The Changing Role of Talent Acquisition
The role of talent acquisition in an ever-shifting, chaotic labor market has become simultaneously more urgent and more difficult than ever before. Workers have more options and greater flexibility than they did in the past, and employers in multiple industries continue to face existential challenges when it comes to bringing the right people in the door. The art of finding, engaging, and nurturing high-quality candidates can seem like an uphill battle in today’s climate, a battle that talent acquisition professionals are valiantly waging every day.
Traditionally, evaluating the success of a company’s talent acquisition strategy has been a fairly straightforward task. Are they bringing in quality candidates for critical positions? Are those candidates getting hired? Boom, your TA function is working, rinse, repeat and carry on.
In reality, a number of factors beyond “filling the funnel” and hiring rates contribute to the success or failure of talent acquisition, which is inextricably linked to the overall health and success of the hiring organization. One key element that is often overlooked when considering talent acquisition is employee retention.
Poor Retention Hinders Talent Acquisition
In many organizations, the talent acquisition team is held responsible if a new employee leaves or is terminated within the first 90 days of employment. Beyond those first three months, though, responsibility for employee retention typically rests on the shoulders of hiring managers and company leadership. In truth, recruiters and talent acquisition teams deal with the fallout of turnover and poor retention rates every day.
If a company has high turnover, it follows that recruiters are naturally going to have to fill more positions at a higher rate, a problem that can snowball as employees come in and out of a revolving door. And the corrosive effects of turnover on morale and company culture can prove toxic to potential candidates, scarring off high-quality talent and begetting more turnover in a kind of vicious cycle.
Predicting Retention in the Recruiting Process
But what if recruiters could take into account the likelihood of retention during the interview and hiring process? With cutting-edge tools like those offered from Arena Analytics, talent acquisition teams can use sophisticated AI and predictive analytics to identify candidates who are likely to be retained, recruiters can help solve the problem of retention before it starts, saving valuable time and resources in the long run. And by improving long-term retention, talent acquisition teams can lighten their load and improve their ability to target similar candidates in the future.
Talent acquisition needs a seat at the table when it comes to reducing turnover and improving hiring outcomes. By adopting tools that reliably predict retention from the outset of the recruiting process, everyone in the organization wins.
