What is a Talent Acquisition Consultant?

What is a Talent Acquisition Consultant?

Every business needs employees; Talent Acquisition Consultants are focused on finding and recruiting these candidates. While they are not the final decision-makers (that falls to hiring managers), they significantly influence the entire talent acquisition process.

Due to this influence on available candidates and the amount of work this professional has, choosing a Talent Acquisition consultant can be one of the most critical hiring decisions to make. A lousy professional in this role can sink the company.

A talent acquisition consultant in a relatively smaller company will have more functions. Here is a list of some of the tasks performed by these professionals:

Preparation of job description Job descriptions should be written by experts in the specific field and a hiring expert. The hiring manager is the field-level expert, and the

talent acquisition consultant is the hiring expert. Job descriptions must comply with all applicable laws, as well as contain information about the vacant position. Depending on where you reside, references to age, gender, or other characteristics may be illegal. Also, the choice of specific words can influence who applies.

Candidate sourcing Talent Acquisition Consultants find candidates. Sometimes this is an easy task, post a job description on the company website and look at the role of applicants to fill the vacancy. However, for some positions, the consultant has to go out and find candidates. This can be in the form of job fairs or college visits. Most, however, rely on connections made in the field, working with speciality scouts and current employees for referrals.

Candidate Selection during Talent Acquisition Once the Talent Acquisition consultant has candidates, they must determine which one meets the requirements and move on. The consultant often uses candidate tracking systems to manage the search, focusing on keywords. Once they select a reasonable number of applicants, the next step is to provide an additional personal assessment. Traditionally, this is done through a phone call, although text messages are starting to gain importance. Some companies have started to use artificial intelligence to make a fundamental candidate selection at this stage, but keep in mind that the AI is only as good as the programmer. AI detection robots can be biased just like humans.

A TAC should monitor any such detection. Video conferencing is also possible. Typically, a TAC does not meet in person with candidates at this stage.

Recommend candidates When Talent Acquisition Consultants have selected the candidates, they provide the information to the hiring manager. This manager can decide who from this list they would like to interview. Naturally, the hiring manager can recommend people to come by non-traditional methods. A TAC should take these recommendations seriously, as the hiring manager is the expert in the field. However, you must also ensure that the company complies with current laws and that the nontraditional candidate is a good fit and meets the minimum criteria.

Organization of interviews This task often falls on the shoulders of a Talent acquisition consultant.

Depending on who has to participate, it can be challenging to organize schedules and make arrangements for anyone.

Make formal job offers.

This can come from the hiring manager (and it probably should), but the TAC ensures that it is spelt correctly, with the correct information about wages and benefits. They should work closely with the accounting department to help determine a market salary for the candidate.

Report writing Many countries have reporting requirements for recruiting and hiring, and the Talent Acquisition Consultants maintains those numbers and performs the required reports.

Participate in succession planning Companies must prepare for the inevitable changes in leadership positions. As such, planning takes place, which includes not only training and development but also recruitment. When a Talent Acquisition Consultant is part of the succession planning team, they can hire someone who can fill the leadership role.

Manage the candidate's experience This is not only important for hiring, but it is also a social resource role.

The Talent Acquisition Consultant meets routinely with individuals who won't ever work for the organization; however, who could be likely customers, either as individual customers or B2B customers.

Therefore, this professional must treat candidates appropriately, as it ensures a wider choice of potential future employees and enhances the company's overall reputation.

Conclusion: A Talent Acquisition consultant manages the entire recruitment cycle. The process can be a bit more complicated than it appears from the outside. Of course, what each person will do varies depending on the size of the company and the level of responsibility.