Staying Ahead of the Talent Acquisition Curve

In 2019, it’s a challenging recruitment picture for employers in virtually every industry. With unemployment at a sustained low – 3.8 percent nationwide in March of this year – you’re vying to attract top talent in a market owned by candidates. And then there’s the issue of retention – because with low unemployment comes turnover. Add AI and other new technology to the picture, and it’s enough to keep you up at night as you ponder the best way to deal with it all.

The bottom line is: You need to ensure a top-notch experience for both potential hires and current members of your workforce. How do you optimize your HR services and strategy and avoid the talent acquisition panic?

Customers are value driven – and employees are customers.

The right cultural match is the driving force in successful talent acquisition, management and retention. Both candidates and employees are well aware of not only your company’s consumer brand communications, but also your status as a corporate neighbor, the causes and charities you support, and the way you treat partners, contractors and other stakeholders. In a nutshell, people want to be part of organizations that share their values.

Become an institution of trust. People won’t soon forget how many prominent companies have betrayed this trust in high-profile ways. If you want longstanding relationships with your team members, demonstrate that you actively believe in and embrace the issues that are most important to them. For more ideas on building a culture of trust check out the Great Place to Work report “Connecting People and Purpose: 7 Ways High-Trust Organizations Retain Talent”.

Know how to make data work for you.

Data-driven insights are critical in HR – as long as they don’t focus solely on cost savings. Of course, you have to balance the budget. But don’t lose sight of making real, substantive human capital improvements that will improve the candidate and employee experience.

Emphasize qualitative analysis rather than simply crunching numbers. Insights alone don’t lead to positive change. It’s all about what you do with those insights. For instance, you may assume many people choose to leave their jobs in January with the idea of getting a fresh start in the new year. However, your data may show the majority of resignations come at a different time- maybe a time that aligns with bonus payouts. Some studies have also found that commute time to work is not as strong of an influence in retention as distance from family support networks. A recent article from CIO states “Looking more closely at the data can help uncover patterns like this, potentially contradicting conventional wisdom, he says. AI and machine learning can help identify and address these issues before they lead to attrition and turnover.” Unless you are capturing, analyzing, and applying what you learn from data, you could be missing the opportunity to make the right changes to your company policies that will have an impact on employee acquisition and retention.

Technology is your friend.

Consider artificial intelligence (AI) and other technical advances as opportunities, not threats to anyone’s job or well-being.

Embrace HR technology. AI and machine learning enable you to automate time-consuming administrative functions so your team can focus more on the “human” in human resources: building one-on-one relationships. Employee engagement tools help to automate the process for collecting and analyzing real-time feedback from employees. This data can be used to recommend training or even provide customized coaching insights for individual employees or managers.
Take a steady, thoughtful approach. While technology will positively impact your HR tasks and responsibilities, be sure you fully understand what the expected outcome is and what value it will provide before jumping into it.

As a total solutions provider of human capital management services and a certified Great Place to Work, HR Works can help you streamline operations while holding onto your competitive talent advantage. This includes helping you master technology, analyze and apply data, and build your overall employer brand. Contact us today to learn more.