DIY: 3 Steps to Doing Your Own Talent Acquisition Audit

You've read enough articles - and as a business leader, you've personally experienced - the dramatic changes to the talent marketplace across nearly every industry. On the extremes, some industries have shedded tens of thousands of jobs while others seem to be continually hiring. Everyone in the middle is experiencing disruption due to skills shortages, creeping attrition, new hire no-shows, return to office demands, and the ever-present financial pressures that often end with workforce reductions. In all cases however, companies must streamline and improve their ability to hire and retain high performing employees.

Based on our two decades of experience completing Talent Acquisition audits across dozens of industries, we recommend these three rules of thumb when auditing your own recruiting function:

1. Start with (but don’t over-index on) qualitative research.

In the context of a recruitment audit, the goal of qualitative research is to identify trends in thoughts and opinions about how talent acquisition is working across the organization (or a targeted area of the business.) The intent, therefore, is not to talk with or survey every person who interacts with talent acquisition (which, let’s face it, could be almost everyone in the organization) – but rather to gain insights from individuals who represent key stakeholder groups. With that in mind:

2. Include analysis of quantitative data.

Many believe that TA data is hard to access or is inaccurate. And they're often right. Factors impedes hiring data accuracy include TA technologies often aren’t integrated, applicant tracking systems aren’t used properly or consistently, varying data sets and definitions of recruiting metrics, to name a few. Despite these challenges though, there are ways to get directionally accurate data. From our TA Auditing experience, here are some recommendations:

3. Determine where the greatest process and tech pain points are.

Data points will identify the priorities for auditing your recruiting processes and techologies. When completed a 'self-audit', consider the following steps:

Even the best-intended Talent Acquisition leaders are likely to find themselves in a situation in which motives are questioned at the conclusion of a do-it-yourself recruitment audit. It can be painful to hear negative feedback but, that's typically why an audit needs to be done in the first place. As long as the effort is structured, genuine, balanced and objective, it's worth doing. If the capacity and capability doesn't exist within your org to undertake a DIY recruiting audit effort, hire outside experts like us. Results and recommendations of an audit often indicate next steps such as considering a new TA strategy, redesigning the recruiting process, configuring technology differently, agreeing on new and prioritized metrics and measures, and determing when the org can expect to see a return on investment related to their TA changes. In any even, be prepared to proactive address legitimate concerns – Is he trying to build an even bigger TA team? Didn’t we just buy new technology a few years ago? Why does she think another recruitment marketing campaign will change anything? What about using AI to make hiring decisions? These can be difficult to address. Whether you hire an outside team of objective experts who specialize in audits and recruitment process improvement – or simply engage a cross-functional team of insiders to complete a structured audit program, bringing others in to lead the recruitment audit will increase the likelihood that the organization will fairly consider and adopt the recommended changes.

Learn more about Talent Growth Advisors' Recruitment Audit and how you can self-fund talent acquisition improvements. Or contact us to speak directly to one of our senior consultants about Talent Acquistion audits.