6 challenges

6 Challenges and Solutions in Talent Acquisition

User Profile
By Derrick Ryskamp

Director, Enterprise Sales

Ways to Improve Your Talent Acquisition Approach

If you are seeking to hire qualified job candidates, then you already know the pain points associated with the recruitment task at hand. As unfilled job positions and lackluster hires can cost your organization tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on just one hire, HR and TA teams are facing increased pressure to find suitable talent.

To help improve your recruitment strategy and candidate quality, here are six proven solutions that can help to mitigate common talent acquisition challenges.

  1. Focus on your 5 Cs

Challenge: Due to the incredibly competitive labor market, your organization needs to identify the right recruitment strategies to attract and hire top talent.

Solution: Enhance and advertise your 5 Cs:

  1. Credibility: Good character and reputation
  2. Compensation: Competitive salary and benefits
  3. Culture: Shared mission, vision, and perks
  4. Commitment: Shared plan and strategy
  5. Challenge: Challenging yet achievable goals and outcome
  6. Utilize social media

Challenge: Hiring managers are forced to rely on saturated job boards and transaction-based recruiting agencies.

Solution: 86 percent of job seekers use social media in their job hunt to search for relevant jobs, apply to jobs directly, and engage with job-related content. Enhance your recruitment efforts on social media by using some of the following hashtags:

#jobopening  /  #nowhiring  /  #hiring  /  #jobsearch  /  #jobs  /  #careers  /  #employment

Related: Leveraging Social Media for Recruitment and Branding Efforts

  1. Lend help to overburdened HR teams

Challenge: HR departments are often overworked and understaffed, leading to hastily made last-minute recruitment, hiring, and onboarding decisions.

Solution: By finding the time to interview/onboard your candidate shortlist, you can:

  • Have honest and upfront conversations
  • Set reasonable expectations
  • Express your culture during onboarding
  • Establish a learning plan to expedite both employee understanding and production

If you don’t have the time for these critical tasks, consider partnering with a dedicated recruitment firm that does.

Related: [E-book] Interview Guide for Hiring Managers

  1. Experiment with different methods of engagement

Challenge: Recruiters are struggling to relate to their audience in the marketplace and/or can’t find the right “cultural alignment,” particularly with millennials and Gen Z.

Solution: By 2025, 75 percent of the global workforce is expected to be comprised of millennials. Currently, millennials prefer text messages over phone calls. The same goes for Gen Z. Ask yourself, “What do we know about managing millennials or other generations?” By catering to their preferred methods of communication, you’ll reap the benefits of greater recruitment success.

Related: What Millennials Want in the Workplace

Related: [E-book] How to Attract the Attention of Qualified Candidates in Your Job Posting

  1. Find a compensation balance

Challenge: Employers who choose to lean on the lighter side of the pay range experience more turnover and ultimately spend more time and resources on the hiring process.

Solution: The costs of recruiting, hiring, and onboarding—paired with those of unfilled or unsuccessful hires—often outweigh the cost of a high-quality hire. Weigh your hiring costs against your staffing costs and see how the numbers shake out. It’s better to spend $70K on a high-quality candidate than $100K to recruit, hire, fire, and replace a less effective employee.

Related: Wage Compression: What Is It, How Is It Caused, and How Can It Be Addressed?

  1. Create a valuable employer brand

Challenge: Companies tend to invest more time and effort in the recruiting process and not enough time on employee retention.

Solution: By more effectively balancing your time, you can focus on creating:

  • Compelling perks and incentives
  • Flexible hours or work arrangements
  • Generous PTO packages
  • Attractive 401k plans
  • Stock options
  • “Work to live” not “live to work”
  • A positive workplace culture

Related: How to Develop a Compelling Employee Value Proposition

Related: The Importance of a Strong Employee Value Proposition With Examples

Summary

While your organization may face its fair share of recruitment challenges, our six talent acquisition solutions can help to improve your overarching recruiting strategy. By leveraging these talent attraction tips, you can make a meaningful difference for your organization when scouring the candidate market. Whether your organization needs contingent workersfull-time hires, or payrolling services, our Acara team can help you tackle even the toughest of talent challenges.

Interested in learning more about why Acara is the right recruiting partner for your organization? Discover the Acara difference.

Get in touch with us