what is talent acquisition

Talent acquisition refers to the strategies, programs, and processes used to identify, recruit, and retain qualified job candidates at an organization. It encompasses the entire process of hiring, from sourcing candidates to offer management, and is more than just recruitment. Talent acquisition is an ongoing effort to find specialists, leaders, and executives for a company, and it factors in an organizations long-term goals, acknowledging that people (or talent) can play a huge role in a companys future successes. Unlike simply filling seats, talent acquisition is an ongoing process that tends to identify and vet appropriate candidates for executive-level positions, leadership roles, and jobs that require specialized training. The talent acquisition team is responsible for identifying, acquiring, assessing, and hiring candidates to fill open positions within a company. Employer branding, future resource planning, diversifying a companys labor force, and developing a robust candidate pipeline are the cornerstones of talent acquisition. The skill sets of effective talent acquisition professionals include sourcing strategies, candidate assessment, compliance and hiring standards, and fluency in employment branding practices and corporate hiring initiatives.