difference between talent acquisition and recruitment

“Nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies.” – Lawrence Bossidy, Former COO of General Electric

Talent acquisition vs recruitment have been a confusing concept for many generations who are in the workspace at this point of time. With time talent acquisition has played an imperative role in catering the required skilled hands for the organization.  It is evident that talent acquisition has its own ways to cater talent and build a healthy team. The difference between talent acquisition and recruitment can help gain better insight on the roles. 

The question that often pops in any such discussion is “what is the definition of recruitment and talent acquisition ?”

 To simplify the journey of recruitment vs talent acquisition, let’s begin with the definition, 


What is recruitment?

The process that involves searching, evaluation and hiring of the best fit candidate in accordance with the requirements of the organization. Recruitment aims at helping the workforce to attain the required candidates that can be an asset to the organization. Recruitment aims in fulfilling the short term needs of the organization. 

This is the basic definition of recruitment. Whereas talent acquisition aims in scaling out the candidates and building a healthy team. 


To define talent acquisition, 

Talent acquisition has similar aims. As it works in finding the best candidate for the employee. Recruitment tends to be a short term solution, that hires candidates based on their skills. 

On the other hand, talent acquisition is a long term process wherein the team strategically aims in attracting well skilled employees.  It aims at building a dynamic approach for the organization. For instance, talent acquisition frames tests and assignments for the candidates to scale the potential. Later on it plans a strategic journey that can upscale the skills of the employee for better results. 

To scale out the differences between talent acquisition and recruitment :

Recruitment is an action that is a tactic to resolve issues of short term time. 

Talent acquisition is a strategy, an ongoing process making the organization a healthy place for growth and development. 

Let’s a few elements that helps in differentiating between recruitment and talent acquisition :


Networking 

It is evident for the teams to have an extensive network to stay connected with the employees and hire talent. Recruiters aim in scaling candidates who are seeking jobs on an immediate note. 

Talent acquisition aims in building a strong network to track the potential streak of candidates and work on resources to upscale skills that can later on become an asset to the entire organization. 


Referrals

There are many surveys that highlight the fact that nearly half of the employees are hired via reference from the existing employees. An attractive referral program works for the recruitment team and the talent acquisition team as well. 


Job onboarding portals

As said by our ancient generation, traditions are here to preserve. One such portal is the job searching portals. It helps the candidates that are looking for job track opportunities with extensive research. This portal even asist the talent acquisition team to reach out the potential candidates that can be an asset to the organization in future. 


Brand marketing 

Talent acquisition team aims in making the workplace of the organization as the most attractive workplace for candidates. It works in promoting the workplace and the brand which provides opportunities for growth and development. 

These are a few elements that help in gaining better insight on the difference between talent acquisition and recruitment. As it is often searched “ talent acquisition vs recruitment”, both aim in building a healthy workforce. However talent acquisition aims in building a healthy workplace which provides upscaling skills of the existing employees. With an evolving culture of work it is imperative to work on the existing employees with newer opportunities.

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