johnny. Sourcing helps in building a pool of candidates from which the best fit can be selected.

💡Diverse Slate

A diverse slate refers to a group of candidates that represent a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. In the script, Isa aims to create a diverse slate of candidates to present to the hiring manager. This approach is important for promoting inclusivity and finding the best talent from various sources, which can lead to a more innovative and effective workforce.

💡Employer Brand

The employer brand is the reputation an organization has as an employer. It influences how the organization is perceived by potential and current employees. In the video, companies like Google and Spotify are mentioned as having excellent employer brands, which helps them attract top talent. A strong employer brand is part of the employee value proposition (EVP) and is crucial for long-term recruiting success.

💡Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

The EVP encompasses the offerings, experiences, and rewards that an employer provides to its employees. It answers the question of why someone should work for or stay with a company. In the video, the EVP is discussed as a key component of talent acquisition, as it helps create a compelling reason for people to join and stay with the organization. The script uses Google as an example, highlighting its salary, working conditions, and opportunities to make an impact as part of its EVP.

💡Employee Promise

The employee promise is the commitment an organization makes about what employees can expect from it. It sets the expectations for the work environment, culture, and opportunities provided by the company. In the video, the script uses the joke about Cindy and the devil to illustrate the importance of delivering on the employee promise. If an organization fails to meet these expectations, it can lead to dissatisfaction and high turnover.

💡Onboarding

Onboarding is the process of integrating a new employee into an organization. In the script, after Norma accepts the job offer, her onboarding begins, and Isa plans to call her to check how things are going. Effective onboarding is crucial for setting new employees up for success and ensuring that the job and company culture align with their expectations, as discussed in the video.

💡Recruitment Marketing

Recruitment marketing involves promoting an organization as an attractive employer to potential candidates. It is part of the talent acquisition strategy and is mentioned in the video as one of the tactical skills needed by a talent acquisition specialist like Isa. Effective recruitment marketing can help build the employer brand and EVP, making it easier to attract top talent.

Highlights

Talent acquisition is crucial for avoiding employee turnover and mismatched expectations.

The process involves understanding the job role through job analysis, identifying knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs).

KSAOs are foundational for the talent acquisition process, guiding recruiters to find suitable candidates.

Talent acquisition specialists, like Isa, collaborate with hiring managers to ensure the job requisition is formally approved.

Vacancy intake meetings are critical for talent acquisition specialists to ask hard questions and understand candidate requirements.

Sourcing candidates involves using platforms like LinkedIn and considering both external and internal candidates.

Screening calls are used to verify if candidates meet the required KSAOs and their salary expectations align with company offerings.

Creating a diverse slate of candidates is essential for presenting to the hiring manager and ensuring a fair hiring process.

Assessments are recommended for senior roles to gather more data and make informed hiring decisions.

Reference checks are conducted to verify a candidate's background and ensure a good fit for the company.

Negotiating job offers can be challenging, especially when candidates have competing offers from other companies.

Onboarding is not just the start of employment; it's an opportunity to ensure the job and company culture meet the employee's expectations.

Talent acquisition specialists require operational, tactical, and strategic skills to be effective in their role.

The employer brand is a key component of an organization's reputation and can significantly impact candidate attraction.

The employee value proposition (EVP) includes offerings, experiences, and rewards that answer why someone should work for a company.

The employee promise is the commitment an organization makes about what employees can expect, which is crucial for retention.

Aligning the employer brand, EVP, and employee promise is essential for attracting and retaining top talent.

The importance of a compelling employer brand is illustrated through examples of companies like Google and Spotify.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to subscribe to the channel for more informative content.

Transcripts

Have you ever hired someone who quit within  a couple of weeks? Or joined a company only  

to discover that it is very different from  what you expected? These are signs of talent  

acquisition gone wrong. Hi, I’m Erik van  Vulpen and in this HR Deep Dive you will  

learn what talent acquisition is, what the process  looks like, and how you can avoid making some of  

these mistakes. But before we dive into the  content, let me start by telling you a joke.

An HR manager, her name is Cindy, gets hit  by a bus and tragically dies. Her soul meets  

Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates. Saint  Peter welcomes her and asks Cindy if  

she wants to spend an eternity in heaven or  in hell. But, before she can make a choice,  

Peter tells her that she will take a tour  to see where she will feel most at home.

During the tour, Cindy learns that  heaven is nice – but a bit of a boring  

place that involves a lot of playing  the harp and singing. Hell, however,  

has a golf course and a country  club with lobster for dinner. And,  

all her friends are there as well, dressed in  trendy clothes, laughing, eating, and having fun.

At the end of the tour, Cindy meets Saint  Peter again, and Peter asks her if she  

made up her mind. "Yes", Cindy says, "Heaven  seems nice and all, but all my friends are  

partying in hell and it looks like a lot of  fun!" Saint Peter nods, and sends her down.

When Cindy returns to hell, she finds herself  standing in a desolate wasteland covered in  

garbage and filth. She sees her friends dressed  in rags and picking up garbage and putting it  

in sacks for the evening meal. The Devil  comes up to her and put his arm around her  

and laughs. "I don't understand," stammers Cindy.  "Earlier I was here and there was a golf course  

and a country club and we ate lobster and we  danced and had a great time. Now all there is,  

is a wasteland of garbage and all my friends  look miserable." The Devil looks at her, grins,  

and says: "That's because yesterday we were  recruiting you... but today you're staff."

This is obviously a joke but it does show  why recruiting is often referred to as ‘the  

happy side of HR’. So, how do you make sure  that your talent acquisition practices don’t  

create a similar experience for your newly  hired employees? Before we get to that,  

let’s first examine what talent acquisition is  and take a look at an end-to-end hiring process!

The company we will follow is called  Trellogs, a fashion retailer. At Trellogs,  

Isa is the talent acquisition specialist, and  Johnny is heading the marketing department.  

Our story starts with Johnny, who is the  hiring manager. Isa will come in later.

Johnny’s team is busy and overworked, so he  is looking to hire extra help. The first step  

is for Johnny to understand what role he needs  to create. This phase is called job analysis,  

which involves talking to his team to  collect information on the new role.  

I could make a whole separate video on  the job analysis step but it boils down  

to identifying the activities in the  job as well as the knowledge, skills,  

abilities, and other characteristics, also  known as KSAOs, that the hire needs to be  

successful. Once Johnny is done with the job  analysis, he has the job specification, which  

is essentially the list of KSAOs the candidate  needs to be successful in their new role.

Now I mentioned the word twice already.  Let’s zoom in on what KSAOs are because  

they form the basis for all the steps  in the talent acquisition process. 

First: knowledge. What knowledge does a candidate  need? Do they need a bachelor’s in marketing, or  

at least 5 years of relevant experience? How well  do they need to know your particular industry?  

Knowledge is often easy to identify in a resume. Next, what skills does the candidate need? Do they  

need to create ads, manage social media accounts,  or do something entirely different? Skills are  

often easy to assess in a work test. Then you have Abilities. Abilities  

are more innate. Some people have a  great eye for design. I, personally,  

don’t; If I make a PowerPoint presentation, it  looks absolutely horrible – but I am a good writer  

and I am very organized. These abilities  can be explored in a structured interview. 

And finally, you have other characteristics. What  personality traits are you looking for? Will the  

role be very dynamic and unpredictable?  Then maybe a more extroverted candidate  

may be a better fit. And are you looking for a  highly-creative thinker or a more detail-oriented  

person? This requires making decisions on  what the ideal candidate will look like. 

These KSAOs are the basis for everything  in your talent acquisition process and they  

will guide the recruiter and hiring  manager to find the right candidate.

Let’s now take a look at Isa, our  talent acquisition specialist.

“I sit with Johnny after he has completed the  job requisition process. The job requisition  

is the formal request to create a new position  in the company. As a talent acquisition team,  

we need to have the job formally  approved in order to start hiring.

My vacancy intake meeting is perhaps  the most important meeting in the entire  

process. During this meeting, I will ask Johnny  the hard questions. It is easy for him to define  

a job, but I actually need to find the person,  so I will ask specific questions that help me  

find and select the right candidate. For example,  if candidates need both a bachelor's in marketing  

and five years of experience, which one is  more important? These kinds of questions  

help me find the right profile. After my  conversation, I publish the job vacancy.

Candidates can either apply on their own,  

or I reach out to them through what we  call sourcing. When I source candidates,  

I make a list of candidates using LinkedIn. I  then double-check their profiles with Johnny  

to make sure I’m finding the right people, and  then I reach out to them. I sometimes also look  

for internal candidates, who are looking  for a different role inside the company.

Once we have enough candidates, I do the  selection. In my screening calls, I check if  

candidates meet the required KSAOs and if their  salary expectations match what the company can  

offer. My goal is to create a diverse slate of  candidates that I can present to the manager.

Next, I decide to like this video  and subscribe to this channel

Johnny then interviews the top candidates. For  more senior roles, I usually advise Johnny to give  

candidates an assessment, so we have more data  and can make a more informed choice. Johnny really  

likes Norma, so I do a reference check. Everything  checks out so I call Norma to make her an offer.

Norma didn’t make it easy for me. She got a  competing offer from another company so we  

had some back and forths. Finally, she decided  to accept our offer and she signed the contract.  

She will start in two weeks. When her onboarding  starts, I will call her to check how things are  

going, evaluate the hiring process, and to see  if the job and company culture are in line with  

what she was expecting. If there is a mismatch  in expectations, we need to know it as soon  

as possible so we can resolve it for Norma ánd  make sure that will not happen again. For Norma,  

I am confident she will like the job. Johnny was  so impressed by her that he suggested that she may  

be a good person to take over from him as a  manager when he retires in a couple of years,  

so who knows. Anyway, I’m very happy we closed  Norma and I cannot wait until she gets started!

This is a story of a very successful hire and a  great collaboration between Hiring Manager Johnny,  

and Isa. The collaboration works well because  Isa has all the skills she needs to be effective  

at talent acquisition. Let’s dive into what  those skills are, and what they look like.

A talent acquisition specialist like  Isa needs operational, tactical,  

and strategic skills to be effective.  Operational skills include communication,  

coordination with stakeholders like the  hiring manager and candidates, sourcing,  

running effective meetings, fostering long-term  relationships with candidates, and managing the  

applicant tracking system, or ATS. Tactical  skills include running the job intake,  

determining selection criteria, designing  job descriptions and screening questions,  

evaluating candidates, running various employer  branding initiatives, and recruitment marketing.  

Finally, strategic skills include designing a  talent acquisition strategy, forecasting hiring  

based on business needs, and building a talent  acquisition and employer branding strategy.

Let’s zoom in on three essential components  of talent acquisition that help to attract  

and retain top talent. These are the employee  value proposition, the employer brand, and the  

employee promise. Each of these influence how  the organization presents itself to prospective  

and current employees. Nailing these three  is crucial to long-term recruiting success.

First, we have the employer brand. The  employer brand is the organization’s  

reputation of the organization as an  employer. When you hear “Microsoft”,  

you may think of innovation, high-impact work,  and generous compensation. Great employer brands  

are aligned with the organization’s mission,  vision, and values. Companies like Google,  

Hubspot, NVidea, and Spotify have  excellent employer brands that help  

them attract people. If a recruiter from one  of these companies approaches a candidate,  

they are much more likely to say “yes” compared  to most other companies. This reputation is the  

employer brand. Your employer brand is part  of your employee value proposition, or EVP.

The EVP is the offerings, experiences,  and rewards that the employer offers.  

It answers the question, “Why should I  work for this company?” and “Why should  

I stay at this company?” For a company  like Google, this may be the salary,  

working conditions, challenging projects, an  opportunity to make an impact on the world,  

but also secondary benefits like health  insurance, stock options, a company car,  

sports facilities, parental leave, and extra  holidays. Together, your EVP and employer  

brand create a compelling reason for people  to join you, which helps you attract talent.

The employer brand and employee value proposition  also create expectations. This is the employee  

promise. The employee promise is the commitment  an organization makes about what employees can  

expect from the organization. That is where at the  very beginning Cindy was tricked by the devil. She  

was promised fun and games, and lobster for  dinner but when it came to reality, Cindy was  

disappointed. Hell did not deliver on its employee  promise and if it was any other organization,  

Cindy would quickly leave and try her luck at a  different place. That is how talent acquisition  

not only helps attract people but can also set  people up to stay at the company for a long time.

Now I have a favor to ask you. 83% of the people  who watch our videos haven’t yet hit the subscribe  

button yet. The bigger our YouTube audience gets,  the more videos like these I can create for you

so if you enjoyed this video,  please hit the subscribe button.

And there you have it. You now know more  about the talent acquisition process,  

the skills you need to stand out in talent  acquisition, and the things an organization  

can do to attract talent. You also know the best  HR joke that I know. You should try it at a party!