Congratulations! You got the job.  You are now the head of your organization’s Talent Acquisition function.  So…now what?  How do you build an effective TA function in this crazy economy when hiring managers think top talent candidates are pounding down your door for jobs because unemployment numbers are high? (Wouldn’t THAT be nice?) How do you build an effective function when your company has no budget and everyone has to do more with less? 

#1 – Find three smart Talent Acquisition professionals to network and benchmark with

TA leaders are often alone in their organizations and there is no one else familiar with the function to bounce ideas off of.  You are the only subject matter expert in your company, so you better know what is happening in the world of Talent Acquisition. Gather yourself a support group.  If you don’t know anyone then here are a few places I recommend:

• LinkedIn has numerous recruiting groups you can join.  “The Recruiter Network = the #1 Group for Recruiters” has more than 375,000 members.
• Many chapters of The Society of Human Resources Managers (SHRM) have staffing specialty groups forming.  Visit this link to see opportunities.
• I’d be happy to discuss any issue you are facing.  If I can’t help, I will connect you with someone else who can. Email me at cindy.lubitz@consultingintalent.com or call me directly at 800-278-0968. 

#2 –Conduct a needs assessment

Figure out what is broken. Things often aren’t as bad as they seem and there is always a way out. Once you identify the issue or issues, come up with various ways to fix it.  You will be more apt to get buy-in and support on the solution because you aren’t offering just one way to do things.

#3 – Get the forecast (and not for the weather)

• Learn how and when your organization is expected to hire.  Ask the business to validate.
• Look at historical hiring spikes and droughts.  Where are your clusters of hiring?  Are you hiring the same job grades and positions over and over?  How many recruiters do you need to support that?
• If business spikes and you don’t have the right recruiting resources you can then go to the business and ask them to fund your hiring of additional recruiters (contract or permanent).

#4 – Create a reporting dashboard so you and your HR partners are armed with data

This will help you and your HR partners answer questions, quell criticism and solve problems.  Some items you might want to have in your dashboard include:

• Jobs open, filled and on hold.
• Time to fill, EEO, gender, function, position level, start date
• Interview-to-hire and offer-to-hire ratio
• Number of requisitions per recruiter (are there pain points because of a high requisition load)
• Does your requisition load match with your predicted forecast?

#5 – Have strong metrics

In order to manage a team effectively you have to have metrics for them to perform to.  Some metrics you may want to consider:

• Time to fill – use this just to see if there are issues
• Offer-to-acceptance ratio – this should be 95%
• Percentage of positions that are on hold – if this number is high, you should evaluate any potential wasted resources
• Diversity numbers
• Quality of Hire – look at retention and performance of hires over time

As you know, building an effective Talent Acquisition function is not an easy job and not for the faint of heart.  However, with the right support, data, and team in place you will be off to a good start. I want to hear from you.  What have been your biggest challenges in building your TA function?

Future posts on “Managing a Talent Acquisition Team” and “Managing Stakeholders.”

By Cindy Lubitz, Managing Director of inTalent Consulting Group