How Talent Acquisition Solutions Support In-House Recruiting

By Jackie Miehle, Aston Carter Solutions Director, Managed Solutions and Ken Heydt, Aston Carter Account Development Executive, Strategic Sales

Taking a Broader Look at the Talent Acquisition Process

Third-party talent acquisition (TA) solutions and internal recruitment teams share a common goal: finding and retaining top talent to support your organization. However, they aren’t interchangeable. Each brings unique strengths to the recruitment process that complement the other, making collaborative recruiting the most efficient way to find talent.

While there’s overlap between the roles of a talent acquisition solutions partner and an in-house recruitment team, there are differences between the two. Internal recruitment generally focuses on recruiting and screening external and internal candidates. In addition, the internal recruiter will take on relationship responsibilities with the hiring manager along with owning the recruitment process and administration workstream, which is typical of a corporate recruiter role.

A TA partner, on the other hand, could take on a broader scope, leveraging a wide range of sourcing channels, candidate attraction strategies, local market knowledge and critical touchpoints associated with retaining and engaging top talent.

Filling Gaps to Support Internal Recruitment Efforts

A strategic talent acquisition partnership and in-house recruiting teams bring valuable skills and experience to the table. Third-party TA solutions don’t need to replace an internal recruiting team, rather they can support and complement in-house recruiting, freeing up time and resources that internal recruitment teams can use to support niche roles, strategic TA initiatives or focus on optimizing key elements of the recruitment process.

Third-party TA solutions can offer strategies that make them integral to recruiting efforts by extending the sourcing function, targeting direct and indirect competitors, specific markets and candidate communities, finding qualified talent, improving the candidate experience and offering scalable hiring solutions.

A Proactive Approach to Recruiting

In-house recruiting teams are typically kept busy filling a wide range of open positions across the company. This often means they need to be reactive, rather than proactive, in their recruitment strategies.

This is one of the key areas where a third-party TA solution can make a major difference. Talent acquisition partners are constantly recruiting regardless of if there is an immediate need, building candidate pipelines and dynamic talent communities that they can tap into whenever needed. This proactive strategy means that as soon as a position opens, they already have the talent readily available. This helps ensure your company has access to talent with the required expertise in times of need.

Improving the Candidate Experience Through Enhanced Processes

Bringing in professionals to increase capacity has benefits beyond the recruiting process. Third-party talent acquisition solutions can offer candidates a more personalized hiring and onboarding experience, which in turn supports retention efforts.

Thirty-one percent of new hires are likely to leave in the first six months. A candidate’s onboarding experience, however, can have a big impact on their willingness to stay with a company. This makes creating an efficient, high-touch experience early a crucial step in retaining top talent.

When employees receive support early, it can help them transition more easily into their new roles. This is especially true when their initial training and onboarding includes personalized experiences that can help build relationships and integrate employees into the company culture, further increasing employee engagement. Third-party TA partners can offer enhanced processes and additional services, like customized onboarding and training services to help set workers up for success from day one, reducing the likelihood of early attrition.

Providing Specialized Industry Expertise

In-house recruitment teams are responsible for hiring employees across the entire company, and they’re often required to have a broad knowledge of various sectors and roles. A third-party talent acquisition partner, on the other hand, can provide specific industry knowledge and specializations, making them subject matter experts in their field who can further support internal recruiting teams.

Need a financial analyst? How about a creative and marketing professional? Oftentimes, a third-party TA partner has a deep familiarity with their field, helping them build curated candidate pipelines that cater to specialized skill sets. They can also provide recommendations based on current market expectations and standards. Having an outside perspective can add insight on market conditions or, due to vast experience working with a variety of companies, can provide value to your internal teams in areas where they may be lacking the expertise, time and technology.

Offering Scalable Solutions

One of the biggest strengths talent acquisition partners bring to an in-house recruiting team is their ability to flex and scale in real-time. Leveraging onshore and offshore recruitment delivery center platforms, facilitating proactive recruitment and access to a vast network of qualified talent, a talent acquisitions partner can help you quickly meet large-scale hiring requirements and increase recruiting bandwidth for an indefinite period. This can be especially beneficial for companies who find themselves with significant hiring ramp-ups during peak seasons, a limited internal team or have interest in outsourcing components of the recruiting process to a third-party partner.

Talent acquisition solutions can also assess existing or build new processes related to the recruitment process to effectively attract, onboard and retain new talent — lessening the burden on both internal recruitment and management teams.

Aston Carter Provides a Collaborative Partnership with Your In-House Recruiting Team

A true talent acquisition partner is collaborative, consultative and fully aligned to the goals of your company.

At Aston Carter, we believe the relationship between a company and a third-party talent acquisition solutions provider should be a true partnership. We offer a customizable experience to meet your business’s specific needs and goals. Our agile, strategic approach is driven by data and market intelligence to deliver innovative and forward-thinking processes and services that deliver real results. Additionally, our candidate-first strategy ensures a positive candidate experience that supports overall retention efforts, helping you find and keep the talent you need.

Contact Aston Carter today to explore our talent acquisition solutions offerings.