One of the most important things for a company is hiring efficient employees and filling crucial positions with A-players. That’s why executives hire experienced talent acquisition specialists (TAS) as part of the team.
Even though they are not the final decision-makers, they set the stage and bring the top qualified candidates to light. Therefore, they have a tremendous influence on the whole selection process.
Talent Acquisition Specialist Requirements
1) Preparing the Job Description
A hiring manager and a talent acquisition specialist prepare the job description before publishing. The description must be legally compliant.
Men are more likely to apply if they meet 60% of the requirements, while women are more likely to wait until they meet 100% of the requirements. Talent acquisition specialists understand that including 40 non-essential criteria would only help minimize the number of female applicants.
This is something that a TAS needs to manage and circumvent.
Sourcing Candidates
There are many ways to source candidates. Usually, for this activity, a TAS uses the endless options that a suitable Applicant Tracking System provides for finding compatible candidates.
For the more specific job vacancies, the specialist must know how to do networking. Therefore, having the right connections can provide some silver medalists from their company’s database. Also, a resourceful TAS is supposed to find its way around the referral programs, job fairs, university visits.
Screening Candidates
The Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can come in handy when screening candidates. Every ATS has screening capability. Some of them even have artificial intelligence (AI) built-in to help with keyword searches.
The ATS compares keywords that the hiring manager strategically placed in the job post with applicants’ resumes. An ATS with AI built-in can understand keywords and phrases. It can search words or phrases with similar meanings to the important keywords to the hiring manager and not just the exact words.
Hence, the more “creative” resumes stand a chance of getting noticed.
Scheduling & Arranging Interviews
The talent acquisition specialist has to know the hiring managers and involved parties. To be able to manage everyone’s time and preferences is not an easy task. It takes a lot of time to align everyone. Usually, an ATS can help this process move along faster.
Making a Formal Job Offer
The hiring manager should probably do this. However, the talent acquisition specialist needs to check the offer to see if the salary and benefits information are correct.
2) Onboarding
Handling the paperwork and going through all the onboarding processes with the new employee is in the TAS’s job description. TAS also drives succession planning. If an employee wants to excel in his career, the talent acquisition specialist needs to handle the whole process from training to hiring.
3) Managing candidate experience
Constantly improving the company’s general reputation is very important. It builds the company’s brand, and with that, it attracts candidates to apply. Everyone wants to work in a company that takes care of its employees.
Degree Requirements
To learn about strategic HR preparation, procurement, and hiring, a student can specialize in talent acquisition, management, or in a field related to human resources management.
Students can learn how to advertise, screen, train, interview, and hire new workers seamlessly and efficiently. They would be better able to achieve their long-term corporate goals and priorities if they know about compensation and benefits activities.
Students can learn how to classify potential hiring needs, source and recruit eligible applicants, and correctly evaluate and pick suitable candidates.
Talent Acquisition Specialist Salary
The salary can vary a lot depending on location, industry, work assignments, and previous experience.
As of April 2020, the average salary for a Talent Acquisition Specialist in the United States is $56,309, according to Payscale. However, in New York City, an experienced TAS earns an average salary of $71,216, plus a bonus of $9,500.
The difference is this big because some industries have an abundance of candidates. In other industries, talent is tough to come by, so TAS has to battle to get experienced seniors.
On a Final Note
A good talent acquisition specialist can help bring in talent, make the company grow, and help develop a brand that can attract employees on its own.
