Talent acquisition is a strategic process that employers use to analyze their long-term talent needs in the context of business goals, identify and develop the best talent sources, then execute the strategy by recruiting, evaluating, and onboarding candidates. It is a function of the HR department working in close collaboration with talent acquisition specialists, with input from senior executives. The talent acquisition team is responsible for identifying, acquiring, assessing, and hiring candidates to fill open positions within a company.

Key features of talent acquisition include:

• Long-term planning: Talent acquisition departments focus more on long-term human resources planning rather than short-term labor demands.

• Talent pipeline: Talent acquisition is viewed as a long-term, proactive approach to creating a talent pipeline.

• Specialized skill sets: Certain roles, like senior executives and individuals with highly-specialized skill sets, can generally only be sourced through talent acquisition.

Talent acquisition is often seen as a strategic approach to the early stages of talent management, the process employers use in hiring, deploying, training, evaluating, and compensating employees. It is different from recruitment, which is simply the act of filling near-term vacancies across an organization.

The responsibilities of a talent acquisition specialist include building a qualified and diverse team of employees, organizing and attending recruitment and networking events, conferences, and job fairs, and developing a robust candidate pipeline. Effective collaboration, clear communication, and the use of technology are essential for successful talent acquisition.

In some cases, the talent acquisition team is part of an organization’s Human Resources department, while in others, Talent Acquisition is its own department that works in coordination with HR. 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.