Talent acquisition teams increasingly feel disconnected from company strategy and are being forced only to advise on ways of reducing costs.
This was among the chief findings of a new Josh Bersin Company study, which found talent acquisition (TA) to be “at a crossroads” – also the title of the report.
While skills shortages remain the top issue for TA leaders (60%), these leaders faced tremendous pressure to improve the efficiency of recruiting processes (58%). For example, TA practitioners felt they were perceived as “order-takers” and their contribution was insufficiently recognised. Despite 55% of companies viewing TA specialists as an integral part of the business, only 32% of TA leaders thought they served as a truly strategic partner to their organisation, the analysis showed.
Stella Ioannidou, senior director of research at the Josh Bersin Company, said: “With 40% of TA leaders highlighting readiness gaps, there’s a clear call for strategic integration of TA into business planning.”
The research found a “surprisingly low level of maturity in workforce planning”: 42% of companies do not have a workforce plan and 40% of HR leaders state “Our business is not ready to take a strategic approach to hiring.”
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Teams are losing faith in skills-based hiring, with almost 70% of companies stating: “Skills-based hiring is too difficult for us to implement right now.”
The reason for this was not a lack of technologies, Josh Bersin Company researchers pointed out, but rather a lack of clarity in “how” to build a skills programme.
TA leaders also struggled with recruiting skills, with 42% admitting their recruiters need more training. As the use of AI expanded throughout talent acquisition, the Josh Bersin Company is advising HR leaders that the reskilling of recruiters is essential. This remained a challenge because 45% of HR leaders were told to prioritise cost-cutting over strategic talent acquisition.
AI is a huge topic within HR, but it appears to have a long way to go until it becomes widely adopted in TA.
Respondents ranked AI as less of a priority than increasing the efficiency of the TA team and reducing costs.
The strength of these trends varied across sectors. Pharmaceuticals stood out with 67% citing skills shortages as a top concern, which may reflect the specialised nature of roles in this sector. Lower percentages in digital and tech (44%) and defence and engineering (45%) indicated that while skills scarcity was significant, it was less acute.
Ioannidou added that although skills shortages continued to pose a significant challenge, “the concern for AI and automation underlines the urgent need for structured technology adoption in modern talent acquisition.
The lack of a convincing AI adoption plan does put this vital business function at a crossroads” – Josh Bersin
Josh Bersin, global industry analyst and CEO of the Josh Bersin Company, said: “TA’s lack of inclusion in strategic discussion and a seemingly widespread absence of a clear workforce plan are significant obstacles that prevent the TA team from aligning its efforts with long-term business plans.
“Additional internal constraints such as insufficient capacity and capability, along with organisational readiness further complicate the landscape – and the lack of a convincing AI adoption plan does put this vital business function at a ‘crossroads,’ where it is straining to achieve its full potential but hampered by a continuing lack of consistent CEO support.”
For Janet Mertens, managing director, data, insight, analytics, at talent acquisition specialist AMS, which collaborated for the report, the current global workforce climate meant organisations could not afford “to simply have a transactional relationship with talent acquisition”.
“With time-to-hire rates increasing and an increased focus on the need for technology and AI skills in the workforce, building strategic relationships with the teams at the forefront of understanding the future workforce are critical for success.”
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The results emerge from a sentiment-based (as opposed to longitudinal) research project, the latest in the Bersin global talent climate research initiative, which draws on half a million hire-related data points of global HR and recruitment records.
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