Are you Recruiting or Acquiring Talent?

In the past, businesses focused solely on immediate hiring to meet their current needs. However, the talent landscape has evolved, prompting the adoption of new approaches to sourcing, recruiting, and developing a comprehensive strategy known as “talent acquisition.”

Recruitment and talent acquisition are distinct processes with different purposes. Recruitment involves sourcing and hiring individuals for specific open positions, reacting to immediate needs in a tactical manner. On the other hand, talent acquisition is a more strategic process that involves creating a talent acquisition plan and building relationships with potential candidates in the market.

For instance, the tech industry faces a talent shortage, making it challenging for tech firms to attract top talent quickly. To address this, companies must plan ahead for anticipated projects, determining how they will source and recruit talent as soon as projects are secured. This necessitates a well-defined talent acquisition plan.

According to Rajeev Singh, CHRO of Solara Active Pharma Sciences, traditional recruiting lacked long-term planning, while talent acquisition offers more sophisticated, strategic, and appealing benefits. Therefore, organizations should move beyond mere recruiting and embrace a comprehensive talent acquisition approach. However, certain positions or skills may be readily available in the market, leading to urgent recruitments for back-end or support staff roles that may not require extensive evaluation, as mentioned by Anil Mohanty, Medikabazaar’s head of people and culture.

Many HR professionals struggle to differentiate between recruiting and talent acquisition. Recruiters often focus on basic criteria like experience and qualifications in CVs, whereas modern talent acquisition specialists assess candidates’ skills. Today, businesses must ask themselves, “Are we recruiting or acquiring talent?” to adapt to the changing talent landscape.