Build a Strong Workforce with these 8 Strategies for Employee Acquisition

With the talent market more competitive than ever and workplace dynamics continually changing, the hurdles businesses face to hire great candidates have never been higher.

In a recent survey, almost 6 in 10 employers said a shortage of qualified candidates was one of their top recruiting problems, and 46% said they lacked candidates in general.

Creating a concrete action plan to hone your talent acquisition approach and improve your hiring results isn’t easy. In this article, we’ll review some of the latest talent acquisition trends and share some practical talent acquisition strategies for boosting your recruitment outcomes.

What is a Talent Acquisition Strategy?

A talent acquisition strategy involves applying a range of recruitment methods, technologies, and practices to build a strong employer brand in the market, create positive candidate experiences, and foster a productive, diverse, and inclusive workforce.

Current Issues with Talent Acquisition

The challenges facing employers in attracting quality candidates are complex and multi-faceted. Here are a few of the dynamics currently in play:

The Rising Cost-of-Living

While inflation has slowed somewhat, workers are still struggling with the increased cost of basic necessities such as groceries, transportation, and housing. Meanwhile, wages have lagged behind increases in these areas. 

This, of course, impacts talent acquisition. For many job seekers, the only way to avoid downgrading their housing or cutting other expenses is to find a job that pays really well. Many companies find it impossible to align their payroll budgets with candidates’ heightened compensation expectations.

Increasing Skills Gaps

Another major issue for employers is workforce skills gaps. Companies are struggling to fill open roles because they can’t find the right workers. The 2023 Employ Recruiter Nation Report shows that 57% of talent professionals believe hiring new employees within the next 12 months will be at least somewhat challenging, mainly because there aren’t enough quality candidates.

The inability to hire suitable candidates can cost businesses thousands of dollars a year. The average job vacancy costs an employer $4,129 over 42 days, and it’s estimated talent shortages could cost businesses across the U.S. $8.5 trillion by 2030.

The Demand for Remote Work

During the pandemic, many people discovered they worked better at home, and many employees now regard their commute to work as a waste of time. Excessive hours spent commuting can also be bad for employees’ health. A recent study found that the more time workers spend driving, the less sleep they get, the more depressed and under pressure they feel, and the worse their mental health is in general. Similarly, the more money they spend on commuting, the more stress they may experience, which may result in more sleep loss and depression. All these factors have seen a rise in job seekers’ expectations for remote positions.

Properly executed remote work policies can help companies attract talent and allow them to select from a much wider pool of candidates, as they aren’t limited to local talent or people who can relocate.

The Gig Economy and Polyworking

The burgeoning gig economy, coupled with the cost-of-living crisis, means more people are taking on side hustles or working multiple jobs, a phenomenon known as polyworking.

On the upside, this trend means it’s easier for employers to find contract or ad hoc workers. However, many employers are concerned that people working multiple jobs might not be 100% focused, or at risk of burnout. Companies should be mindful that if they ban employee side hustles, especially if they aren’t offering competitive wages, they risk making themselves less appealing to job seekers.

Sustainability and Social Responsibility

Job seekers, especially those from younger generations, often evaluate companies by their sustainability and social responsibility efforts. Today, 55% of Americans say they would change jobs to work at an organization that makes a greater positive impact in the world. 1 in 4 would do so even if it meant taking a 10% pay cut.

Organizations need to understand that it’s not enough to make a few charitable donations and recycle paper and plastic. Job seekers, like customers, are looking at how you run your entire business.

Eight Ways to Optimize Your Talent Acquisition Strategy

Let’s consider some approaches to accelerate and optimize your talent acquisition success:

1. Take Advantage of Talent Acquisition Software and Analytics

In recent years, the most successful HR teams are those who have embraced a data-driven approach, using technology that allows them to execute results-focused recruiting strategies. A new report found that more HR leaders intend to follow suit in 2024. Approximately one-quarter (24%) of HR leaders will invest in analytics and reporting for their talent acquisition teams to help them leverage data tied to their recruiting speed and efficiency.

Using talent acquisition software with embedded talent analytics, and leveraging data in the decision-making process helps talent acquisition teams recruit more effectively—from full-time employees to contract and seasonal workers—in a scalable and repeatable manner. These tools give you access to real-time data that shows candidate status and reveals your progress against your key recruiting metrics, including time to fill, sourcing effectiveness, and offer acceptance. This provides actionable insights your hiring team can use to improve talent acquisition.

2. Personalize Your Candidate Conversations

Whether you’re communicating with active job seekers who recently applied for an open role in your organization, or reaching out to passive candidates on LinkedIn, it’s vital to personalize your communications to deliver a great candidate experience.

Evaluate your talent engagement tactics and overall candidate relationship management strategy to ensure you’re interacting with job seekers in a human way. Some talent acquisition teams are even leveraging AI-enabled candidate engagement scoring to quickly show which messages resonate best with job seekers. These tools also come with rules-based workflows that ensure recruiters send the right message to the right candidates at the most optimal time.

3. Provide Interview Support Resources

Many candidates find interviewing intimidating and exhausting, especially if it’s been years since they looked for a new job. Offering interview preparation resources to candidates shows them that you acknowledge these challenges and want to see them succeed.

Ahead of the interview, send candidates an overview of the process, including short profiles of the interview panel members and the questions or topics for discussion. You could also offer prep calls before interviews to answer any questions candidates have and boost their confidence levels.

4. Double Down on Early-Career Hiring

One growing talent acquisition trend involves focusing on potential skills rather than strict academic criteria. Of course, some jobs inevitably call for college degrees, but more hiring teams are seeing great success targeting candidates while they’re still in high school. Others are searching for prospective talent in technical and non-traditional higher education institutions.

There are several reasons for this. Entry-level hires usually command lower salaries than more experienced ones, making them an attractive choice when payroll budgets are stretched. But focusing more on early-career talent acquisition is also a great way to bring in fresh ideas and help potentially high performers develop their skills over time. Early career talent might not have decades of work experience, but they often make up for this with other traits, such as energy, adaptability, and enthusiasm.

5. Create an Employee Referral Program

Why not ask your existing employees to help solve some of your recruiting issues? An employee referral program that pays employees for successful hires is a great way to find suitable candidates and engage your existing employee base.

Newer employees are a particularly valuable resource for referrals as they can provide insight into former coworkers who might be interested in a new job.

6. Cultivate a Culture of Diversity

Today, building a strong company culture is less about making the workplace a fun environment and more about ensuring employees from all walks of life feel accepted and appreciated and are set up for success. Companies that understand this clearly define and articulate their values and engage prospective candidates in communications around their diverse and inclusive culture in the following ways:

• Showcasing their DEI commitment on their career sites.
• Writing more inclusive job descriptions for their job postings.
• Using more diverse interviewing panels.

7. Make Talent Acquisition a Leadership Priority

Too often, talent acquisition goals and targets exist separately from broader business goals, yet they should be part of overall company strategy. It’s vital that a company’s leadership team includes recruiting goals with the rest of the company’s aims, because meeting them will pave the way to achieving its other objectives. For example, if you’ve set your sights on growing your company’s revenue by 10% this year, you’ll need to have the right talent in place to meet that goal!

Leaders should meet with their talent acquisition teams at least every quarter to revisit their recruiting goals and update them based on factors such as job market fluctuations and company profitability. Ultimately, recruiting and talent acquisition goals must be in step with the business while being agile enough to pivot if the direction needs to change.

8. Develop Impactful and Creative Benefits Programs

Leading companies are boosting their talent acquisition efforts by exploring more impactful and creative benefits, including:

Caregiver Benefits

Reliable, flexible childcare, eldercare, and pet care, are central to building a happy and healthy workforce. Leading organizations are starting to fill needs and gaps in these areas with targeted benefits. This includes onsite or shared drop-in childcare, pre-vetted pet care provider recommendations, and on-call professional care providers to extend employees’ access to eldercare support.

Financial Well-Being Programs

More organizations are offering personal financial planning and education services to help workers make the most of their finances. According to the American Payroll Association (APA), Earned Wage Access programs are becoming an established business practice. Offering employees on-demand pay can ease employees’ stress over waiting until payday to collect their earned wages. This simple act can help improve overall employee wellness and provide them more control over their finances. On-demand pay also keeps employees from having to pay high fees (like late fees, overdraft fees, or payday loan interest) when unexpected expenses pop up or when their bill due dates don’t align with pay dates. On-demand pay is also a powerful talent acquisition tool, as one of Payactiv’s clients recently found:

The Results Companies Increases Recruitment by 25% with Payactiv’s Earned Wage Access

Results wanted a partner who could help them deliver important benefits to their employees. They chose Payactiv because its use of innovative technology aligned with their own.

Almost as soon as Results launched Payactiv, employees began spreading the word about the benefit. Within a few months of its Payactiv roll-out, Results’ recruitment had increased 25%. Retention rates also increased, particularly among new workers.

Read the full case study.

Student Loan Repayment Assistance

More than 43 million Americans have federal student loans, with a total balance of more than $1.7 trillion. Federal student loan payments resumed on October 1, 2023, after a three-year pause. Many workers with student loans are deferring their student loan payments even further while they figure out how to add this expense to their already stretched budgets. Fortunately, the U.S. tax code allows employers to make some contributions to student loan debt repayment. Companies that act on this opportunity to mitigate one of their workforces’ most significant financial stressors will likely find this a powerful talent acquisition tool.

New Talent, New Tactics

In the ever-evolving landscape of talent acquisition, it’s time to reimagine your recruitment approach. From sourcing top talent to optimizing candidate experiences, navigating these hurdles requires a creative mix of strategic and tactical solutions.

Payactiv helps businesses like yours attract top talent and ensure they get fully engaged in both work and life. Our all-in-one Livelihood platform takes a holistic approach to improving financial wellness and increasing employee productivity and satisfaction.

Interested in learning more? Get in touch to request a demo for your company.

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