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Spring 2012
Strategic Advisory & Research for HCM
FIVE STRATEGIC TRENDS
IN TALENT ACQUISITION
About the Author
Sarah White is
the Founder
of Accelir, a
Strategy
Advisory Firm
focused on
integration of
technology
and human
resource
strategies. Sarah has more than a decade in
the human capital space as a practitioner,
vendor executive, analyst and advisor.
She works with corporate HR as well as
vendor teams looking to gain a better
understanding of how a solid strategy, the
right technology & emerging media can
improve their hiring and retention practices.
Talent acquisition has seen great growth in both scope and
maturity over the last decade. Once a small segment of
human resources and an entry point for new HR
professionals seeking to become generalists, the field has
evolved into a stand-alone business function in many
organizations — partnering with human resources, as well as
other functions and lines of business, as an equal.
The increase in attention signifies an acknowledgment that
organizations must be able to hire talented people — quickly
— to achieve any strategic goal. And recent research
indicates that the emphasis on talent acquisition will continue
to grow, with 63 percent of organizations expecting economic
improvements to enable more hiring. The top three recruiting
challenges cited are finding good candidates, filling positions
quickly and engaging hiring managers.
This paper identifies the top five trends that you can embrace
in your recruitment process and culture to align with
recruitment organizations considered to be best in class.
Each trend was identified based on quantitative and
qualitative research completed over the last few months from
business leaders, candidates and talent acquisition
professionals.

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Trend 1: Consumerization of Technology
The tools and techniques driving information technology are increasingly
likely to emerge little by little in consumer-oriented products, such as
smart phones and inexpensive software applications, as opposed to
sweeping enterprise-oriented solutions. This trend, which industry
watchers call “consumerization,” has been a bit slower to reach talent
acquisition technology than other segments of the IT marketplace, but
shifts toward app-based design and mobile devices are expected to pick
up speed over the next three years.
App Based Products
While many analysts and vendors have pushed buyers toward
integrated talent-management technology, the innovation and product
depth has not come as quickly as it did in the next generation of vendors
focused on one small sub-segment of the marketplace. As a result,
many recruiters and human resource professionals hesitate to abandon
their best-in-class stand-alone solutions that are producing results,
instead buying a number of solutions that simply integrate or interface
with their core solution.
The shift in technology expectations means
the core application tracking system (ATS) will
emerge as a hub for multiple plug in play products.
This next generation of products — such as recruiting candidaterelationship management (CRM) tools, talent networks, videointerviewing, social collaboration and various sourcing technologies —
add a specific depth of functionality and interact with applicant tracking
systems in ways that only background-checking and pre-hire
assessment providers did in the past.
Such additions are increasingly affordable, accessible (thanks to cloud
technology) and capable of integrating with core systems from different
vendors. Organizations often can buy them out of departmental budgets,
avoiding more complicated purchase-review processes.
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Mobile Technology
Conversations about mobile technology in talent acquisition have come
a long way. Just two years ago, the focus was on basics like SMS and
texting. Today the space also encompasses a constantly growing array
of options for feature phones, smart phones and tablets.
The rapid growth of the tablet market, such as iPad and Kindle Fire, is
changing how we view the mobile workforce and with some analysts
anticipating tablets outselling traditional laptops by the end of the
decade - mobile a vital part of any talent acquisition strategy. Already,
some of the start-up hr technology providers are building products for
mobile devices first, and then developing the SaaS look and feel for
desktop and laptop users.
We expect to see technology products emerging in the talent acquisition
space with functionality that is equally as robust as in the standard
software. Collaboration, accessibility and actionable design are key for
recruiters, candidates and hiring managers.
Trend 2: Adoption of Marketing Techniques
Over the last 18 months we have watched market leaders in sourcing
and recruitment shift toward strategies traditionally deployed only in a
consumer-marketing environment. There is a fresh awareness of and
emphasis on employment branding and the potential of utilizing
everyone and everything to promote an organization.
Corporate
marketing tools are being used to approach the recruitment team’s main
consumers — job candidates, future candidates and anyone who may
refer candidates.
The renewed focus on employment branding is causing organizations of
all sizes to take a closer look at how their organizations are represented
as employers. Effectively communicating an employment brand among
various sources has proven to be a challenge for even the most
advanced organizations, but it is a skill worth mastering. Its importance
to among job seekers considering your organization is only going to
increase as more companies do it.
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Consumer Marketing Tools
Practitioner Note:
A consumer marketing
approach can seem
intimidating at first.
Partner with your
marketing team for
basics. Simple and
direct is often most
successful in
recruitment marketing.
Just as organizations have been using them in corporate marketing for
brand awareness, lead generation and sales — consumer-marketing
tools will soon find a place in recruiters’ toolboxes. Some of the web
focused solutions, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), pay-per-click
advertising, social media, email marketing, micro sites and free onlinead placement are already being utilized by best in class recruiting
organizations as they work to fill high-volume and niche positions.
Traditionally, many corporate human resource departments relied on
recruitment marketing agencies or internal marketing teams to facilitate
their efforts at an expense that often made the return on investment
unattainable for many organizations.
Recruitment Marketing Platforms
Though still in their adolescence, these ATS/TMS vendor-neutral
solutions have improved significantly in the past 18 months. Now
offering organizations much more depth in user experience,
marketing reach, business analytics and cost efficiency.
These solutions focus on exposing your opening to people that would
likely never have seen it on your corporate website or traditional job
board. Similar to the job distribution technology found in many
applicant tracking systems, this generation of recruitment marketing
platforms will enable standard job board posts, but it will also give
marketing intelligence, smart social networking distribution and deep
access to websites you didn’t even know your candidates visited. The
most advanced solutions also allow you to develop customized
career sites and measurable, unique landing pages to give each
candidate group a unique, customized experience.
The end results of using a recruitment-marketing platform are
sourcing analytics that can’t be beat and a single system that works
across all channels to funnel candidates and recruits back to one
centralized location (your ATS, recruiting CRM, etc) and allowing
organizations to market and manage prospects in a talent network.
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Trend 3: Proactive Sourcing
Practitioner Note:
Sourcing is evolving
into a core
competency that all
recruiters need to
understand and be
able to execute.
U.S. unemployment rates are at some of the highest levels in history,
but somehow sourcing quality candidates who have the necessary skills,
education and training and who fit in with the corporate culture seems as
though it has never been harder.
While recruiters have expressed concern about sourcing candidates at
all levels, the Talent Technology survey identified executive (senior
management, not C-level) and skilled positions (manufacturing, trade,
etc) as the most difficult; participants cited entry-level and administrative
roles as easiest.
Though it has long been a task for specialists, sourcing is an area where
recruiters are spending more time than ever. The same survey found
that the average recruiter was spending 15 hours a week (37 percent of
his or her time) on sourcing.
This substantial amount of time is contributing to the third trend in talent
acquisition: simplified yet strategic sourcing. The days of the post-andwait strategy have ended. Recruiters are now using the Web, online
databases and their internal CRM or applicant tracking systems more
strategically to identify candidates faster and more intelligently than ever
before.
Deep Web/Integrated Search
Relatively few integrated search products currently exist in the HR
technology ecosystem, but more are on the horizon. The products
already released allow a recruiter or sourcer to log into one system and
search all deep Web sites, password-protected sites (social network, job
boards, etc) and internal databases (ATS, CRM, HRIS, etc) from one
centralized tool. Users can track results, saving search strings and
working more efficiently.
Some products will even allow for recruiters not trained in Boolean
search to write requirements in natural language - limiting the training
and learning curve required for standard deep web searching.
Even with advancements in user experience, it takes time for
practitioners to learn to manage and source multiple access points
properly. Advanced techniques, such as working with complex Boolean
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strings, take skill and practice to master. If an organization’s needs are
complicated, the job of translating those needs into a sophisticated
search of multiple sources can be overwhelming, leaving valuable
resources untouched.
Linkedin is a great example of
something that can fall to the way side
when recruiters are overwhelmed. In
the Talent Technology Corporation’s
survey while a majority of recruiters
surveyed have a presence on Linkedin,
roughly 40 percent fail to use the site
for.
Not actively sourcing, going out
and proactively searching for
candidates that haven’t applied to the
company, leave untold numbers of
potential candidates on the table.
Potentially increasing both time and
cost to hire.
Talent Networks
Strategic sourcing has long been associated with building talent
pipelines or pools to maintain a network of prospects for positions that
may open because of a strategic hire or high turnover. Of late, the
conversation has shifted toward talent communities, also known as
talent networks. These networks allow potential job candidates to opt in
or be added by a strategic recruiting team to specialized groups that
match their skill sets or career goals versus the responsibility being on a
recruiter or sourcer to opt them in.
While you can create talent networks manually, most organizations are
turning to Talent Relationship Management or Recruiting Candidate
Relationship Management (Recruiting CRM) tools. Such tools make it
easier to track, manage and search these networks properly. The
concept isn’t new, but the industry specific technology designed to
execute it is far newer than most traditional ATS solutions.
These tools roll up traditional candidate relationship management
functionality, email marketing, talent pools and advanced searching
techniques into one process designed with the recruiting process in
mind. Sitting in front of a traditional ATS, you can look strategically at
your current employees, alumni, current and former applicants, referrals,
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future recruits and other people who aren’t ready to apply, but want to
be notified if an opportunity arises that matches their skills.
You can organize these prospects in folders, or networks, that spotlight
what they have in common. When an opening arises, groupings are
ready to contact directly or target with a marketing campaign that invites
network members to update their résumés, apply again or even conduct
a video interview.
Large, global organizations like AT&T talk frequently about the success
they have had in filling openings at all levels after implementing a talent
community, but the strategy isn’t just for big companies. Small to mid
market organizations are finding the value in maintaining networks of
prospects to tap when openings arise, often saving money by filling a
position with a quality candidate sooner, not letting a key seat sit open.
Trend 4: Candidate Experience
Over the last 18 months we have seen more interest than ever before —
from organizations of all sizes — in making sure job candidates have a
positive experience. Organizations recognize the reality that attracting
candidates through marketing or networking is where some of the hard
work of talent acquisition begins, not where it ends. Providing a positive
experience, active engagement and “wooing” candidates is becoming a
standard - particularly as we look forward to increases in hiring. Only 12
percent of recruiters who participated in the Talent Technology survey
thought it would be easy to rehire for positions that had been downsized
over the past 18 months.
Pre-Applicant Phase
Before applying for a role, candidates seek a solid understanding of your
organization and what it is like to work there. Recognizing that static
career sites offering only basic information does not satisfy prospects
curiosity, many companies are building and directing candidates to
dynamic micro sites that target distinct sub segments of the market
(recent graduates, veterans, executives, etc.).
These micro sites often include videos, articles or event blog posts by
current employees doing the types of roles they may be interested in
exploring. In addition, detailed descriptions of the company’s culture,
how the hiring process works and a clear understanding of benefits —
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especially the ones that are unique to the organization makes a
difference to passive candidates. Prospects at this stage are paying
attention not only to the information they actively seek, but also to the
general information that an organization chooses not to divulge.
Candidate Capture
Practitioner Note:
Passive candidates
will often over have a
social profile, like
Linkedin vs a
Traditional resume.
Use a solution that will
allow them to use that
to apply or enter your
talent network.
For many organizations in the late 1990s and 2000s, the goal during
candidate capture was to gather as much information as possible
upfront — regardless of how long it took. This strategy resulted in online
applications that took candidates 45 minutes or more to complete. The
candidates willing to go through that process were generally active job
seekers. Lost were passive candidates and referrals who were already
employed in similar roles — because, while perhaps interested, they
weren’t interested enough to jump through so many hoops before
finding out enough about the position and company to take the risk.
Today’s trend is to request the information you need in a way that is
easy to provide. For an applicant, that might mean a résumé or profile
upload and answers to a few questions. For a talent network/community
member, it would likely mean basic information that will let you continue
to market and engage that person for future openings.
For an employed workers, or passive candidate, it’s far more common
for them to have only a Linkedin profile, as opposed to a traditional
résumé now. Best practices suggest designing application process
requiring 10 minutes or less - the new CRM or talent networking
systems are developed for basic candidate capture in less than three
minutes.
Post Application
After applications are in, the talent acquisition process involves three
types of people: those who aren’t qualified, those who are qualified but
don’t make it through the process, and those whom you hire. Each type
needs to be addressed and any technology you use should make that
simple and painless.
For candidates who aren’t qualified, they often are equally has happy
just to know they are no longer being considered, it is the “black hole”
effect that tends to have the most negative response. In the 2011
Candidate Experience Awards Survey of more than 8,500 candidates,
the top complaint was employer’s failure to communicate their status.
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While important for those that are not qualified for the role, it is vital for
those who have had an interview. The effects of good marketing can
easily be reversed for employers who handle this phase poorly and
provide a negative candidate experience.
Trend 5: Proving Return on Investment (ROI)
HR professionals in general and specifically those in talent acquisition
are becoming strategic partners with business leaders in many
organizations. Quantifiable metrics and outcomes are expected to
determine how corporate budgets — of both money and time — should
be spent. Every part of the sourcing or recruiting process should be
measurable so that organizations can evaluate returns on investment
(ROI).
Different talent acquisition methods have different potential outcomes.
For example, part of the ROI of a particular marketing or socialnetworking process might be improved brand awareness, whereas the
outcome of a job board posting might simply be the number of
applicants or hires.
Recruitment marketing platforms, as well as some of the more strategic
applicant tracking systems, can routinely gather certain information and
come equipped with an array of analytics and reports that users can run
in tracking that information.
Perhaps the most important business metrics is the ROI of a particular
talent acquisition source. Combined with next-generation source
tracking you can quickly and easily see how each source is performing
at each stage. Compared to traditional source of candidate, self select
drop down option, the next generation source tracking using custom
code during posting distribution so the ATS or other system can ‘read’
exactly where the candidate came from when they clicked over to apply.
This information can help you to determine which efforts provide the
greatest benefit for various work groups or lines of business and how
time and money should be spent going forward.
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Conclusion
Strategic talent acquisition has evolved from simply filling an open
position, to partnering with multiple disciplines across an organization.
Today’s strategic talent acquisition role encompasses branding,
marketing, networking, sourcing and business analytics as well as the
traditional interview and selection responsibilities.
While companies cannot expect to develop expertise in all of these
disciplines overnight, recruitment platforms of tomorrow are already
rolling out to help companies accelerate their processes and plans more
efficiently.
By studying the business trends discussed in this paper, organizations
of all sizes can gain insights that will help them to streamline and
enhance their current processes, choose the tools best suited to their
needs, and build the best possible talent acquisition teams.
For talent acquisition and human resource leaders, building awareness
of the industry and business trends that are driving decisions in best-ofclass organizations can help to guide both short-term and long-term
efforts and investments.
Report Underwritten By Talemetry. The Talemetry Talent Generation suite is
designed to help organizations find, attract, and engage the best talent available,
faster and cheaper than ever before. Talemetry allows organizations to source
candidates to build talent networks, conduct efficient and effective recruitment
marketing, and strengthen candidate engagement, all from a single platform.
For more information about Talemetry, visits www.talenttech.com or follow us on
twitter @talenttechcorp
Report By Accelir. Accelir is an Independent Analyst and Strategic Advisory firm
for human capital with a focus around Talent Acquisition - From Sourcing to
Succession. We conduct industry research, strategic advisory and consulting
services to corporate recruiting teams to promote a stronger understanding and
execution of strategic talent planning. Our members include corporate human
resource teams as well as vendors both looking to accelerate their current
strategies around product, process and market education. Learn more about us at
Accelir.com
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