Talent Acquisition | 2021 Trends

What is Coming in Executive Talent Acquisition? Preparing for the Post-Pandemic Hiring Rush! 

2020 was a transformative year for many industries, to put it mildly. Nearly every one of the changes that came with this singular year touched HR in some way. Despite widespread layoffs in the wake of pandemic shutdowns, organizations are facing a labor crunch, offering high wages and juicy incentives to candidates that even consider their organization.

But as the pandemic wanes, that trend is expected to change. Experts have their eyes on this autumn for full reopening, not only at business but school, leaving families free to re-enter the workforce and resume their careers.

Talent Acquisition

Here’s some of what to expect from talent acquisition in 2021 

  • A Global Talent Pool.

Although many employees plan to return to their business, COVID-19 lockdowns proved that a remote workforce was not a pipe dream or clemency. Companies that never thought they might adapt to remote teams made it work. Now that remote collaboration has gained viability, organizations can discard geography as a precondition for hiring. However, remote hiring carries its own challenges, including remote onboarding, remote collaboration, and screening talent for remote suitability.

“Technology has now untethered talent from location,” Becky Frankiewicz and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic write within the Harvard Business Review. Talented individuals with in-demand skills in any sector now perceive they are able to live where they choose and work where they’re qualified.

  • Employer Branding.

Organizations put much thought into their public-facing brand or “customer brand,” but recruitment in a post-COVID hiring rush will have everything to do with building the organization’s “employer brand”—its reputation on the talent market. With a strong employer brand, top talent will come out of the woodworks, giving the organization a much more qualified stable of options when turnover does happen.

Paul Keijzer writes in Forbes. With the growing competition for talent, many companies like Shell, Nestlé, and Microsoft have integrated gamification and leveraged social media in their hiring process. Organizations that want to win in the post-pandemic hiring rush should put as much effort into building their brand cache among potential recruits as they do in building their brand cache among potential customers.

  • Recruitment Process Automation. 

Recruitment Process Automation (RPA) applies the power of artificial intelligence to the recruitment process, streamlining the hiring process significantly. This applies not only at entry and mid-levels, where large numbers of applicants can be sorted through using “intelligent” software. It also applies at the executive level, using machine learning to execute the needle-in-a-haystack task of identifying top candidates, some not even on the job market, who might be gettable.

British telecom giant Vodafone, which routinely attracts upwards of 100,000 candidates for only 1,000 available jobs, integrated AI process automation into their hiring process even before the pandemic and enjoyed 3x cost savings, a reduction of time-to-hire from 23 days to 11 days, and a 30% reduction in new-hire dropout rates. (Personnel Today)

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New Trends and Financial News for 2021.

  • High Unemployment is a reality in the US, but unexpectedly the Job Market Remains Tight. Unemployment is currently elevated in the high sixth percentile, yet 44% of companies report job openings that they cannot fill, the highest ever in the history of this survey. (Deloitte)
  • The Second Quarter is probably going to Be the Height. Two-quarters of strong growth in the face of post-COVID optimism shows signs of slowing down as liquidity exits the market with a waning stimulus impact. (Charles Schwab)
  • IPOs Everywhere. Wall Street is in full startup-mania, with IPOs hitting an annual record less than halfway through 2021. $171 billion in IPO volume as of June 15 absolutely shatters the record of $168 billion for the entire year of 2020. (Reuters)

Corporate debts, and cryptocurrency!

  • Drowning in Corporate Debt. Facing pandemic-related hardship, US companies ballooned their corporate debt burden up to $11 trillion. Low interest rates helped them, but the next financial downturn could wreak havoc on their balance sheets. (WSJ)
  • Inflation Uncertain. The dollar hit a one-month high as inflationary pressures continue, but a larger-than-expected recession of consumer demand in May could cool things off a little. Inflationary fears remain but also remain largely unrealized. (Yahoo Finance/Reuters)
  • Recoveries Remain Uneven. The US is projected to end the quarter 3% ahead of 2019, China 11% ahead. However, the Eurozone and Japan are projected to lag 2% behind 2019, with Britain and Canada also in the red. (New York Times/Business/Economy).
  • Crypto Schism. The cryptocurrency rollercoaster is starting to split into three separate phenomena—” digital gold” like bitcoin; joke or fad currency like Dogecoin; and the broader business proposition of the Ethereum ecosystem, which is about more than just the coin itself. Bitcoin plunged 30% in May 2021, only to recover somewhat. It remains a wild ride, far from the stabilizing influence of gold. (CNBC)
Professional recruitment
1) Focus On Your Employer Brand.

The calm before the storm is the time to step up your game and put yourself in the best position possible. Start by shoring up your employer brand. Clarify your brand purpose, company culture, and what it means to be a part of—or in the case of executive recruiting, a leader of—your team.

Augment the Candidate Experience. Despite the increased supply, top talent will be in high demand in the post-pandemic hiring rush. Don’t neglect first impressions. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential C-suite executive hire. What would they want to see, and how would they want to be treated, to choose to contribute their talents to your organization over your competitors?

Automate Recruitment. Put systems in place before the rush to harness the power of AI in talent acquisition. AI data analysis can reveal ideal candidates that would never have just walked through the door looking for a job, especially at the C-level.

2) Outsource Talent Acquisition.

Talent acquisition goes far beyond mere recruitment. It’s a year-round activity. If you don’t have the HR resources to devote to top-notch talents, consider hiring a third-party specialist to save you headaches, mistakes, and expensive turnover. Difference between recruitment and selection. 

Don’t Rush. It may feel like you have to act fast to lock down a popular candidate, but don’t make rash decisions. Do what you can to remove friction from the process, but don’t sacrifice quality for agility. Take the time you need to make the right. 

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Differences between, recruitment and talent acquisition

“Recruitment” and “talent acquisition” often get used interchangeably. The difference between the two processes can be subtle, but they represent a very different approach to the same end goal—finding the right candidate to fill a crucial role within an organization.

Recruitment tends to be reactive. The process starts only when a vacancy comes about. Employee turnover? Turn on the recruitment machine. Recruitment tends to be “at the moment” and focused on short-term needs. Finding high-quality candidates tends to be a “right-place-right-time” proposition.

Talent acquisition is an ongoing process. It takes into account not only the short-term need to fill a position, but also the long-term need to strengthen the team. It’s a complete hiring solution that forms an ongoing part of HR. It is much less dependent on right-place-right-time than recruitment.