Growth Hack: Build Better Teams With A Modern Talent Acquisition Strategy

 

Unlock the secret to Modern Talent Acquisition and learn how to attract and retain top talent consistently!

Sure, you may have hired already…but is your process efficient?

Are you able to consistently hire A-Players and keep them? What are your turnover rates?

You may have found some needle-in-a-haystack talent, but are you prepared to repeat this process consistently as you scale?

 

At Castle HR, we work with growing companies that have been successful in hiring people but want to be able to confidently hand off their process to hiring managers.

Most business leaders don’t want to ‘wing it’ when finding talent, nor do they want to focus solely on a candidate’s qualifications and experience (that’s a more dated approach)…and rightfully so!

This is where the concept of a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy comes in.

This blog will share the critical components of a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy and how you can use one to attract top talent.

What is the ideal outcome of this modernized approach?: You’ll build a team of motivated, aligned people, retain them, and watch your business grow!

From crafting compelling job descriptions to developing effective interview practices to help eliminate bias, we’ll share how you can optimize your hiring process.

How can businesses improve their talent acquisition strategy?

Adopting a modern, strategic and repeatable process can help improve your talent acquisition strategy.

For some, talent acquisition means nothing more than using a job posting template, pinning it on a random job board, and hopefully finding a qualified candidate to fill a vacant role.

While this isn’t inherently incorrect, talent acquisition should go much deeper than hiring somebody who can – according to their resume – do a specific job.

To improve your talent acquisition strategy, you must hire people who closely align with your values, whose growth can be fostered within your organization, and who will contribute to your emerging (or already thriving) company culture.

Happy and aligned teams are often the most productive ones!

What is the goal of a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy?

Putting the spotlight on the applicant (rather than the company) is a modernized approach to talent acquisition!

The key to creating a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy is focusing on the individual and the mutually desired outcome. In most cases, this outcome would be for the candidate to work and grow at your company (and enjoy their job) and for you to add a top performer to your team for the long haul.

Overall, a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy looks to accomplish the following:

 1: Identify the right people

To attract (and retain) top talent, you first need to know who you’re looking for to fill seats at your company and know how to attract them.

This goes further than what qualifications and accomplishments they have on paper!

An education or former title is great, but it doesn’t guarantee that the candidate will align with your core values and mission. Keeping ‘modern’ in mind, you should refer to your company values when writing a job description for a role.

2: Put them in the right seat

When you find candidates who align with your values and are qualified for the job, you’ll be able to place them in the right seat at your company.

To get the right people in the right seats at your organization, your modernized approach will involve carefully crafted job descriptions and postings (written to resonate with the right people).

Part of a modern strategy also means implementing interview scorecards, looking for talent in the right places, and leveraging HR technology to streamline the hiring process and have a plan to ensure that each new hire is set for success.

What are the components of a Modern Talent Acquisition Strategy?

There are many moving parts to a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy, and they are:

• A job description crafted through the lens of your values will help you hire (the right) people who consistently align with them
• A job posting that speaks directly to your ideal candidate will help others self-disqualify and increase your chances of quality applicants landing in your inbox
• Sourcing candidates internally and externally through the right channels
• Developing an interview scorecard to create a repeatable and fair process, provide a positive experience for both candidates and interviewers and eliminate bias

Let’s dive a little deeper into each component…

What should be included in job descriptions?

Your job descriptions are the foundation of your entire hiring process and should be carefully crafted to ensure the right details are in place to help you hire the right candidate for each role.

You should start by knowing the expected outcomes of a role; this helps you understand the value this role adds to the company, which can help you understand who is required to fill that role.

As mentioned above, we often refer to the EOS term, ‘right people, right seats.’

To find the right person, you must first take adequate time to detail (at least 5)  key responsibilities and accountabilities of each role. This way, you’ll be confident that you’re putting the right person in the right seat.This will help in the hiring process and later on during your quarterly Modern Performance Reviews. During each review, you will assess your team based on their responsibilities and expected outcomes detailed in their job descriptions.

Additional information that should be included in your job descriptions includes:

• Compensation (pay, vacation, benefits, etc.)
• Start date
• Department
• The manager they will report to
• Hours of work
• Work location

Now that you have an understanding of what a job description is, and why it’s a critical component of your Modern Talent Acquisition strategy, you’ll be able to craft a job posting.

How to write a compelling job posting

You want your job posting to grab the attention of top talent whether they’re actively searching for a job or not. So, you should talk TO your ideal candidate and entice them. Make them want to learn more.

Why is this important? Consider this:

Imagine you’re on your first date with someone…and they talk non-stop about their life and accomplishments. You’re left wondering if they even care about what you have to offer.

Not the best first impression, right?

Job postings ramble on about the company and its accomplishments give off the same vibe.

That’s why when striving to craft a modern or ‘good’ job posting, it’s crucial to remember that people don’t care about your company…yet.

But, if you direct your job posting to them and present role details that entice them, they’ll soon be interested in learning why your company is amazing.

Speaking directly to your ideal candidate (your ‘right person’) will increase promising applications flooding your inbox. It’s also important to remember that a lot of top talent isn’t actively searching for a new job.This means you’ll not only want to appeal to them right away, but you should also refrain from complex application processes! A common friction point is when companies require cover letters or even use assessments for their application.

This can make top talent lose interest immediately, and you’ll miss out on potential A-Players.

Pro tip: Spending time reviewing LinkedIn is encouraged…many candidates have their resumes uploaded to LinkedIn and this can make the process easier for everyone!

To summarize…

A compelling job posting must build off of your job description.

It should include details about the role, mandatory requirements and ‘nice to have’ qualifications. You should craft your job posting with your ideal candidate in mind and speak directly to them. This can help candidates who aren’t the right fit self-disqualify and allow stronger candidates to send in their applications confidently.

Where should you source candidates from?

We are often asked, ‘Where can I find the best talent?’ and the answer isn’t as black and white as you might think!

There are many ways to source candidates once you have crafted a great job posting, but you must have a strategy to do so.

Depending on your industry and the role, you may want to use LinkedIn or a job search engine like Indeed.

Pssst! This is one of many ways our HR consultants can help you

!At Castle HR, our Employee Referral Program has been incredibly successful in sourcing candidates – in fact, we’re composed of 70% referred talent. So far, this has saved us approximately $280,000 in recruiting costs.

No matter what route you choose (and some businesses post on multiple job boards), you should be equipped with a detailed job posting and an interview strategy, too.

Should you use interview scorecards?

 

The short answer: yes, you should use interview scorecards!

The extended version: Decades of research have shown that unstructured interview processes aren’t doing businesses any favours. Although total perfection isn’t achievable, only hiring quality talent ~20% of the time is NOT ideal.

Think of it this way…

Imagine if you were to hire 10 people next year, and 8 of them turn out NOT to be top performers.

If each of these 8 employees were to be terminated, your cost of turnover would likely be $40K per person…that’s $320K total.

This would stall your growth significantly!

 

So, based on your current interview strategy, ask yourself: are you putting your team – and business – in the best position to succeed?

With a modern job description, you know who exactly who you’re looking for and what seat you’ll put them in, so you can design an interview scorecard to reflect that.

Our clients tell us that their entire process became more efficient and focused when they implemented interview scorecards.

Scorecards allow for a fair candidate evaluation – ultimately producing consistently strong hires at a much higher rate than 20%!

A repeatable, structured process pays off.

What are the benefits of having a Talent Acquisition strategy?

Having an organized and focused process can help your business run efficiently and scale quickly. With a modern approach to your Talent Acquisition strategy, you’ll focus on establishing a concise process – from job descriptions to interview scorecards– that will help you get the right people in the right seats. When you get those two right, it is hard not to be successful!

There are numerous benefits to establishing and implementing strategies at your business.

Here are a few reasons you’ll love having a modern Talent Acquisition strategy:

1. Measure twice, cut once – knowing who you need will save you time and money.
2. Delegate confidently – hiring managers will be successful with your streamlined process.
3. Better talent – leads to higher productivity, retention and faster growth!
4. Increase diversity – scorecards remove interview biases.

And, your team will love it, too…

How can teams benefit from better talent acquisition processes?

With a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy, you can carefully craft your job postings to resonate with the candidates you want, meaning you’ll build a strong, productive team with shared values and aligned goals.

Here are some reasons your team will benefit:

1. Set for success – your hiring managers will be put into a position to succeed
2. The candidate experience – they will enjoy the structured process!
3. The right people – value alignment is hugely important to your team.
4. The right seats – your top talent wants to work with other top talent.

Having a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy will make the lives of your current and future hiring managers and employees easier.

How can you leverage technology to improve talent acquisition?

Many Modern Talent Acquisition strategies leverage technology and data to make the hiring process seamless.

This can include HR-specific tools like Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). For example, at Castle HR, we use Collage. This platform has a built-in ATS, allowing for a hassle-free, streamlined hiring process.

Building and utilizing your HR Tech stack can help make all processes more efficient at your company! Additionally (as previously mentioned), online job boards and LinkedIn are great digital spaces to source candidates.

How can you prioritize and improve diversity in the talent acquisition process?

By creating compelling job descriptions and postings that resonate with your ideal candidates and implementing structured interview processes (and scorecards), you may help eliminate bias and promote diversity, equity and inclusion in your hiring process.

A Modern Talent Acquisition strategy is more efficient, data-driven, and focused on identifying and hiring the best candidates for the job.

How can talent acquisition contribute to retention?

When you can make great hires consistently – putting the right people in the right seats – you’ll build an aligned team.

You won’t only hire people based on qualifications but their values, goals, and ability to learn and grow as a member of your organization.

A Modern Talent Acquisition Strategy can make your business a talent magnet.

You will be able to attract the right people for your team and allow unsuitable applicants to stand out clearly (they will either self-disqualify or not pass their interview).

When you have a team of like-minded people working toward a common goal, you’ll develop a thriving culture that others will want to be a part of.

Game recognizes game…whether they are referred talent or somebody from a job board, as your Modern Talent Acquisition strategy evolves, it will become easier to find great people and retain them longer.

And, when you continuously integrate modern strategies (like a Modern Onboarding Playbook and Modern Performance Reviews) to keep your team feeling supported in their role, you’ll have a happier, more productive team. People who are happy at their jobs don’t typically look elsewhere!

When to seek help with your Talent Acquisition strategy.

Being proactive is best! Whether you’re looking to scale rapidly, have a small team, or anything in between, having a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy can be a growth hack and help your business succeed!

It has proven that asking brain teasers and putting people on the spot during unstructured interviews is considered old-school and won’t allow you to assess the skills and qualifications that matter.

If you’re using a dated approach, you might find your company has a high turnover rate, your company culture might be toxic, or you just aren’t getting the results you want from your team.

We aim to help you develop a Modern Talent Acquisition strategy to consistently get the right people in the right seats.

At Castle HR, we like to drink our own champagne!

We’ve spent a lot of time developing our Modern Talent Acquisition strategy, and we have helped dozens of business leaders do the same.

If you want to modernize and streamline your hiring process (and achieve high retention rates), we can help.

Book a call today.