The Future of Talent Acquisition 2022-23

Strategies, practices and technologies for building the future workforce

Global workplaces will continue to transform driven by new technologies, changing business paradigms, evolving societal needs, and more.
 

A pandemic, then an upsurge in hiring along with massive employee resignations, followed by large increases in U.S. jobs despite two quarters of negative GDP growth and high inflation rates - the world of work has witnessed a lot over the past couple of years!

It’s hard to predict the future of hiring amid such turbulence. Today’s talent acquisition (TA) professionals need to take several factors into account in order to perform their jobs well.

To help them keep abreast of what’s happening, the HR Research Institute conducted a study on the current state and near-term future of talent acquisition to understand:
1.    the capability and maturity of today’s talent acquisition functions
2.    the drivers and challenges facing TA
3.    TA metrics and analytics
4.    TA tools and technologies
5.    predictions of what may happen next
6.    characteristics and practices that differentiate the organizations that excel at TA from the organizations that don’t.

Here are the key findings from the study:

Finding #1: Half of respondents view talent acquisition as either essential or pivotal

In half of the organizations surveyed, talent acquisition is seen to be either the most important human capital priority (26%) or among their organizations’ top three human capital priorities (24%). Larger organizations are more likely to view TA as a priority. While 71% of respondents in large organizations say TA is pivotal or essential, just over half (57%) in mid-size organizations and two-fifths of respondents (41%) in small organizations say the same.

Finding #2: The need to backfill to replace workers who have exited the organization is seen as the most influential factor driving TA strategies and activities

Seventy percent of respondents cite the need to backfill to replace workers who have exited as the most influential factor affecting TA strategies or activities. Similarly, 53% point to voluntary and involuntary employee attrition.

Finding #3: Just 19% of organizations have talent acquisition functions that are world-class or advanced

Only 5% of respondents describe their talent acquisition function as “world-class” and just 14% describe it as “advanced.” The low percentages of TA functions indicate that most organizations have yet to master the art of talent acquisition. That is, their systems do not tend to be proactive, strategically aligned and a source of competitive business advantage.

A large plurality of respondents (44%), however, feels their talent acquisition functions are at least “established,” meaning that they have standard HR-driven TA systems/processes. These departments are doing the basic job, even if they are not excelling at it.

Finding #4: Three-fifths of organizations see the lack of candidates with required skills or experience as the top challenge for TA

Lack of candidates with required skills or experience is seen as the biggest challenge (60%) facing the TA function. Further, highly skilled candidates are often fielding offers from multiple organizations, making recruitment even more challenging.  

Finding #5: Fewer than half (47%) rate their talent acquisition capabilities as top notch or above average

Forty seven percent of respondents said their TA capabilities were either top-notch (8%) or above average (39%). Although this also indicates that there is still considerable room for improvement, a substantial majority (87%) indicate that their organizations have average or above capabilities.