Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/227268
Technically Speaking Getting Ahead of the Curve Match the tech to the job seeker's expectations. By Madeline Laurano Over the past decade, despite high unemployment, people with critical skills remain hard to find. That's why the process of identifying and attracting talent is still a critical business objective. Despite this, a majority of organizations have failed to mature in their recruitment efforts and rely on the same-old antiquated processes and technology solutions. In fact, according to research Aberdeen conducted in 2013, organizations are even regressing in their talent acquisition efforts -- 57 percent have a reactionary process in place compared to only 44 percent of respondents in 2012. The problem here is that a reactionary process is an ad-hoc, short-term solution that is not a continuous, long-term strategy. Today's workforce has different expectations of how companies will contact them and build a relationship with them, especially those with the critical skills organizations need. If talent acquisition does not keep pace, organizations will not only lose qualified candidates but also will jeopardize organizational growth and performance. In order to gain competitive advantage, organizations must consider adopting a new approach that focuses less on "filling positions" quickly and more on aligning with the business. Below are a few areas to consider: Build talent communities. For most organizations, a talent community is a database of active and passive candidates that receives email alerts about job opportunities. It's a simple idea, and it's catching on: Talent communities are one of the fastest growing areas of talent acquisition, with 78 percent of organizations currently investing or planning to make an investment over the next 12 months. Leading organizations distinguish themselves by their ability to engage candidates through these communities and create a stronger employer brand in the process. In order for a talent community to be successful, [66] HRO TODAY MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 Talent communities are one of the fastest growing areas of talent acquisition, with 78 percent of organizations currently investing or planning to make an investment over the next 12 months. talent-acquisition professionals must continually build relationships with talent and report on the effectiveness of these efforts to the business. Organizations need to engage talent in these communities through conversations in order to create relationships. While many organizations will use their corporate career pages to invite candidates to these communities, best-in-class organizations also use social media and innovative technology (like Findly, Brazen Careerists and Smashfly) to extend talent communities to a broader audience of employees, alumni, and key stakeholders. Identify critical roles. In any organization, there are critical roles responsible for driving revenue, performance, and client outcomes. Although these roles have an immediate impact on achieving higher levels of business performance, managers often feel challenged identifying these roles and matching employee strengths to these roles. Sixty-three percent of best-in-class organizations are able to identify these critical job roles compared to 44 percent of "all others." Best-in-class organizations achieve this goal through the