customer Acquisition and Talent Acquisition

Customer acquisition describes overall strategic process around identifying market segments, market sectors, targeting client prospects, running direct campaigns, selling and receiving the order. Talent acquisition involves all the sub processes around finding, attracting and engaging highly talented individuals into your organization.

How is this different from plain vanilla recruitment? Talent acquisition is part of a broader strategic approach in the quest to gain and sustain a competitive advantage. Other aspects include talent development and retention which are primarily inward facing, whilst the former is outward looking. Traditional recruitment or vanilla recruitment occurs when a vacancy arises when an individual resigns or retires or promoted. Panic sets in, if no suitable internal candidate is found. The organizations recruit under pressure. Compromised are made under the bus syndrome Talent acquisition is to get away from the fill in the box thinking to one that is more pro-active and much closer to building the skill sets required to achieve success. Traditional recruitment is filling open positions. Talent acquisition takes a long term view of not only filling positions of today, but also identify talents for future openings These future positions may be identifiable by looking at the succession management plan or by analyzing the attrition. In highly advanced talent acquisition process, organizations recruit today for positions that do not even exist today but are expected to become available in the future.

This is the basic difference in the concept. If you are very clear on this, then we can address issues on Approaches

An Overview Talent Acquisition : What is it? Talent Acquisition is the process of attracting, finding and selecting highly talented individuals those who align with the business strategy possess required competencies, and who will integrate smoothly and productively into the organization and its culture, to meet current and future employment needs. Why Talent Acquisition is important? The Commonwealth must have the right people to fill the right needs at the right time. - Success: Effective Acquisition sets the stage for the success of the agency and the employee. - Cost: Multiple sources identify the cost of a bad hire as 1.5 to 3 times/salary. - Opportunity Loss: The amount of time a need is left unfilled results in opportunities unrealized and costs incurred. What Is An Employment Brand? An employers brand is the image seen through the eyes of employees and potential hires. Employment branding is the employers unique traits and characteristics that are valued by employees and prospective employees and is used as part of the employers marketing strategy. It is the way an organization distinguishes itself internally and externally. How Does An Organization Create an Employment Brand? Employment is a 2-way partnership; the employer and prospective employee sell each other an employment proposition. As part of creating this proposition, an employer needs to understand its current and future audience and how this audience intersects with what the employer is and what it hopes to achieve. The employment brand will allow the organization to know what it is selling and will help candidates know what they may be purchasing in terms of potential commitment. Effective Sourcing First Requires Accurately Defined Needs An employer must first define what need exists and then determine what types of talent it requires to fulfill that need. What is Sourcing? - Determining the most effective places to find the talent needed Includes internal and external sources - The process includes announcing the jobs availability to the market and identifying and attracting qualified candidates to apply. Includes traditional techniques like advertisements, job fairs and postings Also includes techniques like social networking, finding passive candidates, and targeted functional searches Selection: - The process used to choose the best talent to make the best fit with the organization. - The process involves: Interviewing to reveal certain desired characteristics; measuring applicants on those characteristics; and extending an employment offer Common Types of Interviews: Behavioral based upon the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior Situational based upon hypothetical situations and the candidates responses Traditional basic questions usually centered around education, experience, skills Technical focused on specific skill and knowledge needs for a particular function or field Pre-Boarding: Pre-Boarding is the process of beginning the integration of a new hire into the new organization and work team.

- Begins as soon as the employee is offered and accepts the position - Should immediately connect the employee to the agency via the supervisor, human resources, and the work buddy/mentor as the primary points of contact - Initiates the process for the employees workstation, equipment, supplies, technology and online access Talent Acquisition Operational Work flow: Requisition Process > Sourcing > Application Process > Screening and Interviewing > Employment Offers & Notification of Non-selection How to measure the success of talent acquisition strategies: Quality of Hire: Percentage of new hires that were the organizations top choice Quality of Candidates: The ability of the organization to define the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to succeed in the job and work environment and to source candidates that meet the competencies Program Satisfaction: Hiring manager satisfaction with the recruitment and hiring process and quality of candidates Time-to-Hire: The time it takes to hire a candidate to fill a position from job open until the position is offered and accepted New Hire Retention Rate: The number of new hires who remain on the job for the first 12 to 18 months New Hire Failure Rate: The percentage of new hires in key jobs that were terminated or asked to leave New Hire Retention Rate: The number of new hires who remain on the job for the first 12 to 18 months Performance Ratings of Contributor or Extraordinary Contributor: Whether top candidates meet or exceed expectations on performance reviews Talent Acquisition Strategies : Best Practices: - Proactively build and expand the pool of candidates. - Seek to fill positions internally, if applicable. - Improve candidates pre-screening process. - Enhance employer brand and reputation in the recruiting market place. - Explore new marketing outlets using Internet-based technologies (i.e., social networking sites) to reach passive candidates and targeted groups. - Create efficiencies in recruitment processes and workflows. - Obtain input from hiring managers. - Solicit new hire feedback. - Emphasize strategic workforce planning beyond 18-months. - Scale back or freeze talent acquisition efforts, when the need arises

HR Operations Manager
Job Description Any company that has a large staff will need someone to oversee the daily operations of the employees. That is the role of a Human Resources Operations Manager. He or she will be in charge of hiring and terminations, employee placement, training, development, and payroll compensations and benefit packages. The position also includes labor relations. Additionally, the HR Operations Manager is in charge of overseeing the personnel budget.

Position Uniqueness

As an HR Operations Manager, you work directly with employees and the decisions you make affect them directly. This requires a careful balance of people skills and analytical management. Because human resources often branches into many different fields, you will need to be knowledgeable of many issues like labor laws, employee benefits, worker compensation, and training techniques.

Day in the Life

A companys employees can be incredibly diverse yet it will be your job to address them all. As HR Operations Manager, you will find yourself fitting many different roles from mentor to banker to worker advocate. In the course of your (typically) 9-5 workday, you may start out by hiring new personnel, organizing a training session, writing a memo explaining new healthcare options, and then reviewing new labor laws. As the HR Operations Manager, you usually have several lower level HR managers reporting to you and carrying out specific tasks. Even though you are the human resources operations manager, you can still expect to spend a lot of time with your computer!

Personality Type

When working with human resources, you will find yourself interacting with all levels of employees. You must be equally comfortable talking to the CEO as you are with the janitor. This requires a lot of people skills and a true type B personality. However, you must also be able to look over the emotional aspect of working with people and focus on the greater objective of the company. You may find this difficult when required to fire employees or introduce new unpopular work policies.

Education

With just a bachelors degree in Human Resources, you will probably find it hard to secure a good position in this field. A masters degree in HR will give you an edge in this competitive job market as will a degree in psychology or business. If you do not wish to get a masters degree, you can opt for certification as a professional in human resources (PHR) or certification as a senior professional in human resources (SPHR).

Rate of Pay

The rate of pay for HR Operations Managers ranges from $60k to $145k with an average of $71k. You can also count on benefits and profit sharing plans.

Businesss Hiring

All different types of companies, both large and small, need a HR Operations Manager so the job outlook is good. However, there is a lot of competition in this field. You will need to have several years experience before securing the position of head HR Operations Manager. Author: Miodrag Perin He has an MBA from New Yorks Binghamton University. Miodrag is a Vice President of Bertelsmann HR Services North America