Organisations shift focus from talent acquisition to talent retention & performance

Longer-term of new hires instead of simply measuring the efforts of the hiring process is priority now.

Talent acquisition is no longer just about filling positions or getting people on-board. Recruiters are now far more concerned about ensuring the recruits stay and benefit the organisation in the longer run. A new global study by Futurestep, a division of Korn Ferry, shows that Indian talent acquisition professionals are increasingly focusing on the longer-term of new hires instead of simply measuring the efforts of the hiring process itself.

Around 66 talent acquisition professionals from India participated in this global survey.  Around 80 per cent of them opined that time-to-hire was the top metric to evaluate talent acquisition. The other top priorities were retention and cost to hire – 51 per cent and 46 per cent, voted for the same, respectively. The percentage of talent acquisition professionals worrying about the cost of hire is higher in India vis-à-vis other markets.

“Traditionally, the job of a talent acquisition professional ended when a position was filled,” said Sue Campbell, managing director Asia, Korn Ferry Futurestep. “But in today’s competitive marketplace, the focus has shifted to finding, hiring and retaining workers who are not only effective in their roles today, but who can also be the leaders of tomorrow.”

The survey also reported that 40 percent of Indian talent acquisition professionals cited a lack of candidates who can move up the leadership pipeline as the top reason for today’s talent shortages.

In line with this finding, Campbell noted that for tackling the leadership pipeline shortage, organisations need to do a more effective job of leadership assessments, development, and succession planning for specific positions.

According to the survey, the two most significant challenges talent acquisition professionals face across the globe are quality of hires and the competition for talent. In India as well, these are the two challenges that keep talent acquisition professionals up at night, as 56 percent agree to quality of hire and 17 percent say competition for talent is a challenge. India ranked quality of hire higher than any other country in the region.

The report states that it is the non-stop advancements in technology and rapidly changing business strategies that have led to the creation of jobs that didn’t even exist a few years ago. In addition, there are demands for new skill sets in virtually every job and profession. In times like this, hiring and retaining workers who are agile and who can adapt to the fast pace of change is critical for staying ahead of the competition curve.

According to Chong Ng, president Asia Pacific, Korn Ferry Futurestep, some organisations are implementing new reward structures to incentivize talent acquisition professionals to think longer term. He shares that some talent acquisition professionals are receiving bonuses based on the performance of candidates they brought into the organisation – particularly for sales positions and other jobs where performance can be easily quantified.

“While this is not a common practice, it very likely may become more popular as organisations seek to reward the recruitment of high performers,” Ng says.