Talent sourcing remains one of the key challenges for employers across the country as employers find it difficult to spot the right talent, and this is likely to be a serious impediment to Corporate India. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world due to governmental reforms and relaxed FDI norms. Improved investor sentiment and market perception look upbeat, meaning more job opportunities.
On the other hand, organizations are turning creative in their employee engagement, making every effort towards employee delight and retention. Recent trends in certain sectors indicate a drop in the ‘mobility index’ pointing towards employee sentiment.
Cut across to the Academia-Industry divide. A large percentage of our graduating youth are still unemployable for various reasons. School drop-out rates have only marginally increased and new-age skilled resources availability is still a distant dream.
Which brings us to the challenge – Unprecedented jobs created, existing pool of talent not available for recruitment and fresh talent not job ready. How then do organizations build teams and grow? The war for talent is only going to increase in the years to come.
The Talent Sourcing Game Is Changing!
It is time recruiters embrace new ways of attracting talent. Interestingly, recruitment success depends largely on organizational branding and this is the function of the Marketing team. A good brand is enabled from good market practices and deliveries which is the function of the Operations and Customer Success teams. Recruitment is now no more a department responsibility; it is an organization initiative. In a highly connected world, candidates explore information on everything that happens within and beyond the jobs that they apply for. Recruiters have to sit up and think differently.
Unconventional methods of talent sourcing
Social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have emerged as the main non-conventional methods of sourcing. Technology enables organizations to convey relevant information to potential candidates by attaching job descriptions, company profiles and links to company websites. Tier II and tier III cities, given their unique combination of low-cost and scalable talent pool, and breadth and depth of available skills, have emerged as the second most popular non-conventional destinations for sourcing, followed by psychometric testing.
Talent sourcing trends
- Shift in recruitment mindset – Resume sourcing is not just about searches, interviewing and closing positions. Recruiters will need to match the candidates’ capability to not only do the job, but contribute to the organization in the long run. There has to be separate strategies for active and passive job seekers. A quality pool of candidates will need to be built for business continuity and growth.
- Use of technology: As more and more organizations tap into the talent pool in Tier- II, Tier-III cities and globally, use of technology for talent sourcing is inevitable. Recruiters will need to use innovative tools like video interviewing and online assessments which increases the efficiency of hiring and reduces the cost per hire.
- Social Media hiring – With 243.2 million internet users and 106 million active social media users among a total population of over 1200 million, the social media wave is yet to get into the heart of India. While the penetration might be low, the number of recruiters accepting social media as recruitment and sourcing channel will certainly increase.
- Outsourcing: As more CEOS drive the talent agenda, these decision makers outsource talent sourcing to competent RPO specialists while allowing their internal teams to focus on the business. The RPO systems working on a strong technology platform, deliver world class experience to all parties involved while simultaneously managing cost and time efficiencies.
- Use of Analytics – As HR becomes a strategic partner in business growth, Talent acquisition managers are expected to drive data decisions in talent sourcing. This enables recruitment managers to move from intuitive-based to data based decision making.
- Mobile Recruitment: With 350 million unique mobile phone users in India, it makes sense for the recruiters to be there to attract their attention. As per a recent LinkedIn report, there has been a 90% increase in the number of users who use mobile to look out for job opportunities and 75% increase in the users who apply for jobs through this medium. This would encourage a large number of employers to have mobile optimized career sites and job postings.
- Employer Branding as a magnet – Just as in customer acquisition, branding plays a major role in today’s war for talent. Organizational branding has never been as important as it is today. Video marketing, workplace videos and campaigns are all tools to attract today’s generation of talent.
Organizations must primarily base their talent sourcing strategies on the philosophy that talent is precious and involves cost in sourcing, managing and retaining them. Hence talent sourcing, at the beginning of the stream becomes the most important element in HR planning and organizational growth.
(Source: EY Talent trends in India)
