8 Innovative Talent Acquisition Strategies (+ 6 Best Practices) to Secure Top Talent

Talent is scarce in the working world. 75% of employers worldwide report difficulties filling roles in 2024, up from just 36% a decade ago, according to Manpower research. The same report highlights collaboration and teamwork as the most difficult soft skills for employers to source, while IT and data are the top technical skills required. 

Companies can improve their chances of securing the best candidates by developing effective talent acquisition strategies. This guide offers eight strategy examples and six best practices to keep the top-tier applications rolling in. 

What is talent acquisition?

Talent acquisition is the process of identifying talent needs within your organization and sourcing the best people to fill those open positions. Usually, this means working on your short-term and long-term talent acquisition strategies simultaneously. This is where talent acquisition overlaps with recruitment—the two terms are often used interchangeably. 

Recruiters take immediate steps to source candidates for recent vacancies and fulfill an immediate need. Talent acquisition specialists also do this while focusing on developing a strong employer brand that job seekers are naturally attracted to. In this way, talent acquisition focuses more on the bigger picture. 

Why invest in a strong employer brand?

An employer brand is the way that current, past, and potential employees perceive and reflect on your company as an employer. All companies have an employer brand, even if they don’t actively work on it. Here are the top reasons to invest in yours: 

1. Attract better candidates 

Social media technology company Buffer is famous for offering a fantastic company culture, working four-day weeks, and enforcing a minimum time-off policy of three weeks to ensure every employee gets the rest they need. As a result of this strong employer brand, Buffer attracts a large number of exceptional applicants for every role they advertise. For example: 

• 657 people applied for the Staff Product Manager role 
• 564 people applied for the Senior Engineering Manager role 
• 516 people applied for the Marketing UX Designer role 
• 1,518 people applied in the first week alone for the Content Writer role 

Hailley Griffis, Buffer’s current Head of Communications and Content, applied three times before securing her role there. Imagine if your company had a similar amount of top talent banging down the doors to work for you—that’s the strength of employer branding. 

2. Fill vacancies faster 

A strong employer brand will also help your talent acquisition team fill vacancies faster. When people don’t hesitate to send in their resumes, fill out an application form, or recommend your job ad to a colleague, your team can start moving the best people through your hiring funnel and extend offers quickly. 

3. Reduce staff turnover 

Employees working for an organization with a positive employer brand want to be there. They know how lucky they are to have secured a role with a company that cares about them, and they’re not interested in seeking greener pastures. 

4. Improve reputation with customers 

Customers want to know that the companies they buy from are decent, ethical employers. The results of a 10-year analysis found that a 1-star improvement in an employer’s Glassdoor company rating (out of 5) resulted in a 1.3-point improvement in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. 

8 common talent acquisition strategies

Gain all these benefits by developing a successful talent acquisition strategy that incorporates some of the following ideas: 

1. Use in-house recruitment teams for specialized roles 

Filling specialist roles requires an intricate understanding of the position, the skills it requires, and how the role fits into the overall team. In-house recruiters understand the nuance of these roles and can work with the hiring manager to flesh out relevant job descriptions and ads before combing through incoming applications.  

Example: If your company needs to hire a Senior React Developer, an in-house recruiter can filter out people who have only worked with Angular or Vue.js. They’ll know the right questions to ask applicants and use specific terminology that signals those skills in the position announcement. 

2. Lean on third-party recruiters 

Internal recruiters aren’t the best fit for every situation, though. Outsourcing may be a viable alternative if you can’t spare the time to source, screen, and interview qualified candidates. External recruitment agencies usually charge a percentage fee equal to 15-25% of the employee’s first-year salary, which can be a significant investment. Yet, third-party recruiters often deliver quality and speed if you have an immediate need for talent.  

3. Set up employee referral programs 

Employee referral programs work on the basis that your existing employees may be connected to even more highly talented potential employees in their networks. To tap into this potential pipeline, companies may offer their employees a referral fee if they successfully introduce someone who is hired into an open role. 

Note: Employee referral programs may form part of a successful talent acquisition program but can also harm your DEIB initiatives. If your existing workforce is made up of white men aged between 25 and 45 years of age, there’s a high chance that their referrals may belong to a similar demographic. 

Example: Intel overcomes this problem by offering a referral bonus for current employees who introduce minorities, women, and veterans who are hired by the company. 

4. Create university partnerships and intern programs 

University partnerships can create a steady stream of interns and graduates who are keen to get their foot in the door or gain practical experience. Some companies hire exclusively from specific universities, while others focus on developing relationships with several institutions. 

Example: Google offers a wide range of worldwide internships in engineering, business, and technology. Interested candidates can attend a virtual career fair to learn more about the opportunities available. 

5. Consider a mixed workforce 

Talent acquisition often focuses on sourcing people for full-time roles. But that’s far from the only way to build a highly skilled workforce capable of meeting your organizational goals. 

Instead, companies may use a blended ensemble of freelancers, contractors, and part-time and full-time workers to plug skills gaps and take business to the next level. Talent acquisition teams are still essential to identifying the skills and capabilities needed for these non-traditional roles, but they must adapt their approach to account for different hiring processes and compensation packages. For example, freelancers won’t be eligible for employee benefits but may command a higher day rate than salaried employees. 

6. Encourage internal mobility 

External hires aren’t the only ways to fill roles. Companies can save money and improve employee retention rates by hiring top talent from within their existing org charts. This strategy relies on building an environment where workers have the opportunity to continuously develop their skills, access training, and rise through the ranks. 

The payoff? According to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report, companies with a strong learning culture enjoy a 57% higher retention rate than those without. 

7. Develop a talent pool 

Imagine a goldmine of high-quality candidates you could approach whenever you have a fresh vacancy. An employee talent pool is a pre-vetted group of potential candidates interested in working for your company. The pool could include: 

• People who have expressed interest in working for your company 
• People you’ve headhunted to keep in touch with 
• People who were shortlisted but not offered employment
• Former employees  

Maintaining and adding to your talent pool is key to reducing time-to-fill and improving your chances of finding the ideal candidate. You can build your pool through employee referrals, networking events, and previous applicants. 

Note: Talent pools are valuable assets, but they can quickly become outdated and irrelevant. Keep in touch with potential candidates regularly by sending them updates about your company or inviting them to events.

8. Activate social media 

Professional social media platforms like LinkedIn are the natural place to engage interest in your open roles. Here are some ways to attract candidates and strengthen your employer brand: 

• Use your company account to post the latest vacancies
• Encourage employees to share their positive experiences working for you 
• Spotlight employees going the extra mile for your organization 
• Share news about your latest company retreat or team bonding activities 
• Filter through profiles to find suitable candidates and send them personalized messages about relevant vacancies 

6 talent acquisition best practices

Whether you focus on a single talent acquisition strategy or a mix, weave these best practices into your processes. 

1. Take a data-driven approach 

Collect meaningful data at every stage of your talent acquisition process to drive your decision-making and determine what’s working well. 

Example: If your data reveals you need to attract more applications, you might widen the net by posting to a different set of job boards or encouraging your team members to share your job ad on social media. 

2. Prioritize the candidate experience 

But talent acquisition isn’t just about numbers. It’s about the real-life humans pressing “Submit” on those applications—the people who have invested time and energy in your recruitment process, often on top of working another full-time role.

Unfortunately, candidate ghosting is prevalent—8 out of 10 hiring managers have ignored candidates after they’ve applied. Of these, 34% do so due to ongoing decision-making, while 33% are overwhelmed by the high volume of applications, according to Resume Genius data.

Every candidate who applies for a role at your organization deserves the respect of receiving communication from you. Make it a priority to provide ongoing feedback, explaining their stage in the hiring process, what will happen next, and when you plan to make a decision. 

3. Stay organized 

Being able to deliver an exceptional candidate experience relies on your ability to stay organized—a challenging task when you’re overridden with applications. Talent acquisition software enables you to keep everything organized by: 

• Building custom application stages
• Gaining visibility into your hiring funnel 
• Storing all candidate information in a central location, including resumes, assessment scores, work samples, etc. 
• Automating important application updates 
• Tracking communication with candidates 
• Discussing applications with your hiring committee 

4. Make talent acquisition collaborative 

Traditional recruitment practices can be frustratingly siloed. A manager receives a resignation from an employee and responds by asking the hiring team to fill the open role.  They don’t confer with the team about which skills they need, who else could join their team, or ways to evolve the role to align better with adjacent departments. 

This is a missed opportunity for collaboration and innovation. Instead, consider collaborating with the following people to make your talent acquisition efforts more efficient and fruitful: 

• Team members of the open role (you’ll need their buy-in) 
• Managers of adjacent teams to identify opportunities for a lateral move
• People within your company who have expressed interest in new challenges or career advancements 

5. Align talent acquisition with your DEIB initiatives 

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) should be prioritized throughout every facet of your organization. Talent acquisition is an important entry point, ensuring you attract a diverse selection of candidates for each role you advertise, then provide an equitable experience at every stage of your hiring process.

Many traditional talent acquisition practices are riddled with bias, but there are some techniques you can use to ensure a level playing field for all: 

• Post your job ads on specialized job boards, including those aimed at working parents, different ethnicities, and people seeking remote-first roles. 
• Scrutinize your job postings for words or phrases that might discourage particular groups from applying, such as “rockstar” or “ninja.”
• Ensure diverse representation on your hiring panel. 
• Anonymize candidate resumes to combat unconscious bias during screening and interviewing processes.
• Use skills-based testing or work samples to assess candidates rather than relying solely on resumes and interviews. 
• Create structured interviews with a consistent set of questions and assessments for every candidate to reduce bias as you compare answers. 

6. Entice candidates with a cutting-edge benefits package

You could be offering an exciting role with plenty of career growth opportunities as part of a thriving team. But if you can’t offer an enticing compensation package, you may struggle to convert a jobseeker’s initial interest into an offer of acceptance from a top-tier candidate. 

Don’t underestimate the importance of a competitive salary, backed by a comprehensive benefits package, that truly supports your employees’ whole selves. Your package should include core elements such as health insurance and retirement plans but also encompass a full range of employee perks and benefits focused on wellness, family and childcare, career development, work-life balance, and more. 

Tip: Download our 2024 Benepass Benefits Benchmarking Guide to understand how other companies in your industry use exceptional benefits to entice top talent. 

How to measure your talent acquisition success

Talent acquisition metrics measure how things are going right now, shining a light on any areas you may need to improve. It’s also helpful to track specific metrics over a set period, perhaps quarterly or annually, to measure the success of your ongoing talent acquisition strategies. Some popular metrics include:

• Time to hire: The time it takes from posting a job to making an offer 
• Time to fill: How long it takes to fill a role from the time it becomes open 
• Cost per hire: The cost of filling one open position in your organization
• Acceptance rate: The percentage of candidates who accept job offers
• Candidate experience: How candidates rate their overall experience with your company during the hiring process—you might collect a range of qualitative and quantitative data for this metric; for example, using a survey with both scores and open-text questions
• Retention rate: How many employees stay with your organization over a given period
• Offer acceptance: The percentage of candidates who accept job offers

While the exact calculation method will vary depending on the metric you’re tracking, expect it to involve a variation of the following: 

1. Define the metric you want to track, for example, time to fill.
2. Choose how you’ll track it, for example, using recruitment software or manual tracking. 
3. Collect data over a set period. 
4. Calculate the average result.
5. Compare this with your goals and benchmarks to determine areas for improvement.
6. Implement strategies based on your findings. 
7. Continue tracking and reassessing regularly to monitor progress and make further improvements as needed.

Attract and retain top talent with Benepass

Benepass is a people-first benefits administration platform that’s the perfect accompaniment to an effective talent acquisition strategy. 

Based on your company’s benefits goals, Benepass allows you to create a versatile mix of pre- and post-tax benefits that will attract and retain the best talent in the market. Choose from health insurance, lifestyle spending accounts, wellness, family and childcare, meal, commuter benefits, and so much more.

Our platform scores an impressive 4.8 out of 5 with the G2 software user community—here’s how one reviewer describes it: 

“Benepass is super easy and friendly for employees to use. The app gives you a notification when funds, and how much, have been deposited into your account. All transactions are easily accessible on the app so you always know what your balance is and where you have spent money. Benepass gives you a virtual card to use or you can request a physical card; either way, it is easy to pay for medical services, and if you by chance do not have your card and have to pay out of pocket, you can easily take a picture of your valid receipt and submit to Benepass and get reimbursed within days for those out-of-pocket funds.

From the employer’s side, it is very easy to submit employee deductions on the website. You create a file in the format requested and import it. Benepass sends notifications whenever they draw funds so you can easily book your withdrawal to cover usage. When we implemented Benepass and we had questions, the customer service was always quick to respond and keep us on the right path. The customer service people that I have dealt with have always been so nice and helpful.”

Ready to see our flexible platform in action? Book a free Benepass demo today or contact sales@getbenepass.com to connect with a benefits specialist.