What is Talent Acquisition?

Talent acquisition is the process of targeting, attracting, and retaining professionals whose skills align with the company’s objectives and needs. The key goal is to build a skilled workforce to drive innovation, enhance performance, and reduce turnover and hiring costs. 

For businesses looking to scale, talent acquisition is a no-brainer. It helps companies build a robust selection of candidates and invest in their development—like through micro-credentials programs and training—to ensure they can fill current and future roles.

But, what makes a successful talent acquisition? Read on as we share how talent acquisition works, the steps you need to take to carry it out efficiently, and some handy tips to effectively monitor its success. 

Talent Acquisition vs Recruitment

Unlike employee recruitment, which aims to fill overall role vacancies, talent acquisition focuses on hiring specialized professionals for particular roles that contribute to the company’s growth. It requires systematic identification, assessment, and employment through steps like smart branding, resource planning, and targeted skill-building.

Talent acquisition and recruitment teams typically fall under the Human Resources department. However, some companies have dedicated talent acquisition teams that collaborate with HR to ensure the right professionals are hired for the right positions.

Key Steps to Take for Successful Talent Acquisition Process

Talent acquisition is as good as the effort you put into it. With 87% of recruiters saying it’s a key growth strategy, companies must align their hiring approaches with long-term goals to attract top talent and stay competitive. Here is a breakdown of the steps for a successful talent acquisition. 

Forecast, compare, align

Talent acquisition isn’t just about filling current roles—it requires in-depth forecasting to ensure long-term roles are filled too. Talent acquisition teams should evaluate their current vs future needs to ensure they build a dynamic workforce that can change with the times. 

• Assess the company roles that are the most difficult to fill. Evaluate the needed skills and specific expertise you’re after, and ensure these align with the shifting economy trends. 
• Align the company’s hiring needs with your internal teams, from managers to HR teams. Hold a meeting to learn which roles are a priority to fill, and what the ideal candidate should bring to the table.
• Compare your current talent pool to identify any gaps and get feedback from dedicated teams to understand the type of professional you need to go after. 

Develop related job descriptions

Job descriptions aren’t just text stuffed with skills and keywords; they help talent acquisition teams appeal to the right professionals at the right time.  

• Create skill-based job descriptions that summarize and detail position requirements, potential hiring benefits, and company advantages, like days off or salary ranges. 
• Avoid mentioning any unrelated or widespread skills; instead, focus on targeted and clear descriptions that align with your talent pipeline and company goals. 
• Use a designated software to help create targeted descriptions based on your needs, saving time on manual writing and creation.  

Invest in branding

Nurturing a strong brand profile can do wonders for attracting top talent. After all, 92% of candidates said they would leave their current positions for a role at a company with a stellar reputation. Beyond posting job descriptions, companies must also build a strong voice that encourages talent to apply for available positions or consider a proposed offer. 

• Maintain a resourceful website with employee success stories and company culture examples, to demonstrate your commitment to investing in top talent. 
• Ensure your social media channels feature a blend of company activities, from attended events to market breakthroughs and major promotions of top talent over time.  
• Choose marketing and promotional channels wisely—see when and where your top talent hangs out the most, and share valuable information that can grab their attention.  

Source talent—build a pipeline

After you’ve created the ideal candidate profiles and job descriptions, it’s time to start looking. Using diverse social media job boards and channels can help screen professionals whose skills align with your acquisition strategy. Depending on the specific expertise you’re after, this process might take between three and six months to complete. Meanwhile, it’s important to document all relevant talent that can meet immediate and long-term needs. 

• Create a dedicated spreadsheet or tracking software to keep candidates in one place. 
• Define various acquisition activities you need to perform, like setting up referral programs or doing outreach to engage both active and passive candidates. 
• Nurture relationships with past candidates and business partners to increase the chances of attracting the right talent. 

Shortlist top candidates 

After building your talent pipeline, it’s time to narrow down the options and preselect the top candidates that would make a solid long-term investment. Start by selecting three to five most important skills for each role and use them to shortlist the top ten candidates with these skills.

• Based on your top needs and required skills, build relevant interview questions to help filter candidates more intuitively.   
• Prepare a talent evaluation sheet to ensure the candidate you choose ticks all the boxes.  
• Double-check referred candidates to see if they meet the needed requirements. 
• Consider skill-based hiring—94% of employers believe skill-based hires have bigger job success than candidates acquired through resume screening. 

Make a job offer they can’t refuse

The final step of the talent acquisition process is to deliver a comprehensive job offer to top candidates. Whether you have gathered talent through referrals, online searches, or partners, it’s essential to make the offer count to ensure a successful process.

• Extend a verbal offer first. This will give you an idea of how suited the candidate is for the given position. At the same time, it helps the professional understand your offering, its advantages, and company goals.  
• For candidates that make a good initial fit, proceed with a job offer in writing. This should include the rules and obligations, timeframes, and team introduction, as well as any perks and compensation packages. 
• After a candidate accepts an offer, engage in robust onboarding and professional development programs to help the new hires acclimate to the role faster.  

How to Measure the Success of a Talent Acquisition Program? 

Implementing talent acquisition programs is as important as tracking their success realistically. By measuring the right talent analytics, ideally, with dedicated software, companies can make data-driven decisions and adapt the program for higher success in the future. Not only that, but the right analytics can also help identify any hiring haps, ensuring a high return on investment. 

Let’s discuss some of the leading talent acquisition metrics to analyze.  

• Candidate Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measures how likely candidates are to recommend a business based on their hiring experience. 
• Employee Net Promoter Score (NPS): Predicts how likely employees are to recommend the company as an employer and stay longer.  
• Employee retention rate: This shows the percentage of employees that stay at a company over time, indicating their loyalty and satisfaction. 
• Employee turnover, attrition, and churn: Measures the percentage of employees leaving a role, departing from roles that won’t be refilled, and the total number of departures, respectively.
• Acquisition efficiency: Evaluates the recruitment process quality, considering factors like time, cost, and candidate experience vs delivery. 
• Time to Fill: Measures the time needed to fill a role, from scouting to sending the offer. 
• Time to Hire: Measures the time from the candidate’s application to accepting the offer.
• Time to Productivity: Assesses how long a candidate needs to reach peak performance, indicating the success of onboarding programs, or the lack thereof.   

Talent Acquisition Programs— The Power of Data-Driven Hiring  

Stepping into 2025, 24% of talent acquisition professionals consider skill-based hiring to be a top challenge—and priority. Hiring the right talent is just the initial step; companies need to develop targeted strategies to onboard fit candidates and retain them long-term. Acquiring the right talent is a balancing act, requiring recruiters to match professional skills with company needs, leading to higher performance and retention, and reduced turnover rates. 

The steps we listed serve as a great starting point for building a strong acquisition program. But it doesn’t stop there. Tracking your acquisition program is also critical for fine-tuning your efforts, ensuring you attract and keep top talent long-term—ultimately securing the future of your business. 

Talent Acquisition — FAQ

What’s the difference between talent acquisition and recruitment? 

Talent acquisition is a long-term strategy aiming to build a strong talent pipeline for current and future roles. Recruitment, on the other hand, is a more immediate process aiming to hire professionals to fill specific, in-demand roles. 

Are there any HR certificates I can acquire to learn more about talent acquisition?

Yes, please check our blog on the best HR certificates in 2025 to learn more about this.

How long does talent acquisition last? 

There’s no expiration date to talent acquisition. It is an ongoing process that includes the entire employee lifecycle, from sourcing candidates to onboarding and training them for different roles, now and in the future.  

What’s the best way to acquire top talent?  

The best way to acquire top talent is to invest in brand building, leverage effective recruitment strategies, focus on skill-based hiring rather than resume-based hiring, and build relationships with potential hires and partners who can refer top staff.