Embedded Talent Acquisition: Everything You Need To Know
Given the impact of the economic downturn, major tech firms announcing layoffs globally, and increasing attrition rates, talent acquisition feels uncertain at present.
It may seem counterintuitive to keep hiring during a recession, but it can be a counter-cyclical way to stay ahead of the competition. While your competitors are downsizing and cutting back, this can be a great time to take stock and assess your current talent acquisition methods to build and maintain a healthy pipeline ready for when the economy begins to improve.
Having shared many of the same challenges as our clients in the past, we understand the pressures that internal Talent Acquisition teams are under. This experience has enabled us to develop our Embedded Talent Acquisition model to help our clients build their teams in a way that suits their current strategy and delivers a strong ROI.
In this article, we are giving you the lowdown on everything you need to know about Embedded Talent Acquisition and how it can add value to your Talent Acquisition function, whatever your stage of growth.
What Is Embedded Talent Acquisition?
Embedded Talent Acquisition is a model where a consultancy agency works as part of your in-house talent function. This allows them to understand your company and culture and provide personalised and efficient talent acquisition services that are tailored to your specific needs.
The best part? Embedded talent acquisition partners work as an extension of your in-house team, which means they're fully dedicated to finding the right candidates for you. They'll handle everything from sourcing and screening to interviewing and onboarding, making the process as smooth as possible for you.
Another benefit of embedded talent acquisition is that it can save you time and money in the long run. Instead of spending hours sifting through resumes and conducting interviews, you can focus on your core business activities while the embedded recruiters handle the hiring process.
Comparing Agency, RPO and In-House Talent Acquisition
Agency Recruitment
Agency recruitment means you hire an external agency to source and screen candidates on behalf of your organisation. The agency is responsible for managing the recruitment process, from job posting to the final selection of candidates. Agency recruiters are experts in their fields and have extensive networks and databases of candidates. They also have a deep understanding of the job market and can provide valuable insights into recruitment trends.
Pros:
- Access to a large pool of potential candidates through agency databases and networks.
- Reduced time to hire as agencies are solely focused on sourcing and screening candidates.
- Expertise and knowledge of recruitment trends and market insights.
- The outsourced recruitment process relieves in-house HR teams of the burden of recruitment.
Cons:
- As agencies charge fees for their services, high costs are typically a percentage of the candidate's first-year salary.
- Limited control over the recruitment process, which the agency manages.
- Potential for lack of alignment with company culture and values as the agency may prioritise filling the position over cultural fit.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
RPO or Recruitment Process Outsourcing is a model where an external provider takes full responsibility for an organisation's recruitment process. RPO providers offer various services, from job posting to final candidate selection. RPO providers can be on-site or off-site and collaborate closely with in-house HR teams.
Pros:
- Access to expertise and knowledge of recruitment trends and market insights.
- A flexible solution that can scale recruitment capacity based on business needs.
- Cost-effective recruitment as RPO providers can offer more favourable rates than agency recruiters.
- Streamlined recruitment process as the RPO provider takes full responsibility for recruitment.
Cons:
- The RPO provider may not have the same knowledge and expertise in the company's industry or market as an in-house recruitment team.
- Limited control over the recruitment process, which the RPO provider manages.
- Potential for lack of alignment with company culture and values as the RPO provider may prioritise filling the position over cultural fit.
In-House Talent Acquisition
In-house talent acquisition is when the company’s internal HR team manages the hiring process, from job posting to final candidate selection. In-house talent acquisition teams are experts in the company's culture, values, and requirements.
Pros:
- Total control over the talent acquisition process, allowing the HR team to prioritise cultural fit and alignment with company values.
- The ability to build relationships with candidates and create a positive candidate experience.
- Cost-effective recruitment as there are no external fees to pay.
Cons:
- Limited access to a pool of potential candidates as in-house talent acquisition partners may have a smaller network and database.
- Time-consuming recruitment process as in-house recruiters may have other HR responsibilities to manage.
- Limited expertise and knowledge of recruitment trends and market insights.
How does Embedded Talent Acquisition measure up?
At BOOSTA, we’re leaders in Embedded Talent Acquisition, which combines the best parts of agency, RPO and in-house talent acquisition. We embed ourselves fully into your business, allowing you to add a team of dedicated, knowledgeable and experienced talent acquisition partners to your internal team. You’ll get access to:
- A much wider pool of candidates than you could reach yourself thanks to our database of over 850,000 jobseekers
- An unparalleled tech stack which allows us to amplify your search online
- Reduced time to hire
- Deep industry knowledge and understanding of trends in your local market
- A flexible solution that can scale recruitment capacity based on business needs
- A cost-effective model with flat, transparent fees
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Signs your company needs to bring in an Embedded Talent Agency
Whether you’re starting out, scaling up or in a period of hyper-growth, there are times when your internal resources are just not going to be enough to help you with your talent acquisition needs. If any of these sound familiar, it might be time to think about bringing in an embedded partner to add superior hirepower to your strategy:
You have difficulty in finding the right talent
If your company is struggling to find the right candidates for open positions, it may be time to consider hiring an embedded talent acquisition agency who can assess why you’re struggling and help you to improve your processes to find great-fit candidates with the tools and resources to find more candidates for your roles.
You’re experiencing a high turnover rate
A high rate of employee turnover can be a red flag that your hiring process needs to be reevaluated. An embedded talent acquisition agency can help streamline the hiring process and ensure that the right people are hired for the right roles.
You have limited internal resources
If your company has limited internal resources to dedicate to the hiring process, partnering with an embedded talent acquisition agency can help alleviate the burden and ensure that your hiring needs are met.
Your business has a lack of hiring expertise
Hiring can be a complex process that requires specific knowledge and expertise. If your company doesn't have that expertise in-house, partnering with an embedded talent acquisition agency can provide access to that knowledge and help improve the hiring process.
How an Embedded Talent Acquisition partner like BOOSTA can add value to your TA function and drive long-term hiring success
Headcount and workforce planning
Our embedded talent partners use your projected growth data to align your hiring plan with your company's goals, ensuring you have the key hires you need in place to scale successfully. We can also help you build your recruitment infrastructure, implement systems, processes, and strategies, and maintain a database of candidates for your future talent pipelines.
Building a database of candidates
Our Embedded Talent Partners can build and maintain a database of candidates, their skill sets, and what roles they’ve applied for, so you have ready-made candidate pipelines for your future hiring needs.
Employer branding
When Embedded Talent Partners join your team, they learn and embrace your brand inside out. This means you get the opportunity to showcase your reputation, employer brand, workplace culture and values through our team to every candidate and really show them why your company should be their next career move.
Candidate attraction strategy
By elevating your company’s employer brand and building your presence and reputation in the talent market, we’re able to attract the best talent globally. We establish methods for identifying, attracting, and nurturing top talent. We also provide access to a wider talent pool thanks to our candidate database of 850,000 job seekers and our unrivalled Talent Acquisition tech stack.
Delivering an exceptional candidate experience
Embedded Talent Acquisition Partners mostly focus on sourcing candidates in the ‘passive market’ – which means they’re going after the best talent rather than relying on applications and the available talent. This means that the candidate experience is managed exceptionally well and positive, authentic relationships are built throughout.
Is Embedded Talent Acquisition right for your stage of growth?
You’re growing quickly but Talent Acquisition capacity is limited
The prospect of exponential growth looms ahead, but the capacity of the talent acquisition team is limited. The company has ambitious hiring goals for various teams, including product, development, data, creative, marketing, commercial, and operations, but the current team cannot manage the influx of recruitment needs. Additional resources are required urgently.
Recruiting has become highly competitive, not just for great tech talent, but for recruitment professionals themselves. This makes it challenging to hire the right talent to source, engage, and secure top-notch candidates. The process of sourcing, onboarding, and developing an internal recruiter can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, which can delay hiring for up to six months. With an ambitious product roadmap and company goals, this may be six months you just don’t have.
To overcome these challenges, embedded talent partners offer a proven blueprint for hiring success. They can quickly provide a team that is well-versed in role intake and knows how and where to source and engage the right candidates for the company. This approach ensures that the hiring process is efficient and consistent. With a team ready to deploy in just a few weeks, Embedded Talent Acquisition Partners can help the company hit the ground running from day one.
You have an internal Talent Acquisition team, but you need additional expert support to fill some niche roles
Your upcoming headcount plan includes hard-to-fill or niche roles that your current team lacks the expertise to source, engage, and hire at the required pace.
Undoubtedly, you want to attract top talent to your business. However, hiring internal recruiters specialising in JavaScript, .Net engineers, or niche AI talent can be costly. Additionally, finding suitable candidates can be a daunting task, and when the demand for such skills diminishes, their role and responsibilities may also reduce.
Fortunately, an embedded talent partner can provide the solution you need. They specialise in sourcing these candidates exclusively for you and the specific roles you are trying to fill. With their comprehensive understanding of the market, they work closely with your hiring managers to find the best match for the required skills, fostering a positive, authentic relationship with the candidate, and increasing your chances of securing their acceptance of the role.
You need a solution to make impact over time, rather than short-term fixes
While an RPO sounds like a good option to future-proof your recruitment process and scale your business, you need quick implementation, faster speed to performance, impact, and more flexibility and agility to adapt to your scope of work.
This is where BOOSTA comes in.
Our Embedded Talent Acquisition Partners not only provide support, training, and advice on building your recruitment infrastructure and improving your hiring process but also uses data to identify and resolve blockers across your talent pipelines, significantly reducing your time to hire and providing quality results faster and more consistently.
Our priority is to leave our partners stronger than when we found them. We ensure that your team is upskilled on all the above and that we leave you set for the future - solid, scalable, and successful.
The hiring needs we help you tackle - your questions answered
We work with companies at every stage of growth, from start-up right up to large enterprises. And these are some of the most common issues we help solve. If any of these sound familiar, it might be time to get in touch with us.
We’re scaling at pace, and we need to hire talent fast
Hiring plans are not always predictable or consistent, and capacity planning can be tough when you’re growing quickly. BOOSTA’s expert Talent Partners plug into your business quickly and seamlessly to bridge that gap while you’re looking to find the calibre of hire you need to complement your existing team.
We don’t even have a talent acquisition team. How would we work with you?
We can help build a talent function or spin up a project team for you from inception. We ensure you implement the best recruiting processes and practices to guarantee long-term hiring success. No matter the function you’re looking to build, we have you covered.
We need extra support for our in-house talent team
We embed with already established and high-performing talent functions and add Hirepower during times of hyper-growth or for specific hiring projects/programs. At times when you don’t need a full-time headcount or heavy agency costs, this is the perfect solution.
We want to improve our recruitment process
Auditing and improving your recruitment processes is essential to successful and consistent team growth, and is something that can be improved even when your hiring needs have slowed down or been frozen. It’s a good idea to bring in external expertise to make sure this is done correctly, in a way that will benefit you in the long run.
We want to reduce our recruitment costs
At BOOSTA, we charge a flat and transparent fee for our projects which saves our clients on average 50% versus a traditional agency. The reason for this is that we prioritise building long-lasting partnerships with our clients, instead of simply taking commission on individual roles. By doing so, we aim to ensure that our clients receive a strong return on investment over time. In fact, some of our partners have even found that a blended model is actually more cost-effective in the long run, compared to hiring additional members for their in-house team. You can read about the savings we’ve helped our clients achieve below.
How Embedded Talent Acquisition has helped our clients
Trainline
Trainline engaged with us to help BOOST their talent teams as they scaled their business across the UK and Europe. We delivered high calibre individuals within Technology, Product and Data as well as Corporate, Commercial and Operations. Working with us saved Trainline £695,000.
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Bark
Bark required a solution that could provide instant improvements to their hiring power across technology roles and we quickly proved our value by securing multiple offers within the first 3 weeks of our assignment for key roles within product and engineering. When working with BOOSTA, Bark achieved 74% growth in their technology function, while saving £88,000.
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JustEat
BOOSTA were engaged by Just Eat to manage and deliver a business-critical scale-up project. We onboarded and integrated a new, high-profile customer into their platform and produced a strategy to hire 36 specialist contract technologists within 8 weeks.
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Foolproof
Foolproof needed help expanding its Talent function, requiring two Senior Talent Partners with proven experience of Digital and Creative. BOOSTA delivered OPEX cost-savings of £203,198 on agency spend and a perfect example of service excellence and impact. Working with BOOSTA, Foolproof were able to treble their creative and tech teams, growing by over 100 people.
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If you think you might need help from the Embedded Talent Acquisition experts, get in touch with our team and see how we can support you, at any stage of your growth.
Hiring at scale or high-volume hiring is a process that involves hiring large numbers of employees in a specific time period.
As this process involves large numbers of candidates, a high-volume recruiter must be able to use all the tools and knowledge at their disposal to decide which applicants are suitable to progress to the interview stage.
Finding and evaluating a high volume of candidates for different job roles, all of whom need to be identified, interviewed, assessed, and onboarded, also comes with placement targets to meet. If this sounds challenging, it’s because it is!
That’s why it’s essential to establish well-defined processes and use the right tools for the job. In this guide, you’ll learn how to navigate high-volume hiring with success.
Challenges to hiring at scale in 2023
Whether you’re expanding into new markets, developing new products or services, improving efficiency and productivity or scaling for future growth, high-volume hiring is not for the faint of heart. Here are some of the challenges associated with hiring at scale:
Understanding the key roles to hire for: Talent acquisition leaders need to fully understand the roles they need to fill, but hiring managers and other stakeholders are not always clear on what they need.
Talent shortage: Many industries, globally, are experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, making it more difficult to find and attract qualified candidates.
Sourcing large pools of qualified candidates: With an increased demand for talent, companies are facing stiff competition to fill roles at high-volume. Recruiters and talent leaders need tools to help them source enough candidates for the seats they need to fill.
Shortlisting candidates: When faced with a huge amount of data, recruiters need tools to help them sort through applicants, without missing out on any qualified candidates.
Technology and automation: With the increasing adoption of automation and artificial intelligence in the hiring process, companies may struggle to balance the need for efficiency and speed with the desire for a personalised and human touch.
Working with inefficient tools and/or a limited talent teams: In fast-growing companies, the initial period of growth can be challenging for your talent function, and the first step is understanding where you’re going wrong.
6 key metrics to measure when you’re hiring at scale
- Time to hire: This measures the number of days it takes to fill a job opening. A long time to hire can result in lost productivity and revenue.
- Cost per hire: This metric measures the total cost of recruitment efforts divided by the number of hires made. It includes advertising, job board fees, and any other expenses related to recruitment.
- Quality of hire: This metric measures the success of new hires in their role and the impact they have on the company's bottom line. You can track this by looking at retention rates, employee engagement scores, and performance evaluations.
- Candidate satisfaction: This metric measures the satisfaction of candidates with your recruitment process. You can gather feedback through surveys or interviews.
- Diversity and inclusion: This metric measures the diversity of your candidate pool and the effectiveness of your diversity and inclusion efforts. You can track this by collecting data on the demographics of your candidates and new hires.
- Offer acceptance rate: This metric measures the percentage of job offers that are accepted by candidates. A low acceptance rate may indicate issues with the job offer or recruitment process.
Optimising the hiring experience for candidates
Streamline the application process
Keep the application process simple, easy-to-use, and mobile-friendly. Consider allowing candidates to apply through various channels like LinkedIn or Indeed to broaden your candidate pool.
Communicate effectively and regularly
Keep candidates informed throughout the hiring process by setting clear expectations, responding to questions promptly, and providing updates on the hiring process.
Use pre-employment assessments
Use pre-employment assessments to help candidates understand the job requirements and provide them with feedback on their suitability for the role.
Showcase your company culture and values
Highlight your company culture and values on your website and during the interview process. This helps candidates determine whether they are a good fit for your organisation.
Provide a positive candidate experience
Ensure that candidates feel valued and respected throughout the hiring process. This can include providing feedback, communicating in a timely manner, and being transparent about the process.
Use technology
Use technology to automate parts of the hiring process, such as resume screening, to save time and increase efficiency. Consider using tools like video interviewing, chatbots, and AI-based assessments to create a more personalised candidate experience.
Preserving and improving your employer branding through high-volume hiring
As a company grows, it’s natural that its culture will evolve - it’s difficult to maintain the personal, everyone-knows-everyone feeling of a startup - and that’s no bad thing.
But as a company scales, it’s important to think about how this will affect their company culture and employer brand.
Organisations should set out the core values, mission, and vision that define them before embarking on a high-volume hiring spree. This way, they can incorporate these into their employer branding and throughout the candidate experience.
Leaders should work with employees to determine the aspects of company culture that are most important to them, so they know where to focus their efforts as the company grows.
Discover our top strategies to improve your employer brand here.
Keeping focused on diversity
One of the challenges of high-volume hiring is ensuring that diversity goals are met on a larger scale. Given the increased pressure to fill roles, it can be difficult to keep the focus on diversity.
However, according to Glassdoor, 76% of candidates report that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers, so not focusing on it can actually hurt your hiring chances.
Here are a few ways to include diversity, equity, and inclusion in your strategy even when hiring at scale:
- Remove any biassed language from your job descriptions
- Use anonymous CVs to eliminate any candidate information that may influence unconscious bias like candidate’s name, age, gender, race, educational background, and location
- Leverage social media to promote a diverse company culture
- Unless it’s crucial to the role, don’t put too much emphasis on the educational background.
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Thriving through high-volume hiring
High-volume hiring is an integral element of many businesses' recruitment tactics. With the right process, hiring huge volumes of candidates is a challenging but not impossible task.
Here are some companies who used BOOSTA to help them successfully hire at scale:
Trainline
Trainline engaged with us to help BOOST their talent teams as they scaled their business across the UK and Europe. We delivered high calibre individuals within Technology, Product and Data as well as Corporate, Commercial and Operations. Working with us saved Trainline £695,000.
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Foolproof
Foolproof needed help expanding its Talent function, requiring two Senior Talent Partners with proven experience of Digital and Creative. BOOSTA delivered OPEX cost-savings of £203,198 on agency spend and a perfect example of service excellence and impact. Working with BOOSTA, Foolproof were able to treble their creative and tech teams, growing by over 100 people.
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Paddle
Paddle initially required our expertise in building out a Data Engineering team from scratch and having immediately proved our value within the first month, they requested another Senior Talent Partner to join the non-tech team to attract talent in the UK, US, Germany & Austria. Within 6 months, we had build an entire Data Engineering team.
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It’s no surprise that employee retention is top of mind for a lot of companies right now as high turnover and a global skills shortage continue to disrupt the workplace. In fact, turnover in the UK is set to hit 41.4% this year; that’s an 8% increase since 2019.
And with the cost of employee turnover so high, it’s a problem a lot of companies are struggling to afford.
The key to minimising unwanted and expensive employee turnover? It’s your employee retention strategy. Understanding exactly what is causing your employees to stay or go—and working to actively address problem and opportunity areas—can help you create a culture that attracts and retains top talent.
Keep salaries in line with new hires
When you make a new hire, a good candidate will often be able to negotiate a better salary, putting them on a higher pay scale than current employees who are doing the same job. Bringing these employees’ pay in line with any new hires you make is a great way to show them they’re valued and means they won’t need to move to another company to increase their pay.
Create a culture employees want to be a part of
In our experience, although important, the remuneration package on offer is not the be-all and end-all for employees. And according to Glassdoor's Mission & Culture Survey 2019, over 77% of adults across four countries (the United States, the UK, France, and Germany) would consider a company's culture before applying for a job there. This is significant not only to job seekers but also to current employees. The same study found that nearly two-thirds of employees cited good company culture as one of the main reasons they elected not to leave.
Developing a great company culture will involve implementing many of the strategies on this list. It might include rewarding and recognising not just your employee's successes but also their efforts, involving your employees in creative decision-making, creating a meaningful mission for the company and focusing on employees' wellbeing.
It’s also important to ensure your company is diverse and inclusive. A workplace respecting people of all races, backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations will attract and retain a wider, more diverse and better community of talent.
You can read about how to create a good DEI policy here.
Nearly two-thirds of employees say that good company culture is one of the main reasons they elected to stay in a company.
Encourage and promote a good work-life balance
It's essential to prioritise a healthy work-life balance, not only for your employees but for yourself as well. Over the past few years, employees' perceptions of work have shifted, with people now placing a greater emphasis on achieving a better work-life balance. This shift has resulted in an increasing number of employees either seeking new jobs or rejecting opportunities due to a lack of balance.
You can foster a healthy work-life balance in several ways, including implementing remote work, flexible scheduling, or shorter workdays. Additionally, simple measures like encouraging employees to refrain from checking work emails or answering job-related questions outside of work hours can help. By respecting your employees' time away from work, you can maintain a positive working relationship with them.
Provide a collaborative environment
Another key element to employee retention is creating a strong emphasis on collaboration and teamwork. Research has shown that collaboration can have a positive impact on employee engagement and retention. When employees work together in a collaborative environment, they feel more connected to their colleagues and more invested in their work. Collaboration can also lead to a sense of shared purpose as employees work towards a common goal.
Collaboration can take many forms, from team projects to cross-functional initiatives. By fostering a culture of collaboration, employers can encourage employees to work together, share ideas, and contribute to the organisation's success. When employees feel like their contributions are valued and that they are part of a team, they are more likely to be engaged and committed to their work.
Foster growth by offering professional and personal development
Training shouldn’t stop once an employee has finished their onboarding period. A company with strong employee retention recognises the value of continuous improvement and training for their employees throughout their time with the company. In fact, retention rates rise 30-50% for companies with strong learning cultures.
Upskilling your employees by investing time and resources and providing them access to additional education and training within their field not only makes them happier and more likely to stay with your company, but also makes your company stronger as a whole.
Provide flexible working for employees
According to a recent study, over 40% of the workforce expects to work fully remotely by 2025. Since the massive shift towards working from home due to the pandemic, remote work has been shown to make employees happier and more productive in their jobs. Working from home may not be possible for some positions or industries, but when it is possible, offering it to your employees may just increase their chance of sticking around longer.
Likewise, studies show that offering other flexible working arrangements, such as flexible hours, can help companies increase their employee retention rate. Research tells us that productivity falls sharply after 50 hours per week and drops off a cliff after 55 hours. While it was traditionally thought that workaholics who are the first to arrive and last to leave are more dedicated and productive, that is not necessarily the case if much of the productivity in those hours is lost to burnout or exhaustion.
Focus on employee wellness
Well-being at work needs to be promoted as part of the culture in order to keep employee motivation and happiness high. Otherwise, you could lose your best employees not because of what you do to them but because of what you fail to do for them when it comes to caring for their wellness.
Some of these wellness programs that raise employees’ satisfaction are:
- Stress management and relaxation activities
- Mandatory lunch breaks and coffee breaks
- Healthy food options
- Fitness activities
- Flexible work hours
- Clean and safe workspaces
- Training programs
- Career advancement opportunities
- Financial rewards
- Team building programs
- Clubs and social activities
Hire for cultural fit
Many people can learn a specific skill or develop certain expertise. But not just anyone fits into an existing team nor shares the cultural values of your employees and your company. Hiring for the cultural fit can ensure long-term employee retention because these new hires will mesh well with the team quicker, making everyone more comfortable and getting productivity back on track faster. In fact, 81% of hiring managers believe that candidates are less likely to leave when working for an organisation where they are a good cultural fit.
We’re not suggesting that every hire needs to be a carbon copy of current employees but that team members share similar goals and values.
Recognise and reward employees for their hard work
Employees who feel appropriately recognised and rewarded by workplaces are much easier to retain long term, but studies also show those employees will work harder and be more productive. According to Rewards Gateway, nearly 60% of employees would prefer regular praise and thanks over a 10% pay increase with no recognition.
Make sure you are not only recognising your employees for results but also for their efforts. Sometimes projects are not as successful as we hoped, numbers are not reached, or deals are not closed. While this can be a disappointment, make sure your employees know that, though they didn’t reach the goal, their work is still appreciated. This can help encourage your employees to try harder the next time and support them when they might otherwise feel hopeless or defeated.
Close to half (46%) of UK workers are close to burnout.
Reduce employee burnout
According to the research conducted by Westfield Health, close to half (46%) of UK workers are close to burnout.
Several factors that can lead to burnout include:
- Unfair treatment at work
- Unmanageable workload
- Unclear communication from management
- Lack of manager support
- Unreasonable time pressure
Developing and improving your overall company culture, building better employee engagement and offering clear communication, consistent management, and transparency will all help reduce employee burnout. Additionally, providing wellness offerings and other perks can greatly help with employee retention.
Employee retention is incredibly important to the operation of a successful business. The strategies we’ve outlined above are not an automatic fix but part of a larger shift toward supporting and caring for employees and improving their experience in your company. The past few years have increased employees’ awareness of how valuable their time and energy are, so making sure your company is proving you value your workers’ time and energy appropriately is incredibly important.
2023 is the year that candidates will explore career changes. With a rapidly changing work landscape and mass layoffs across the tech industry, candidates are looking for job roles that align with their strongest skills.
The talent acquisition industry needs to come to terms with the fact that career paths are no longer linear. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of new technologies and work arrangements such as hybrid and remote-work setups. This has enabled companies to redefine job roles and offer more flexible career options to their employees.
Thanks to technological advancements and the emergence of new job roles, candidates now have more opportunities to pursue careers that complement their skill sets. Plus, the shift towards remote work has made location less of a hiring criterion, allowing employers to tap into a larger pool of talent who may not have direct experience but possess the necessary skills to excel in a particular role.
On the other side, companies are struggling to find quality talent. According to Gartner, only 29% of new hires are highly prepared with the skills needed for their role, and only 23% are prepared with the skills needed for the future. Traditionally hiring has focused on replacing the workforce, finding candidates based on their previous experience, job titles and education. But in the midst of a skills shortage in the workforce, it’s time for talent acquisition to take a new approach: skills-based talent acquisition.
Only 29% of new hires are highly prepared with the skills needed for their role, and only 23% are prepared with the skills needed for the future
What is skills-based talent acquisition?
Skills-based hiring takes into account both soft and hard skills to evaluate candidates and doesn't eliminate qualified applicants just because they don't have the right educational background on paper.
One of the easiest ways to implement skills-based hiring is through job skills testing or an employee skills assessment. Some companies even integrate this early in the screening process to make sure they're only focusing on the most qualified candidates.
Others use it later in the talent acquisition process, especially when trying to choose the best candidate from a shortlist of two or three applicants. It's a great approach to make sure you're getting the most qualified people for the job!
Why embracing skills-based talent acquisition is a good idea
Skills-based talent acquisition allows companies to find the best talent for the job based on their abilities and potential rather than just their work experience or academic qualifications. This can lead to a more diverse workforce and bring in fresh perspectives and ideas that can help the company grow and innovate.
It can help to reduce bias in the hiring process. Traditional hiring methods often rely on factors such as education and previous job titles, which can disadvantage certain groups of people who may not have had the same opportunities or access to education. By focusing on skills, companies can level the playing field and give everyone an equal chance to showcase their abilities.
It also helps companies stay agile and adapt to changing business needs. In a rapidly evolving business landscape, it's important for companies to be able to quickly pivot and adjust their operations to stay competitive. By recruiting employees based on their skills, rather than a specific job title or role, companies can be more flexible and responsive to changing needs and requirements.
A step-by-step guide to creating a skills matrix for skills-based talent acquisition
Identify the job roles
Start by listing all the job roles you have in your organisation. These could be entry-level positions, managerial positions, or any other position that requires a specific skill set.
Identify the required skills
For each job role, identify the required skills. These could be technical skills, soft skills, or any other skills that are essential for that particular role.
Assign proficiency levels
Once you have identified the required skills, assign proficiency levels for each skill. You can use a scale of 1-5 or any other scale that works for you. For example, a proficiency level of 1 could indicate a basic understanding of the skill, while a proficiency level of 5 could indicate mastery of the skill.
Assess current employees
Assess the skills of your current employees and assign proficiency levels to each employee for each skill. This will help you identify any skills gaps that need to be addressed.
Use the matrix for talent acquisition
When recruiting new employees, use the skills matrix to evaluate their skills and determine their proficiency levels. This will help you identify the most qualified candidates for the job.
Continuously update the skills matrix
Keep the skills matrix up to date by regularly assessing the skills of your employees and updating the proficiency levels as necessary. This will help you ensure that your employees have the skills they need to succeed in their roles.
Any talent management strategy needs to be thinking about how to understand, measure and act on skills. It is no longer a nice to have, but an essential component to any organisation. This wave is happening around the world, across all industries, and functions of business. Now is the time to get serious.
Ready to start thinking about upgrading your hiring process? Speak to us today to see how we can help you.
Diverse hiring practices not only lead to a more diverse workforce, but also lead to increased creativity, improved problem-solving, and better decision-making. However, despite efforts to improve inclusive hiring, there is still a significant gap in employment rates between different demographic groups.
But, did you know that:
- Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the bottom quartile. (McKinsey & Company)
- Companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity on their executive teams were 36% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the bottom quartile. (McKinsey & Company)
- More than 3 out of 4 job seekers and employees (76%) report that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers. (Glassdoor)
Getting DE&I right is as critical as ever especially in the light of heightened sustainability/ESG requirements. Employees, customers, and investors are demanding meaningful actions and organisations and their leaders have an urgency to show tangible progress.
That's why we've developed our Guide To Inclusive Hiring.
Once you download this guide, you'll:
- Develop a better understanding of why every company needs a more inclusive hiring strategy
- Have clear and actionable steps to creating more diverse and inclusive job ads
- Develop techniques to search and source more diverse candidates
- Make your interview and selection process more inclusive
Fill in the form and receive this must-have Guide To Inclusive Hiring directly to your inbox.
While hiring freezes are being implemented worldwide and economic uncertainty continues, over 20 million people in the UK are looking for a new job, with 50% confident in securing one. That's according to LinkedIn's Jobs On The Rise list for 2023.
With so much uncertainty globally, it's easy for Talent Acquisition teams to believe that employer branding efforts should be put on the back burner. However, despite the slowdowns in hiring, 2023 looks set to remain very much a candidate-driven market, so selling yourself to candidates is still crucial.
Because while you're looking for a candidate who'll be a good fit within your organisation, they're also looking at your business to see if it's the kind of place they want to work.
So, now is a great time to start thinking about your employer brand, the image you're putting out to potential employees, and how you measure up to your competitors.
What do we mean by an employer brand?
Employer brand is how people perceive the company's values and work environment. When we say employer branding, we mean everything your company is doing – intentionally or not – to promote its unique identity as an employer among current and potential employees.
At BOOSTA, we notice companies often focus on the consumer-facing brand rather than thinking about how they are perceived by their most important audience - the people they want to hire!
Why is an employer branding strategy so important?
An employer branding strategy has become an increasingly vital tool to attract and retain top talent in a competitive job market. There are many reasons why, but we've narrowed it down to five key areas:
- Companies with strong employer brands receive 50% more qualified applicants. (LinkedIn)
- 69% of job seekers would not accept a job with a company that has a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed. (CareerArc)
- Companies with strong employer brands see a 50% decrease in cost-per-hire. (LinkedIn)
- 90% of candidates research a company before applying for a job. (CareerBuilder)
- Companies with strong employer brands have a 28% lower turnover rate. (LinkedIn)

Five strategies to improve your employer brand
Define and communicate your Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
Define what makes your company unique as an employer and why people should work for you. This should be based on your company's values, culture, benefits, and opportunities for growth and development. Once you have defined your EVP, communicate it to your employees, candidates, and the wider public. Use social media, your website, and other communication channels to showcase what it's like to work at your company.
Prioritise Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
A 2022 Deloitte report stated that 74% of millennial employees believe that a culture of inclusion fosters innovation, and 47% prefer diversity and inclusion while looking for potential employers. In addition, more than 3 out of 4 workers prefer diverse companies. This is why diverse, equal, and inclusive companies have better chances of attracting the best talent in the market.
You can read more about the essential elements of a good DEI policy here.
Invest in employee development
One reason contributing to the Great Resignation is employees feeling that there is a lack of professional development opportunities in their company. No one wants a dead-end job at a company that doesn't value its people. In a 2021 report by Monster, 45% of people surveyed said they would be more likely to stay at their current jobs if they were offered more training. Develop your employees' careers, and they'll reward you with improved performance and higher retention. Offer training programs, mentorship, and other opportunities for employees to learn and develop new skills.
Focus on employee wellbeing
People want to work in companies they feel have their best interests at heart. Not only that but investing in employee wellbeing can lead to increased resilience, better employee engagement, reduced sickness absence and higher performance and productivity. Looking after your employee's wellbeing can include creating more opportunities for a healthy work-life balance or offering perks such as healthcare coverage, wellness programmes and mental health resources.
Be authentic
Gone are the days when professionals were solely attracted to big corporate brands due to their reputation. Nowadays, talent evaluates potential employers based on their unique cultures, presenting an opportunity for any business to attract the best candidates.
To attract the right talent, it's essential that you focus on creating an authentic culture that aligns with your mission, vision, and values - your non-negotiables. By looking inward and building a culture that truly reflects what your company stands for, you can attract talent that is a good fit and shares your values.
These strategies can help you to improve your employer brand and attract the right candidates for your business.
The next step is to see how BOOSTA can help you deliver an exceptional candidate experience. Get in touch today to see how we can help you.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) - it’s a phrase we hear more and more of every day in Talent Acquisition. But, it’s not just a buzzword. It has a huge impact on the most important element of your company; your employees.
A diverse and inclusive workplace makes everyone, regardless of who they are or what they do for the business, feel equally involved in and supported in all areas of the workplace.
What do Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mean?
Diversity
Diversity refers to the differences among people, such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, ability, and socioeconomic status. Embracing diversity means recognising and valuing these differences and creating an environment where everyone feels welcome and respected.
Equity
Equity means ensuring that everyone has access to the same opportunities and resources, regardless of their background or identity. This means actively working to eliminate systemic barriers that have historically disadvantaged certain groups of people. Equity is different from equality in a small but important way. While equality assumes that all people should be treated the same, equity takes into consideration a person's unique circumstances, adjusting treatment accordingly so that the end result is equal.
Inclusion
Inclusion is the practice of making people feel a sense of belonging at work and how an organisation can embrace all employees from all walks of life to enable them to make meaningful contributions.
Combining these three elements, DE&I is an ethos that recognises the value of diverse voices and emphasises inclusivity and employee well-being as central facets of success. To bring those values to life, companies must implement programs and initiatives that actively make their offices more diverse, equitable and inclusive spaces.
What is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy?
A diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy is a set of guidelines and commitments that an organisation or company adopts to ensure that all individuals, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability status, or any other personal characteristic, are treated with respect and fairness in the workplace.
The policy typically outlines the organisation's values, principles, and strategies for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as specific actions and initiatives that will be taken to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment.
Why should a company have a DEI policy in place?
A DEI policy is no longer just a nice-to-have or an add-on for a business. Your employees and candidates expect you to have robust policies in place. According to a survey conducted by Glassdoor in 2019, 76% of employees and job seekers consider a company's diversity and inclusion efforts when deciding where to work. Additionally, a survey by Harvard Business Review in 2020 found that 67% of job seekers consider a company's diversity and inclusion policies when evaluating job opportunities.
But it's more than just job seekers who want to see where you stand regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. So here are a few more reasons to get your DEI policy up to scratch:
Retaining a diverse workforce
Once you've attracted good employees, you want to keep them around. Research has shown that employees are more likely to stay with companies that prioritise DEI, and a diverse workforce can bring various perspectives and ideas that can help drive innovation and business success.
Promoting a positive workplace culture
A DEI policy can help create a more positive and inclusive workplace culture that values and respects all employees. This can lead to greater employee satisfaction, engagement, and productivity.
Meeting customer and client expectations
Customers and clients increasingly demand that the companies they do business with prioritise DEI. A company with a strong DEI policy can demonstrate its commitment to these values and build stronger relationships with its customers and clients.
Supporting social responsibility
As businesses play an increasingly important role in society, many companies recognise the importance of supporting social responsibility initiatives. A DEI policy can be part of these efforts, demonstrating a company's commitment to creating a more just and equitable society.
The essential elements of any good Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy
At BOOSTA, we've seen our share of DEI policies. And we've noticed some essential elements that make up a good one:
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
The policy should clearly state the organisation's commitment to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace.
Definitions
The policy should define key terms such as diversity, inclusion, equity, discrimination, and harassment to ensure that all employees understand the meaning of these concepts.
Scope and Applicability
The policy should specify the scope of the policy and to whom it applies. Whether the policy applies to all employees, contractors, suppliers, and customers should be clear.
Prohibited Conduct
The policy should clearly outline what conduct is not permitted, including any form of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation based on an individual's race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Reporting Mechanisms
The policy should outline how employees can report incidents of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation and the process for investigating and addressing such reports.
Training
The policy should require regular employee training on diversity, inclusion, and related topics to increase awareness and understanding of these issues.
Accountability
The policy should establish accountability for all employees to ensure they are responsible for creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and that there are consequences for violating the policy.
Continuous Improvement
The policy should include a commitment to continuously improving diversity and inclusion within the organisation by setting goals, measuring progress, and regularly reviewing the policy.
Ready to learn more about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? Download our Inclusion 101 guide to learn how to make your hiring processes more inclusive.
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