5 Factors: Redefining Talent Acquisition Strategies For Organisations

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Today the world faces the unique challenge of thriving in the face of uncertainty and volatility that are sadly, almost pushing us on the opposite end of the spectrum. It is this challenge that has made the once “desirable attributes” of agility, nimbleness, and adaptiveness as critical nuances in all facets of business and beyond.

The pandemic that started in 2020 has wreaked havoc in all aspects of our lives. There are some aspects of business, however, where its implications are probably going to go beyond the end of these trying times. While these changes were adopted more by default than by design, they have put some age-old practices under the scanner and will lead to more long-term changes beyond the pandemic alone.

In the realm of hiring for the best talent, the changes that one is observing are not just kneejerk reactions to the pandemic. Rather, most of these newer trends have been necessitated by shifts in core businesses itself. One school of thought is that if anything, the pandemic has separated the signal from the noise when it comes to hiring. Organisations can finally concentrate only and only on “What needs to be done” – the skills that are needed or the experience that is required without having to worry about factors like location or even industry.

There are broadly five factors that are redefining talent acquisition strategies for organisations. Like most things, these too are probably moving goal posts, but there are definite trends emerging that are worth highlighting:

1. Digital Realm: End-to-end virtual selection processes have not only been the need of the hour, but organisations are also increasingly realizing their efficiency. It has been a mental shift for many organisations to do away with a physical interaction with candidates before making a final call. The up-side to this has been the increased use of more scientific methods of recruitment that may have already been in place earlier, but now are being considered most seriously as dependency on such tools to validate a critical hiring decision has increased. Of course, this is coupled with technology that promises to make the entire process as seamless as possible for the candidate and as efficient as possible for the organisation. Not only lateral hiring, campus hiring too has been virtual and successfully at that. There are organisations that have even experimented reaching out to campuses not just in the country, but across the region both from the standpoint of diversification as well as a strategy in Employer Branding. Afterall, digital not just transcends geographical barriers, but makes them quite irrelevant.

2. Skill Evolution: it is a well-known fact that the pandemic has accelerated the way changes in the workplace had already started to shape up pre-pandemic. Areas like e-commerce, automation, cyber security and remote working, to name a few, in particular have or are seeing paradigm shifts on both the human and technology front. All of these work areas are accompanied by skills that either are newer skills or skills whose demand has increased manifold post the pandemic. For example, various data sources allude to an increase in e-commerce in India by about two times since 2020. This brings with it an increased demand for skills like visual merchandisers, designers, creatives and art management professionals, digital marketeers – all skills that aren’t particularly new, but definitely more in demand. Similarly, an increase in skills related to STEM professionals is being spoken of. Why go far – as young as five-year olds are being encouraged to start learning how to code as that would be the future of technology!

3. Talent Source Diversification: Remote working had gained steam even before the onset of the pandemic – Of course now known as one of the biggest changes that has shaped the landscape of work, it has several implications both for candidates as well as for organisations. Some refer to this as being a “candidate’s market” as they decide who they want to work with, without restriction of location, or even industry. Similarly, organisations don’t have to rely on talent pools that they may have relied on in the past. They can now explore the talent market based on skills that they are hoping to hire for and not get caught up with logistical questions of location etc. This diversification of talent pools has opened up far greater opportunities for organisations to leverage skills and experiences that they may have lost out on in the past.

4. Employee Value Proposition: From the days where physical attributes were a big selling point for organisations in order to be recognized and seen as great places to work or employers of choice, the reality now is quite the opposite. Everything from world cuisines, to wellness centres, salons and even dry cleaning may not be quite the pull for attracting great talent anymore. In a virtual world dominated by a millennial workforce, factors that are attracting talent are deeper – mission, purpose, inclusion, equality and community citizenship may not just be buzzwords anymore. These are increasingly becoming reasons for why talent may decide to associate itself with an organisation.

5. Organisational Redesign: While most changes that impacted organisations were external or environmental, they did expose the fragility of the way organisations had designed themselves. Stark examples that have been seen often in the past year or so are around organisational readiness in times of disruption, both on the talent front as well as on the structural front. On the talent front, for example, the lack of a robust internal pipeline to take over or fill in for a critical role in case of an eventuality, has shook many. The best of succession planning has been rendered insufficient and ineffective, especially for leadership roles. On a structural front, organisations are considering business continuity as one of the critical factors while examining their existing structures. While cost and value still remain pertinent, extra investment that would ensure resilience and availability of critical talent where needed is being considered as a necessary evil.

This seismic shift that has baffled the world leaves a lot of learnings in its wake. While one doesn’t know the exact contours of the changes that are here to stay, the realization that something like this could happen once, has bought with it the wisdom of understanding that this may not be the last. Therefore, more than fixating on specific solutions, it may be better for organisations to concentrate on inculcating the right culture, values and attributes that could make them as anti-fragile as possible in the event of whatever this VUCA world has to offer!

By: Pooja B Luthra, Board Member at Trident Group.

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