Talent acquisition - The 9 (biggest) challenges

Talent acquisition

There is strong competition among companies to attract the best and most talented candidates. There can be many good reasons to lay out a strategy for talent acquisition, but before you get there, it may be useful to know the 9 biggest challenges in talent acquisition (TA).

1. Generation Z: When we talk about the workforce under the age of 30 (generation Z), we are also talking about the younger generations. In practice, this means that there is high competition to attract the best talent to the companies
2. Low unemployment: In January 2023, unemployment in Denmark was only 1.2% (16-24 years) and 4.8% (25-29 years). If you take Copenhagen alone, unemployment was 3.3%. This creates a bottleneck, which makes it even more difficult to attract skilled employees
3. Diversity and inclusion: In generation Z it is fashionable to talk about diversity and inclusion, but it will also take up more and more of the HR departments' employer branding strategy. It is about creating diversity in the workplace
4. Technology: New technologies are revolutionising the hiring process. Have you thought about using AI technology as part of your recruitment process?
5. Easy access to information: Generation Z thinks: If the information is not available online, then it does not exist. This means that as a company you must be available online with all the desired information at the right time and place. It takes a lot!
6. Employer branding: A strong employer brand is necessary to attract top candidates
7. Knowledge of employees' individual needs: Your company must be able to adapt to changing workforce needs, including the talent's individual needs. What is value creating for one candidate is not necessarily value creating for another candidate
8. Culture: Finding candidates who fit your company's culture and values can be critical to your company's success
9. Cost control: The talent acquisition process can be expensive. That's why you need to set a budget. It is also necessary to evaluate and optimise processes, at the same time so that you do not compromise on the quality of your campaigns to attract talent

Talent acquisition strategy

In order to create an effective TA strategy, you can advantageously focus on the following points. 

• Your TA strategy must align with your business goals. Where is the vision for your company - where are you going - what should the talents be used for in your objectives?
• Use statistics. If there are no universities in your area, then you have to make an extra effort to attract talent to your company's location
• Do marketing. Don't use just one medium. Create a media plan with several touchpoints, and ensure a positive and value creating journey for the applicants, for example via employee advocacy
• Different talents require different strategies. A successful TA campaign for engineers cannot necessarily be used 1:1 if you want to attract graduates within communication and sales
• Create the company's identity. Is the company's website and social media ready to attract candidates? Both the website and social media can have a great effect. As an applicant, it only takes a few seconds to form an image of whether the company is attractive or not
• Highlight the company's social responsibility. If you work with CSR, use it actively. It helps to create a good story about the workplace
• Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DE&I). This parameter can be decisive for whether you attract the top candidates
• Offer flexible working options. Is it possible to work from home? Do you offer a 4 day working week? Is it possible to go to the dentist during working hours? Can you arrive early so that you can leave early to pick up your children from day care?
• Benefit program. Have you developed fast track leadership programs? Can you obtain a financial bonus?

Talent management

You can divide talent management into three categories:

1. HR processes. How to create the best employee experience?
2. Attracting, developing, motivating and retaining top talent for your organisation
3. Development of high performing teams and employees (HIPO)

In this article, we are focusing on TA, so let's take a closer look at how you can create the right level of attraction that has nothing to do with salary.

The two areas are: Personal development and a good working environment

Personal development

• Personal development is about offering: Career paths, freeing up personal resources of the talents and providing opportunities for learning and mentoring

A good working environment

• A good working environment includes many things, including: Leadership, culture and creating a purpose for the job. Within leadership, you can advantageously work with performance management when you want to work with talent attraction. You can read more about that here: How you work: