"Talent acquisition is important because the right people with the right skill sets, sitting in the right seats on the bus, will drive an effective and efficient product or service for an organization." - Joe Marino, Hueman Executive Vice President, Business Development

A TA strategy combines the long-term objectives of the talent acquisition function with the key initiatives of a business. As technology and the job market continue to develop, talent acquisition continues to grow. By combining these two fundamental aspects of talent acquisition, your organization will successfully achieve its objective: to find the ideal candidate for a job.

Here are five key elements to creating the ultimate talent acquisition strategy for your business:

Have a recruitment process in place.

A recruitment process is a key foundational element of a strong talent acquisition strategy. There is a lot of strategy and moving pieces that go into developing a successful recruitment process. So much, that there's no way we could fit it all in one blog! Refer to this eBook, our World-Class Recruitment Guide, to help you learn all of the elements you need to build the perfect recruitment process from scratch.

Your recruiters should think like marketers.

For recruiters to be successful in a time where candidates aren't actively seeking out jobs, they must think like marketers. Why? According to TalentNow, 73 percent of candidates are passive job seekers. This means the recruiter needs to be intentional in their candidate targeting, starting with an effort to understand and relate to the audience they are going to target. It requires developing a candidate persona to define the ideal candidate a recruiter should be looking for. This also translates to utilizing social media and email marketing resources, such as MailChimp.

Ensure your recruiters have access to sophisticated recruitment technology.

For recruiters to think and act like marketers, they need access to the best technology and applicant tracking systems (ATS). These two software solutions allow your recruiters to have access to candidate data that is organized and easily searchable, all in one place (among other features such as reporting). 

Leverage digital recruitment marketing to drive applicants to your jobs.

According to a 2018 report on internet trends, adults average 5.9 hours a day on digital media. Take advantage of all of that screen time to showcase your company's culture and environment on social media platforms. However, make sure your online experience for candidates is seamless and intuitive because it's likely that they will be filling out job applications on their smartphones.

Want to attract more applications to an open posting? Invest in job advertisements on websites that would attract the candidate persona you are looking for, as well.

Report your results and refine your strategy.

Your recruitment strategies should be easily measurable — you can't measure what you can't track. What is your average cost per hire? What's your average time to fill? You must establish quantifiable goals!

Most ATS and job posting platforms, such as Indeed, offer tools and reports that help you analyze your performance. Use them! You can't improve if you don't know what issues are present. 

Building a solid foundation for your talent acquisition strategy is critical.

Without a good foundation, the structure you build will never be able to stand tall. Incorporate the five key elements from this article to ensure you build a strong talent acquisition strategy and find the best candidates.

For more help building your strategy, download our World-Class Recruiting Guide.