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18 Best Talent Acquisition Strategies That Work

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One of the secrets of most Fortune 500 companies is that they are able to attract top talents to work in their organization. The truth is that aside from the standard operating processes, the key to building a successful organization lies in the quality of your employees. In essence, if you want to build a highly competitive organization, then you must be ready to attract and also keep a talented workforce.

Please note that money is not all that is needed to attract some of the best talents in your industry. Of course money is important but there are other key factors that talented employees look out for before pitching their tents with an organization, and you must be ready to put such factors in place.

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If you run an organization and you want to be among the top players in your industry, then here are the best talent acquisition strategies that you can adapt for your organization.

  1. Catch Them Young

One of the best talent acquisition strategies that most employers adopt, especially those that don’t have the money to compete with big fishes in their industry is to catch them young. By catching them young, I mean going right to their campuses to recruit them. Of course, all the employees that eventually became experts were once students with their talents unexplored. All you need to do to leverage on this strategy is to partner with higher institutions in and around the location where your company has active presence so as to invite students with certain grades to an interview prior to their graduation. With that, you can attract some talents that will start their career in your organization before moving on after they have put in some years building your organization.

  1. Attend Job Fairs

Another talent acquisition strategy that works is recruiting talents via job fairs. Job fairs can be local, national and international. If you run a small business, you can leverage on local job fairs to recruit talented workers for your organization. If your organization has a national spread, then attending national job fairs will cut it for you, and if you run a multinational company, then attending international job fairs is just the ideal way to go. One good thing about job fairs is that you stand the chance of interviewing loads of people at very minimal cost. At job fairs, you will come across a lot of talented applicants that came at their own expense.

Advertising for vacant positions in an organization is perhaps one of the most common ways of attracting talents to your organization. All you need to do to make this strategy work well for you is to ensure that you clearly communicate what you are looking for so that only those that are qualified can apply. The next stage is to ensure that your screening process is top-notch so as to recruit only talented employees.

  1. Leverage on Referrals for Professionals 

Leveraging on referrals from professionals is yet another talent acquisition strategy that works. You can ask your professional colleagues and even employees to give you referrals for talented applicants who are suitable for the kind of organization you run.

  1. Create a Conducive Work Environment

It is one thing to attract talented employees, but it is another thing to retain them. The truth is that you can succeed in recruiting top talents into your organization and if you don’t have a conducive work environment, the workers will definitely move on to another organization. In essence, if you are looking for a talent acquisition strategy that works, then you must be ready to create a conducive work environment; an environment that has reliable work tools and organizational structure.

  1. Invest on Employer Branding

Another best talent acquisition strategy that has been adopted by top flight organizations is investing in building your organization’s brand. The truth is that if your organization is known to be amongst the top brands in your industry, talented employees will naturally want to work for your organization. A strategy that will help you convince talented employees to join your organization is by focusing on employer branding. A strong employer branding program can help candidates better understand what it may be like to work for your company. It’s not always just about compensation and benefits. An interview session is one of the opportunities that you have to explain your corporate culture, your values, and how you approach work-life balance.

  1. Pay Competitive Salary and Allowances

There is a saying that goes thus; ‘if you pay peanuts, you are going to attract monkeys to work for you’. This goes to show that if you want to attract talented employees to work in your organization, then you must be willing to pay competitive salaries and allowances. Come to think of it, top of the list why people work is to earn money, and more money will surely help you attract and keep some of the best hands in your industry. In essence, if you want to compete for talented employees in your industry, then you must be willing to pay good pay and allowances.

  1. Invest in Training Your Employees

Another talent acquisition strategy that works is to ensure that you train your employees. Come to think of it, no employee, especially freshers, will turn down the opportunity to attend training programs on the expense of the organization. The truth is that one of the things that applicants look for before choosing to work for an organization is the training programs that is available in the organization. There are loads of employees who may decide to choose a less paying job that has overseas training opportunities as part of the employment package.

  1. Create Competitive Employee Package

Aside from good salary structure, another important factor that will help you attract some of the best talents in your industry to work for your organization is to ensure that you create competitive employee package. A competitive employee package is made up of comprehensive medical insurance covers for your employees and their immediate family members, leave allowance, vacations, loans, bonuses and profit sharing amongst others.

  1. Hire Employees Full Time/Long Term

Another good talent acquisition strategy that works is to ensure that you only hire long term employees. You must ensure that you clearly state this when you call in for applications. The truth is that you may find it difficult to get talented employees to pick up employment in your organization if they know that is not a full time/long term job. The reason why people prefer full-time employment is that it gives them the opportunity to build a career and gather the required job experience needed to grow in their career.

  1. There Should Be Room for Career Development and Growth in Your Organization

If you want to attract top flight employees in your organization, then one of your selling points should be to have room for career development and growth in your organization. A talented employee can enter your organization as a trainee and grow to a managerial position in record time if they meet the requirements in your organization. Trust me, there are a good number of talented employees that will consider this offer when choosing the organization to work for as against the salary they are to earn.

  1. Salaries Should Be Reviewed at Regular Intervals

It is one thing to attract talented employees and it is entirely another kettle of fish to retain them. The truth is that it is difficult to keep talented employees in your organization if you don’t review salaries regularly. Your employees should be assured that their salaries will be reviewed yearly, bi -annually or within a defined period. So, if indeed you want to attract talented employees to work for you, then you must ensure that salaries are reviewed upward at regular intervals in your organization.

  1. Adopt A Mobile Friendly Application Process

Another good talent acquisition strategy to adopt is a mobile friendly application process. In this dispensation, employees are very internet savvy and would want to go with any employer who adopts a mobile friendly application process as against employers that adopt a long and stressful application process.

  1. Poach Talented Employees from Your Competitors

Poaching talented employees from your competitors is yet another way to acquire talented employees. Poaching employees is all about talking to talented employees to join your organization. Please note that you should be ready to pay more and perhaps offer a higher position if you will be successful in convincing a talented employee to leave an employer to join your organization especially when they are comfortable where they are.

  1. Review Your Standard Operating Process on a Regular Basis 

Every talented employee would love to work in an organization that adopts international best practices. If a talented employee knows that his/her organization is amongst the top players in their industry, they will hardly source for employment offers from their competitors. So, part of what you need to attract talented employees in your organization is to ensure that you review your standard operating processes on a regular basis and adopt international best practices within your industry.

  1. Your Recruiters and Human Resource Guys Should Be Well Trained

Another reliable talent acquisition strategy that works is to invest money in training your recruiters and human resource guys to know how to spot a talented employee in the multitude. The truth is that there are people that are gifted with the ability to spot talents in its raw stage and these are the kind of people you need in your recruitment team if indeed you want to hire talented employees in your organization.

  1. Organize Reality Shows

Yet another thing you may want to consider is to organize a reality show that can gather the best talents in the land. An example of such a talent show is ‘The Apprentice’ by Donald Trump. The show attracted a whole lot of entries and in the end the best emerged as the winner. You too may consider starting a reality show like this. One of the major advantages of this process is that it makes the best talents emerge and eventually they are supported.

  1. Open your Doors to Interns

Yet another way to gather talents is by opening your doors to interns. You can organize a system where interns are allowed to come in and in the process the best talents are picked for whatever purposes they are needed for.

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