There are many aspects to a successful talent acquisition strategy, but three that are critical considerations for starting out. These tips can help you successfully develop and implement your talent acquisition strategy.
- Retention: As much as possible, keeping your current team is of the utmost importance in any hiring strategy. The cost to hire should always be a top priority – from the financial perspective as well as the impact of vacancies on current staff and programmatic effectiveness. Look for potential among your current staff to advance. Reward flexibility for staff taking on new responsibilities amid hiring and consider growth opportunities, benefits, or other incentives to keep your teams engaged. The easiest way to determine your employees’ needs is to ask them directly.
- Succession Planning and/or Career Tracking: Hiring is very often a reactive function. We are caught off-guard when someone leaves an organization and can end up in panic mode. An effective talent acquisition strategy utilizes succession planning and career tracking to ensure you have skills on hand to meet your needs. This means your talent acquisition team, working in conjunction with human resources, is aware of who is ready to be promoted and who might be interested in cross-functional training. A strong culture of people management ensures that you are aware of who may be looking to retire or those with low performance scores and inform your planning. Being prepared for people to ascend or move laterally within the organization can have a large impact.
- Budget: As with everything, there is always a bottom line. Sometimes, there is no choice but to hire externally and utilize a hiring service. Make this a budget line item to avoid extending staffing gaps and increasing their impact on your work. Hopefully, you will not have to use this contingency funding, and it can roll over each year.
Benjamin Freedman is the CEO of Weiser Innovations. Weiser is an innovative talent acquisition firm with deep roots in the nonprofit sector and partners with 501 to provide talent acquisition assistance to its 3,000 nonprofit clients. Contact us today for talent acquisition assistance.
