In this knowledge era, where automation is in full swing and
about to swallow all sorts of granular and administrative jobs, companies have
started diverting focus from machines toward development of their people
critical to the business functions and have named them Key Talent. While
companies, on one hand, are investing in the learning and development of key
talents, they are, at the same time, challenged by the problem of retaining
them as well.
During the past three decades, personnel management has evolved
at a very fast pace into the latest concept, which is human capital management,
where organizations have started realizing that their people are valuable
assets and have started investing in them. Recruitment & Selection function
has now shaped into talent acquisition, and is striving to add value as
business partners taking responsibility of translating the current and future
needs of talent to achieve long-term goals and objectives of companies into
their goals, and hunt for the right talent through various channels.
With introduction of enterprise contribution concept over
individual contribution, it is of immense importance for HR to not only
identify and train the key talent, but also to retain them via numerous
strategies involving employee engagement, learning and development and
providing competitive benefits and compensation to increase employee loyalty
with the organization.
There is a very strong competition in the market for talent, and
recruitment teams are in a state of war to get the right person for the right
job at the right time. Recruiters often come to a situation of losing the
potential candidate to the competition or getting retained by his or her
current employer.
Sourcing channels have emerged from conventional news ads to
job-portals during the last decade. The wave of the digital era has not limited
the job search and talent hunt on job portals over the internet, but has
expanded it over social media, which now is playing an integral role in
bridging recruiters and candidates. During the past couple of years, LinkedIn,
Facebook and Twitter have played a very strong role as catalysts in the hiring
process and reducing “cost per hire.”
Recruiters, on the other hand, have changed their role during
the past few years from conventional sourcing agents to dynamic brand
ambassadors of the employers. They conduct in-depth studies on EVP (Employee
Value Proposition) in the name of employer branding to increase worth of value
of an employer as an entity. This, in turn, plays an integral role in the
retention of key talent and markets the EVP over social media and during
face-to-face interactions at campus visits, job fairs and at the time of the
interviews. These developments brought in great help to the companies in
attracting and retaining key talent, resulting in opportunities to fast-paced
growth of the company ,having high potentials on-board and added contribution
towards the goal at a relatively higher pace.
To meet all these challenges of this fast-paced digital era and
effectively play their roles, recruiters should ensure to be well aware of
their surroundings, competition, the sector they are operating in, and the
recruitment industry in general.
Many communities and groups not only on LinkedIn and Facebook
are very effective on the job hunt, but certain groups over Yahoo and Google
are getting very strong and effective in tapping for a specialized skill set.
They should carry social persona not only over the web but in offices and
communities as they are the brand ambassadors of their employer brand and to
network around to strengthen their links not only for getting candidates for
open positions, but for pipe-lining the candidates for future needs.
Another very important aspect is to gain the trust of
stakeholders of talent attraction, key talent identification, and development
and retention. This will help recruiters find out future needs and understand
the direction of their internal customers as well along side with management of
external customers (candidates and potential candidates)
