What is talent acquisition specialist?

In this blog post we discover, what is talent acquisition specialist.

Every business needs employees and it's the responsibility of talent Acquisition Specialists to find and recruit candidates that fit the job description.

Introduction

As an HR specialist, it's important for you to make good hiring decisions. In particular, your chief responsibility is recruiting new talent.

Hiring is a complex process and a bad hire can be costly for your company. Leveraging the skills of a talented professional in this area will not only save you time and money, but can also help you find the best candidates for your open positions.

Overview of the role of a Talent Acquisition Specialist

A Talent Acquisition Specialist (TAS) plays a vital role in the company's recruiting process. They collaborate with HR and other departments to handle the full life cycle of recruiting, as well as help manage legal compliance.

What is a TAS?

A talent specialist is someone who hand-picks employees who already meet the job requirements and will not necessarily require additional training.

If a company is not going to take the time (and money) to train new employees properly, they might go find someone who's already trained with a talent acquisition specialist.

Usually, they work in industries where the market for jobs changes quickly, so they need to consider an employee’s ability to move into different positions as well.

What are the responsibilities of a TAS?

The responsibilities of a talent acquisition specialist can be broadly defined as the management of the hiring process. This includes sourcing and screening potential candidates, making offers to those that meet the requirements, and following up with the new hires.

The talent acquisition specialist is responsible for finding, attracting and hiring people to work within the company. They must collaborate with other departments such as human resources, accounting, legal and administrative in order to ensure that they are following the company's hiring process.

Skills and Experience needed to be a TAS

Talent acquisition specialists are responsible for hiring high-talent employees for their company. They need to be able to find the best candidates for the job, and then convince them to come work for their company. This is a very important job because the people that they hire will be working in their company for a long time.

The skills and experience needed to be a talent acquisition specialist depend on what kind of specialisation they have. There are many different types of talent acquisition specialists, including:

• Generalist talent acquisition specialist
• HR Generalist
• Inside sales recruiter

What is a Generalist talent acquisition specialist?

A generalist talent acquisition specialist is a recruiter who has a broad knowledge of different industries and functions. They collaborate with hiring managers to find qualified candidates for open positions, as well as find recruiting solutions for the company.

What is a human resources generalist?

A human resources generalist is a professional who manages the day-to-day operations of a human resource department. HR generalists are responsible for administrative HR duties such as employee relations, benefits administration, labour relations and more.

What is an inside sales recruiter?

Inside sales recruiters are a crucial cog in the machine of any company selling products and services. They are responsible for finding and hiring the best talent to represent a company's brand, sell its goods and services, and help generate revenue.

Key skills for a talent acquisitions specialist

A talent acquisition specialist is a vital part of any company's HR team. They are the first point of contact for any queries related to recruitment. They are responsible for sourcing, screening and assessing candidates and handling the entire recruitment process with candidates. So it is no surprise that they need certain key skills to do their job effectively.

Qualities and characteristics of a TAS

Being a Talent Acquisition Specialist can be a challenge. You must remain courteous and friendly at all times because you represent the company's face to potential hires. Hiring great candidates is hard enough. Ensure a good candidate experience and you're more likely to get them on your team. That being said, a reputation for rudeness is never good in the close-knit industry this job is found. A bad experience with your talent acquisition specialist may result in fewer applicants.

The salary range for TAS

The salary of a talent acquisition specialist is determined by the size of the company they work for and the years of experience they have in their field.

However, the average Talent Acquisition Specialist's salary in the United Kingdom is £37,030.

The talent acquisition specialist vs. the recruiter

The talent acquisition specialist is a different type of recruiter. They are not focused on the task of finding new hires, but instead, they are focused on the task of acquiring talent.

You might think that the role of a talent acquisition specialist would be very similar to a recruiter given their shared responsibility in sourcing and hiring new talent. However, there are important distinctions between the two.

The difference between recruitment and talent acquisition is as follows:

Recruitment is about quickly finding someone to fill a specific open position, while talent acquisition focuses on finding the right person for the long term- which means hiring for skills and qualifications over time.

Effective talent acquisition usually involves ample planning. It takes time to fill specialised roles. And talent acquisition people must account for this ahead of time and begin the hiring process early.

Talent acquisition specialists also have a different set of skills than recruiters and as such, they will be more inclined to spend their time on activities that recruiters would not. For example, they may spend more time analysing data to find potential candidates and less time trying to sell to people in person or through cold calling.

Essentially, recruitment is a numbers game. That's because it typically involves jobs that don't require specialised skills and are available to people just about anywhere in the world. Whereas talent acquisition specialists get involved when there's a specific need for certain skills that aren't common or where the candidate isn't necessarily from the same part of the world.

An example can be found in tech.

Due to the highly competitive nature of the tech industries, there are many companies that have specific needs that can only be filled by very talented individuals.

Talent acquisition specialist job description 

A talent acquisition specialist is responsible for the daily operations of recruitment. They are in charge of sourcing, screening, interviewing, and hiring candidates to fill open positions.

They are responsible for solving problems related to the recruitment of candidates for open positions. This specialist must be able to evaluate and rank applicants based on a number of characteristics, including skills and experience.

Successful specialists will use long-term strategies to recruit new employees, instead of focusing on the current vacancies. They work with the department heads and HR to make hiring plans that will promote business in the future.

The following qualifications are recommended for a talent acquisition specialist position:

• employment law knowledge and flexibility to learn and follow new developments.
• HR/recruiting capacity industry experience.
• Industry qualifications in the form of a bachelor's degree or the equivalent qualification.
• Interviewing, hiring, and candidate evaluation advising to management
• Job description creation
• Candidate screening skills
• Candidate sourcing skills
• Applicant tracking systems experience.
• Recruitment administrative duties, reporting to internal clients and governmental agencies
• Serve on the succession planning team
• Liaise with HR on compensation packages for new job roles and hires.
• Provide guidance and forecasting for future hiring needs.

Conclusion

A talent acquisition specialist has the job of sourcing and attracting the best of the best. In a nutshell, their role is to find top-notch candidates for the organisation's open positions.

They strive to find potential employees who will represent the company in a positive manner and meet its needs for long-term success. The specialist will work with various departments in order to ensure that all hiring needs are being met

If you’re interested in finding out more about recruitment, take a look at our blog post on the 3 types of interviews here.