Hawx Smart Pest Control

Tyler Fisher

Workforce Excellence Champion

I started my journey in talent acquisition because, as a leader, I noticed a specific challenge within our organization. We were very inconsistent with hiring top performers. As a leader, it was frustrating to onboard new team members who didn’t add to our culture, meet KPIs, and ultimately increase our attrition. My experience in talent acquisition has taught me that every hire is mission-critical.

The most important thing a leader can do is design talent management systems that attract and retain top performers, quickly uplevel average performers, and prevent poor hiring decisions. People, not technology, are the secret sauce organizational growth. As a leader, my focus is on people. When people are the focus, they will innovate the right technologies to drive the business.

Purpose-Driven Hiring from the Start

Many organizations struggle to attract and retain talent because they start with a job description instead of starting with a vision statement and ideal candidate profile. Most organizations are really good at defining what someone will do in a job and what challenges they will solve, but they fail to step back and understand why someone would want to be in that job and how the organization values that position.

“When people have a purpose in their work, they naturally overcome obstacles, innovate, remain loyal, and drive lasting organizational success.”

A clear vision statement builds an emotional attachment, giving someone purpose in their work. It connects ‘this is what I do,' to ‘and this is why I do it.’ When people have a purpose in their work, they naturally overcome obstacles, innovate, and remain loyal. A shared vision also helps the organization understand how someone will grow and progress in their position, which is a critical formula for attracting and retaining top talent.

That same principle should extend throughout the hiring process. Candidate experience always comes first because it creates the foundation for meeting evolving business needs. The best way to achieve this is by starting with a structured intake meeting. This process will establish the ideal candidate profile, the must-haves, the nice-to-haves, as well as the interview process. Business needs can change, but most of these changes stem from operational points that were not answered initially. Prioritizing and utilizing a structured intake meeting will eliminate most business needs. The process must also determine if there are internal candidates to consider, whether the budget and headcount are already approved for this position, and set roles and responsibilities for each person in the hiring process. Finally, clear timelines and deadlines should be scheduled. The more information that goes in up front, the better the organization will be able to deliver a top-tier candidate experience while navigating business needs.

Creating Business Value through Talent Acquisition

Responsibly implementing AI is the present and future of talent acquisition. The reactive approach is to add AI into the tech stack. The proactive approach is to strategically understand where AI can augment and partner well with human ingenuity. There are a lot of AI buzzwords trending, and teams are scrambling to keep up with the trends in automated interviews, chatbot implementations, etc. The most successful teams are going to utilize human ingenuity to understand where AI can most impact on the business, and implement AI only in those areas. The teams that are only using AI to write their job descriptions are already behind. The rate at which AI is growing is tremendous, and strong TA teams are hyper-focused on using it to impact their business.

However, technology alone is not enough. HR and talent acquisition are rapidly evolving because business needs are evolving. Traditionally, HR has been viewed as a supporting function within a business, essentially a cost center. As businesses seek greater efficiency and profitability, their relationship with cost centers changes. HR and talent acquisition need to realign their strategies to better provide value to the business. Professionals must understand the pain points of the business, and be ready to step in and meet those challenges head on. They should also learn how the business operates, how it makes money, what the long-term strategy is, and what roadblocks are in the way. Talent acquisition is no longer a transactional function focused on filling open job requisitions. Today, talent acquisition must become a value-driving, business-impacting function that delivers measurable outcomes.