Aberdeen Talent Acquisition Report

Talent Acquisition Strategies Employer Branding and Quality of Hire Take Center Stage

July 2008

Talent Acquisition Strategies: Employer Branding and Quality of Hire Take Center Stage Page 2

2008 Aberdeen Group.

Executive Summary

"We identify good candidates who stand out at conferences - exchanging business cards, giving them a specially made brochure on careers with our institution, continuing ongoing correspondence with them, sending information about our institution, identifying their skill sets and interests, and sending targeted vacancy announcements on positions of interest."

~ HR Director, Texas University

Research Benchmark

Aberdeens Research Benchmarks provide an in-depth and comprehensive look into process, procedure, methodologies, and technologies with best practice identification and actionable recommendations

A competitive talent acquisition program is crucial to attract and retain skilled workers. But a shortage of skilled talent in the workforce, and changing demographics within the organization, is making it increasingly difficult to align the skills on hand with the business at hand.

That is putting greater pressure on finding so-called passive candidates in the market. It is also forcing organizations to better assess how they screen applications for the right fit in the organization, to be sure the right people are being brought on board.

This report, a compilation of survey responses from 620 organizations (representing all sizes, industries, and geographies) provides a roadmap for organizations that desire to implement an effective talent acquisition program, and a system to effectively manage the program. It examines the Best-in-Class strategies to use talent acquisition as a key recruiting and retention tool.

Best-in-Class Performance Aberdeen used four key performance criteria to distinguish Best-in-Class companies:

Quality of hire Overall program satisfaction of hiring managers Time-to-hire New hire retention

Competitive Maturity Assessment Survey results show that the firms enjoying Best-in-Class performance shared several common characteristics:

89% foster close collaboration between hiring managers and recruiters

79% actively use the corporate web site as a tool for showcasing the organization's culture and job opportunities

76% prescreen candidates for technical competencies 74% have a strong understanding of which applicant sources provide

the best quality candidates

Required Actions In addition to the specific recommendations in Chapter Three of this report, to achieve Best-in-Class performance, companies must:

Assess the performance of new hires at specific intervals the first year of employment

Communicate current and anticipated job openings with existing staff Market through new means (e.g. social networking sites)

Telephone: 617 723 7890 www.aberdeen.com Fax: 617 723 7897


2008 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 723 7890 www.aberdeen.com Fax: 617 723 7897

Table of Contents Executive Summary....................................................................................................... 2

Best-in-Class Performance..................................................................................... 2 Competitive Maturity Assessment....................................................................... 2 Required Actions...................................................................................................... 2

Chapter One: Benchmarking the Best-in-Class ..................................................... 4 Aberdeen's Analysis................................................................................................. 4 The Maturity Class Framework............................................................................ 5 The Best-in-Class PACE Model ............................................................................ 6 Best-in-Class Strategies........................................................................................... 7

Chapter Two: Benchmarking Requirements for Success .................................... 9 Competitive Assessment......................................................................................11 Capabilities and Enablers ......................................................................................12

Chapter Three: Required Actions .........................................................................17 Laggard Steps to Success......................................................................................17 Industry Average Steps to Success ....................................................................18 Best-in-Class Steps to Success ............................................................................19

Appendix A: Research Methodology.....................................................................21 Appendix B: Related Aberdeen Research............................................................23

Figures Figure 1: Top Pressures for All Organizations....................................................... 4 Figure 2: Metrics Used to Determine Quality of Hire......................................... 9 Figure 3: Utilizing Assessments in Recruiting .......................................................14

Tables Table 1: Top Performers Earn Best-in-Class Status.............................................. 6 Table 2: The Best-in-Class PACE Framework ....................................................... 6 Table 3: Strategies for Improving Recruitment Efforts ........................................ 7 Table 4: The Competitive Framework...................................................................11 Table 5: The PACE Framework Key ......................................................................22 Table 6: The Competitive Framework Key ..........................................................22 Table 7: The Relationship Between PACE and the Competitive Framework.........................................................................................................................................22


2008 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 723 7890

Chapter One: Benchmarking the Best-in-Class

Aberdeen's Analysis Fast Fact

Anecdotal evidence reveals that if an organization can't properly assess if it is hiring the right people, it may often not be - and that can put hiring managers into a cycle of constant turnover and rehiring.

If job seekers sometimes feel that hiring managers wouldn't know a good candidate if they saw one, they might be right. At least that is among the key findings of Aberdeen Group's latest research on talent acquisition strategies.

Unfortunately, the picture isn't new. In the June 2007 report, The Global War for Talent, Aberdeen reported that a large number of companies "either don't know or don't measure how often they hire their top choice. Laggards (the bottom 30% of organizations according to performance with talent acquisition efforts) are focused primarily on current staffing needs, yet they are 60% more likely not to be able to address current skills needs."

Fast forward to 2008 and the message is more of the same. Indeed, when organizations were asked for this report to select from among 24 capabilities they have in place currently to support their talent acquisition efforts, the second lowest cited response was "clearly defined metrics to measure the quality of a new hire." At the same time, managers cited quality of hire metrics as the number one capability they would like to put in place.

Clearly there is a major disconnect for hiring managers in terms of practicing what they preach.

Top Pressures are Shortage of Talent, Skills There is one clear overriding need that is driving organizations to invest in talent acquisition programs skills. An over-whelming majority of survey respondents cite competition for skilled labor and a shortage of desired skills as top pressures on talent acquisition. Yet, they have a difficult time measuring the quality of talent when it comes through the door. In fact, other leading pressures driving interest in talent acquisition pale in comparison in terms of the percentage of companies citing them as top concerns.

Figure 1: Top Pressures for All Organizations

88% 83%

14% 11%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Competition forskilled labor

Shortage ofdesired skills

Globalization Compliancerequirements

Source: Aberdeen Group, July 2008

www.aberdeen.com Fax: 617 723 7897



The Greatest Internal Challenge is Workforce Planning In addition to external pressures, organizations face their own internal struggles when it comes to effective talent acquisition. The top challenge, according to survey participants, is future workforce planning cited by 46% of all organizations.

This comes as no surprise, since workforce planning goes hand-in-hand with talent acquisition, addressing the skills and labor needs of the organization in the short term and long term future, as well as the present. Workforce planning is also a tough nut to crack for many organizations, since it requires an effective method for estimating industry and market conditions, as well as business and staffing needs, down the road.

In addition to workforce planning demands, other top challenges that organizations seek to address with their talent acquisition programs are:

Workforce turnover (36%) Quality of job hires (35%) Inability to reach (or connect with) ideal job candidates (30%) Time to fill job requisitions (26%)

Obstacles in the Way The task of managing a talent acquisition program is getting especially difficult, as competition for highly skilled workers intensifies, and more job candidates slip through the cracks of traditional recruiting methods. This is forcing a major revamping of how organizations find the workers they need and convince them to come on board. According to anecdotal evidence from organizations interviewed for this report, adding to the challenge for many organizations are:

A lack of required HR resources Inadequate applicant tracking processes Confusion on how to find so-called passive applicants A disconnect on how younger workers need to be courted Lack of programs that cater to the flexible work needs of "retired"

workers or those that prefer part-time employment

The Maturity Class Framework To measure the Return on Investment (ROI) of a talent acquisition program, Aberdeen used four key performance criteria to distinguish the Best-in-Class from Industry Average and Laggard organizations, including:

Quality of hire Overall program satisfaction of hiring managers Time-to-hire New hire retention (within first year of employment)



Table 1: Top Performers Earn Best-in-Class Status

Definition of Maturity Class Mean Class Performance

Best-in-Class: Top 20% of

aggregate performance scorers

Improved quality of hire on average by 32% Increased overall satisfaction of hiring managers on

average by 31% Shortened time-to-hire on average by 22% Improved new hire retention (within first year of

employment) on average by 21%

Industry Average: Middle 50% of


Improved quality of hire on average by 5% Increased overall satisfaction of hiring managers on

average by 5% Shortened time-to-hire on average by 3% Improved new hire retention (within first year of


Laggard: Bottom 30% of


Reduced quality of hire on average by 7% Decreased overall satisfaction of hiring managers on

average by 8% Increased time-to-hire on average by 11% Worsened new hire retention (within first year of



The Best-in-Class PACE Model Using a talent acquisition program to achieve corporate goals requires a combination of strategic actions, organizational capabilities, and enabling technologies, as illustrated in Table 2.

Table 2: The Best-in-Class PACE Framework

Pressures Actions Capabilities Enablers Competition

for skilled labor Shortage of

desired skills

Enhance company brand and reputation in recruiting market Proactively search

for and communicate with potential candidates Market through new

means (e.g. social networking sites) to reach passive candidates

Understanding of which applicant sources provide the best quality job candidates Creating or improving a data repository of

desirable active and passive job candidates Defined common behaviors and / or attitudes of

top performers Defined common skill sets of top performers Obtain feedback from new hires on the

recruiting process Well-crafted process to obtain feedback from

the hiring manager Corporate marketing and recruiting work

together to improve employment branding

Background checking tools Applicant tracking tools Company career portal Employee referrals

tracking tools Assessment tools for

knowledge and skills Online learning portals Assessment tools for

attitude, and / or behavioral attributes




Best-in-Class Strategies Hiring managers are learning that effective talent requisition efforts require a new way of approaching the recruiting process. This includes greater emphasis on the company's brand as a recruiting tool, and the use of new Internet-based technologies. The reasons are clear, according to survey participants: to increase the organization's appeal as a best place to work, and to connect with passive job candidates (those potential hires that are not actively job searching).

Table 3: Strategies for Improving Recruitment Efforts

Strategy Best-in-

Class All

Others Enhancing company brand and reputation in recruiting market 35% 38%

Proactively searching for and communicating with potential candidates 32% 37%

Marketing through new means (e.g. social networking sites) 30% 29%

Emphasizing strategic workforce planning 29% 31%

Improving candidate pre-screening 26% 23%


"Employees are encouraged to inform management about any high quality potential employees they may meet through family, friends, community groups, schools, or work contacts (trade shows, meetings, etc.). Since the employee knows the culture, they "pre-screen" candidates by recommending only those whom they know will be a good fit."

~ Business Unit Director, US Manufacturing Company

While the high level strategies that organizations are adopting are similar, Best-in-Class organizations are placing greater emphasis on ensuring collaboration between hiring managers and recruiters on what skills, attributes, and attitudes are desired in a candidate, cited by 89% of Best-in-Class companies.

In addition, Best-in-Class organizations are more aggressive at communicating job openings and job role needs with current staff. This is especially important, since employee referrals are cited as the top source for finding desirable talent (a focus of 82% of the Best-in-Class). The Best-in-Class are also more likely to use the corporate website as a tool for showcasing the company's culture and opportunities (cited by 79% of the Best-in-Class).

Other top strategies and capabilities of Best-in-Class include:

Use of email and other communications to promote the company, cited by 78%

Pre-screening candidates for technical competence, cited by 76% Understanding of which applicant sources provide the best quality

candidates, cited by 74%

Mapping desired skill sets against job applicants and candidates, cited by 71%




Aberdeen Insights Strategy

When a human resource manager at a leading global evangelistic organization in Washington DC wanted to improve her results at locating passive job candidates, she followed her own personal calling. "This is more a personal initiative: I created a contest for the most LinkedIn connections in my client group to encourage them to create their profile and invite their network. Now the network is growing by itself as people get more and more connected," the manager says.

But it does not take a religious experience to see the path to new and effective recruiting methods. It does take creativity and a willingness to explore new options.

Interviews with hiring managers for this report reveal a mind shift in how talent will be located and lured in the coming years. All agree that Web 2.0 technologies and online employer branding efforts will be the two most important elements of a talent acquisition strategy.

The bad news is that most hiring managers have little experience with such technologies (25% of all organizations have used Web 2.0 technologies in any capacity for recruiting). The good news is that they realize it, and plan to change that picture, interviews with managers reveal. It's an attitude adjustment is vital if an organization is to remain competitive in finding and keeping talent in a rapidly changing recruiting market.

In the next chapter, we will see what the top performers are doing to achieve these gains.



Chapter Two: Benchmarking Requirements for Success

A successful talent acquisition program involves far more than deciding what skills and attributes are needed from candidates and finding new sources for them. It also involves the ability to measure and assess how well new hires perform in their roles during the first year on the job. This is where quality of hire is really determined.

Determining the Quality of New Hires In order to measure the quality of recent hires, organizations need to have processes in place to determine what level of performance the new employee should be at in three-month, six-month, and nine-month time frames, measure the candidate against those milestones, and evaluate any gaps in performance that need to be addressed.

How well an organization is able to measure performance on the job of new hires, and use that information to improve the recruiting process will play a major role in the success of the talent acquisition program.

Figure 2: Metrics Used to Determine Quality of Hire

81%69%

52%65%

56%44%

51%39% 38%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Time-to-productivity Retention rate of topperformers

Candidate's firstperformance review

ratingBest-in-Class Average Laggard


Case Study Dick's Sporting Goods

Dicks Sporting Goods, Inc. is an authentic full-line brand name sporting goods retailer with 322 stores in 34 states. The companys HR team was looking to improve the recruiting process to better handle the companys fast-paced growth. They worked with the solution provider to identify three main areas to be addressed: increasing applicant flow during mass-hiring events, creating a paperless new hire process, and integrating technology to incorporate more efficiency in their recruitment efforts.

continued

Fast Facts

75% of all organizations cite employee referrals as the most successful recruiting activity

69% of all organizations cite online job boards as the second most effective means of recruiting





Weve been growing for a long time, but the last three years have been especially challenging to find and acquire talent, explains Ann Vieheller, senior director of talent acquisition for the company. This will become even more important as we get bigger.

Dicks Sporting Goods needed this new hiring technology to work in tandem with new store openings, existing stores, corporate, distribution centers, store management, and campus recruitment efforts.

The company has traditionally faired well with retention We dont have a lot of turnover, Vieheller says but the company needed help in assessing quality of hire and in employment branding. This included processed to measure performance at 30, 60, 90, 180 and 360 day intervals, she says. It also involved an aggressive survey process of new hires to determine that the company was living up to its promises as an employer.

We wanted to be sure that new hires felt they were getting the training they needed, that they enjoyed the work environment, and that the job is what they were expecting it to be, Vieheller says.

Several recommendations from the provider were implemented. First, a clear outsourcing process for hourly employees involved in new store openings was needed. Second, a phased approach deploying a tool that would allow each of their recruiting functions (new stores, existing stores, corporate, store management, and on-campus) to promote job openings to internal and external candidates while capturing candidate data in a central database. Finally, full HRIS integration allowing Dicks Sporting Goods to feed requisition data into the tool, and then back to their HRIS upon hire.

The solution provider developed a project schedule that spanned 24 months. In the first 12 months a new process for sourcing hourly employees was implemented and managed, career sites were developed for corporate, on-campus, store management, and internal / external referrals, and the recruitment tool was integrated with their HRIS. The second 12 months focused on managing the process for sourcing hourly employees and implementing career sites for two large distribution centers as well as existing stores.

The companys web site received a lot of attention, Vieheller says. We had a very passive web site. They helped us totally revamp it, to make it interactive. The first year was spent figuring out the brand message we needed to be sending. The second year was spent in making it more exciting so that it pops.

continued




By working closely with the new store openings team, the volume of qualified applicants increased by 25% while keeping a tight lid on budgeting and labor. New locations had achieved a 99% on-time store opening rate. With the new system, every opening was precisely tracked and media ROI reports found unseen patterns in applicant behavior, which enabled Dicks Sporting Goods to hire more precisely with less waste. By the end of 2007 all stores were recruiting online. At that time, by using a full ad hoc reporting system and an HR evaluation system, they had a transparent, reportable and accountable recruitment process.

Competitive Assessment Aberdeen Group analyzed the aggregated metrics of surveyed companies to determine whether their performance ranked as Best-in-Class, Industry Average, or Laggard. In addition to having common performance levels, each class also shared characteristics in five key categories: (1) process (the approaches they take to execute their daily operations); (2) organization (corporate focus and collaboration among stakeholders); (3) knowledge management (contextualizing data and exposing it to key stakeholders); (4) technology (the selection of appropriate tools and effective deployment of those tools); and (5) performance management (the ability of the organization to measure their results to improve their business). These characteristics (identified in Table 4) serve as a guideline for best practices, and correlate directly with Best-in-Class performance across the key metrics.

Table 4: The Competitive Framework

Best-in-Class Average Laggards Understanding of which applicant sources provide the best quality job candidates Process

74% 66% 52%

Defined common behaviors and / or attitudes of top performers

58% 48% 36%

Defined common skill sets of top performers

54% 43% 31%

Creating or improving a data repository of desirable active and passive job candidates

Knowledge

62% 46% 35%

Corporate marketing and recruiting work together to improve employment branding Organization

53% 49% 33%



Best-in-Class Average Laggards The following enablers are being used to enhance the recruiting process:

Technology

83% background checking tools 71% applicant

tracking tools 66% employee

referrals tracking tools 66% company

career portal 55% assessment

tools for knowledge and skills 53% online

learning portals 51% assessment

tools for attitude, and/or behavioral attributes















Top three metrics used to measure the quality of hire:

Performance

81% time-to-productivity 69% retention rate

of top performers 52% candidate's

first performance review rating








Capabilities and Enablers "We re-connect with new grad RN's who declined our offer two-plus years ago. They are always surprised and pleased when they hear from us."

~ HR Manager, US Healthcare Organization

Based on the findings of the Competitive Framework and interviews with end users, Aberdeens analysis of the Best-in-Class reveals that the degree to which an organization succeeds with a talent acquisition strategy depends largely on how well job role needs are defined, applicants are matched against those definitions, and performance is measured once a candidate comes on board.

This is especially important in order to retain workers once found, and to be able to hire from a position of growth rather than from a position of replacement. Essential ingredients of a successful talent acquisition strategy that produce top results include the proper mix of process, organizational knowledge, technology, and performance measurement.

Process A vital part of a successful talent acquisition strategy is in knowing where an organization obtains the best quality job candidates, so that priority can be given to expanding and managing efforts from those sources. As indicated




earlier, the top source for desired talent is referrals from current employees.

This makes sense, since current employees know both the individuals they refer, and the culture and work ethic of the organization. Existing employees can predetermine if an associate is likely to have the necessary background and skills to succeed in a job, to know the individual's work style, and to predict if they would fit in well with the employer's corporate culture.

The good news is that a majority (74%) of Best-in-Class organizations understand this, and routinely assesses the recruiting results obtained from all of the various media and outlets they use, including the top source of employee referrals. Critical to the process is the ability to map desired skill sets against job applicants and candidates, a capability currently cited by 63% of the Best-in-Class.

Having found potential hires, the Best-in-Class are also far more aggressive in pre-screening candidates to ensure they are the right person for the job. This includes prescreening candidates for technical competencies (cited by 70% of Best-in-Class) and for cultural fit (cited by 63% of Best-in-Class).

Organization In addition to looking outside the organization, success with a talent acquisition program requires inward action and reflection. Bringing new employees on board will be of little value if they don't want to stick around.

In response, Best-in-Class organizations are putting more emphasis on career development, leadership training, and flexible work environments. The goals are to be more attractive to potential hires, and more caring of existing staff.

Indeed, a top priority for Best-in-Class organizations is to promote career development and professional growth opportunities in recruiting campaigns (cited by 68% of the Best-in-Class).

Also important is the effort to be responsive to individual worker needs. While such workplace benefits as flexible schedules, telecommuting and job sharing are not practical for all organizations, they are becoming more commonplace. Currently, 51% of Best-in-Class organizations indicate they are promoting flexible job schedules as a cultural benefit to help lure candidates.

Aiding in all of the aforementioned steps is the greater emphasis that Best-in-Class organizations place on fostering collaboration between line managers, marketing, and recruiting, to ensure that all are promoting the same message of the company as a best place to work.

Knowledge Management As discussed previously, organizations use a variety of metrics to measure the effectiveness of their talent acquisition strategy. These include such



metrics as improvements realized in quality of hires, shorted time-to-hire, and new hire retention.

An important enabler in that process is a central repository for collecting and storing talent acquisition data, where everyone in the organization that needs access to it can have that access and can analyze and model the data. Talent acquisition data should include defined common behaviors and attributes of top performers, and defined common skill sets of top performers.

An equally important, but less tangible, metric is the feedback that organizations get from exit interviews. Currently, 83% of Best-in-Class organizations indicate that they conduct exit interviews with those leaving the organization on their own accord. But the percentage drops to 55% with regard to employees that are terminated. This gap represents a lost opportunity for many organizations to gain potential insights on why an employee failed, or where the organization may have failed the employee.

Technology Not surprisingly, a strong majority of all organizations use background checking tools and applicant tracking tools. The Best-in-Class are 50% more likely than Laggard organizations to use employee referral tracking tools. This is an important distinction, given that employee referrals are the primary source for obtaining desired talent.

Despite the fact that nearly two-thirds of all organizations use skills assessments in the recruiting process, the Best-in-Class are 56% more likely than all other organizations to understand the measurable impact of their use. Still uncommon is the use of assessment tools for attitudes and behavioral attributes, despite the fact that there is growing interest in prescreening candidates for these traits (see information presented in Chapter Three).

Figure 3: Utilizing Assessments in Recruiting

39%

27%35%

25%

37% 38%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Measuring the impact ofassessments used in

evaluating candidates iscentral to our overall hiring

process

We use assessments inthe hiring process but have

difficulty determining thebusiness impact from their

usage

We do not currently useassessments in the hiring

process

Best-in-Class All Others Source: Aberdeen Group, July 2008




Regarding integrating data from talent acquisition into other talent management systems, Aberdeens research uncovered that even the Best-in-Class have a long way to go. Talent management systems that are most frequently integrated with talent acquisition include onboarding, employee performance management, and learning and development (each cited at 18% or 19% among the Best-in-Class). However, over the next 12 months, this should change dramatically as most cited systems that organizations plan to integrate are onboarding (cited by 45% of the Best-in-Class) and succession planning (cited by 40% of the Best-in-Class). This planned integration also reinforces how Best-in-Class organizations are looking to understand and affect quality of hire as well as plan for longer-term workforce requirements.

Not surprisingly, software tools that allow for succession planning and workforce analytics are the technologies that are most planned investments by Best-in-Class organizations (50% and 41% respectively) over the next 12 months. This is followed closely by software tools that ascertain the competencies of top performers to hire people with like traits (39%).

Performance Management Among the most telling statistics from the recent talent acquisition survey is the percentage of hires that organizations indicate were the top choice for the job role in 2007. One-third of all organizations participating in the survey either don't know that percentage, or don't measure it. However, forty-four percent (44%) of Best-in-Class organizations, indicated that they hire their top choice more than 75% of the time compared to 31% of the Industry Average and only 18% of Laggard organizations.

Based on this information, not surprisingly, the majority of all organizations (63%) indicating that their talent acquisition strategy is only somewhat effective. Views on the performance of talent acquisition systems are also a mixed bag; with only 43% of all organizations indicated they are somewhat or very satisfied with their system for managing the talent acquisition program. This ranges from 55% for Best-in-Class organizations to 30% for Laggard organizations.



Aberdeen Insights Technology

Anecdotal evidence from this report reveals that hiring managers and recruiters see Web 2.0 technologies as increasingly important in talent acquisition strategies. This includes electronic job boards, community profile sites such as Face Book, chat sites, blogs, and wikis.

Despite the recognition of the value of such recruiting tools, however, little is being done with them currently.

When survey respondents were asked what their organization's experience is with Web 2.0 technologies for finding and contacting potential job candidates, responses indicated:

20% have no idea what the organization's practices are 13% have no awareness of these technologies 12% are familiar with the technologies, but don't know how to

use them in the organization's talent acquisition strategies 20% are just beginning to explore the technologies in order to

evaluate them for use 9% have not used Web 2.0 technology but plan to do so 14% occasionally use Web 2.0 technologies for candidate search 11% actively use Web 2.0 technology for candidate search



Chapter Three: Required Actions

Fast Facts

20% of all organizations are just beginning to explore the use of Web 2.0 technologies as a means of locating and communicating with passive job candidates

14% of all organizations occasionally use Web 2.0 technologies in their recruiting efforts

Whether a company is trying to move its performance in talent acquisition from Laggard to Industry Average, or Industry Average to Best-in-Class, the following actions will help spur the necessary performance improvements:

Laggard Steps to Success Identify top performer attributes. In order to be successful in

attracting and retaining top talent, an organization needs to identify just what it means by that: what are the common attributes and attitudes among the company's top performers that make them successful in their roles, and a good fit within the organization's culture. This is an area where Laggard organizations are clearly deficient. Only 36% of surveyed Laggard organizations have clearly defined these traits, making it especially challenging for Laggard organizations to pursue more of these types of individuals. In contrast, 58% of Best-in-Class organizations have identified the common behaviors and attributes of top performers, and 48% of Industry Average organizations have done so.

Define top talent skills. In addition to knowing the best attributes of top performers, an organization also needs to know what the common skills are of top performers. This includes industry-related knowledge, business skills, and technical skills. Again, Laggard organizations do a poor job in this area, with only 31% of surveyed Laggard organizations citing this as a capability they currently possess. In contrast, 54% of Best-in-Class organizations have clearly defined the skills of top performers in their ranks, while 43% of industry Average organizations have done so.

Measure the quality of hire. Beyond identifying desired skills and attributes in the current staff, an organization must be able to do the same with new hires. This means having a system in place for measuring quality of hire how well, and how quickly, a new employee performs at a desired level and successfully assimilates into the organizational culture. Unfortunately, Laggard organizations do an abysmal job in this respect. Only 12% of surveyed Laggard organizations have clearly defined metrics for measuring the quality of hire. The story is not much better for Industry Average organizations (cited by 22%), or even among Best-in-Class organizations (cited by 37%).

Collect candidate data. A top pressure driving organizations to focus on talent acquisition is competition for available talent. Organizations therefore need to have an efficient means for capturing data on available talent. This requires creating or improving a data repository of desirable active and passive job candidates, so that the data is available to everyone in the




organization that needs it, and can be analyzed accordingly. Laggard organizations do just a bit better in this regard, with 35% citing this as a capability in their talent acquisition system. The situation improves among Industry Average organizations (with 46% citing this capability), and significantly improves among Best-in-Class (cited by 62%).

Industry Average Steps to Success Brand as a team. Survey data and anecdotal evidence reveal that

the most successful recruiting efforts are those in which everyone plays a role in promoting the organization as an employer of choice. To succeed in this effort, corporate marketing and recruiting need to work closely together, to ensure the right branding message is being delivered. Only half (49%) of Industry Average organizations are ensuring that marketing and recruiting are working together in this fashion. The picture is not much better among Best-in-Class organizations, with 53% citing this capability.

Identify best candidate sources. Organizations should focus their recruiting efforts on those methods that yield the best results. The key word here is "best" results. That starts with analyzing the number of desirable candidates that are found, and hired, from each of the various sources being used, as well as the amount of time and revenue spent with each. Two-thirds (66%) of Industry Average organizations are performing such evaluations of the best sources for finding desired candidates. That capability increases to 74% among the Best-in-Class. As discussed earlier, the best source for finding desired talent is current employees. Organizations should therefore be proactive in communicating new job openings with current staff.

Be proactive about passive candidates. Hiring managers complain of a shortage of talented workers in the job market. So it is important to broaden the search pool. That means finding and engaging talented professionals that are not actively seeking new employment. So-called passive job seekers are obviously not easy to locate, but they represent an important part of a successful talent acquisition strategy. Hiring managers need to be trained in how to locate and communicate with passive job seekers, something they have probably had little experience with. Industry Average organizations do a poor job in this regard, with only 16% citing this as a current capability. Twice as many Best-in-Class organizations (32%) have this capability currently.



Insight Passive Candidates

An important source for desired talent is the pool of so-called passive candidates. These are the potential hires that are not actively seeking a new job. Passive job candidates have always been elusive, as confirmed by hiring managers interviewed for this report. And certain traditional methods of seeking them out continue to be among the top activities that recruiters use to locate passive candidates. These include attending conferences, trade shows, and user group meetings where professionals are likely to gather that match the skills or experiences needed.


Increasingly, however, organizations are turning to the Internet to find passive candidates, through Web 2.0 technologies. Indeed, the third most commonly cited activity cited by organizations for finding passive candidates is visiting social networking sites (preceded by employee referrals and industry events).

"We haven't done anything especially creative. We are beefing up our employee referral program where we believe there is good opportunity for passive candidates."

~ HR Manager. US Information Technology Services Firm

Follow through with candidates. Human resource professionals are often the point contact with job candidates throughout the interviewing process. But line managers can play an important role in managing the process as well, by following-up with candidates after the initial interview to answer questions or offer additional information about the job or the company. Only one-third (36%) of Industry Average organizations indicate that line managers are involved in follow-through with candidates. That percentage increases to 48% among Best-in-Class organizations.

Best-in-Class Steps to Success Explore new marketing outlets. Attracting, and keeping, talent

is made easier when an organization is perceived as an employer of choice, according to both anecdotal evidence and data from Aberdeens survey. Simply advertising job openings doesn't accomplish that promoting the company culture and opportunities does. Organizations should look for new mediums and outlets in which to brand themselves as rewarding places to work. That includes the use of banner advertising online on job boards, chat rooms and community sites, search engine marketing, pod casts, and video. Only one third (33%) of Best-in-Class organizations are currently doing this.

Begin onboarding efforts earlier. An important process in making new employees feel like part of the organization, and in instilling satisfaction on the job, is onboarding. Traditionally, onboarding starts with the date of hire. But companies are increasingly recognizing the value of starting the process even earlier. This requires that line managers, recruiting, and human resources work together to better manage a new hire while they are still in the interviewing stage. The good news is that half of Best-in-Class organizations (52%) have adopted this strategy currently.



Obtain manager input. In order to ensure that recruiting efforts have achieving desired results, it is important to get feedback from managers on their experiences and satisfaction levels with new hires into their departments. Organizations should therefore have a well-crafted process for obtain manager feedback on the processes. Currently, 50% of Best-in-Class organizations cite this as a capability.

Solicit new hire feedback. Ultimately, the best measure of how effective an organization's recruiting efforts are is how the process is viewed by those that have gone through it. Hiring managers should solicit feedback from new hires on their thoughts and suggestions about the process. Currently, 51% of Best-in-Class organizations are seeking this feedback.

Aberdeen Insights Summary

Two-thirds (66%) of all organizations indicate that they will increase their talent acquisition efforts over the next 12 months. That will put even greater pressure on current efforts to find and retain talent.

There are clear lessons in the survey data on which organizations will be more successful in those efforts, and those lessons center around clearly defined goals and expectations from a talent acquisition strategy. The key to success is that an organization has clearly defined common behaviors and skills of the top performers on staff. This will enable hiring managers to seek the skills and attitudes in job candidates most likely to match those behaviors.

New hires should be interviewed after the job offer, to obtain feedback on the recruiting and hiring process, to make improvements to the process as needed.

Clearly defined metrics should be in place to measure the quality of new hires as they meet milestones through the first year on the job, to evaluate how well they perform to expectation, and fit in with the company culture.

Hiring managers and recruiters need to be trained in the use of new technologies to find passive job candidates. Such workers can be a vital source of talent and expertise, but have traditionally been invisible to recruiting efforts. That must change, and talent acquisition programs need to embrace new means and methods of engaging elusive, but vital, talent in the workforce.

Finally, the entire organization should work together to collectively brand the company as a best place to work. Recruiting should be seen as a staff-wide function, not just the role of human resources. This is especially important, since current employees are the most likely source for desired new talent. If there truly are plenty more where they came from, employees must have the desire not just the ability to help employers make contact.




Appendix A: Research Methodology

Between June and July 2008, Aberdeen examined the use, the experiences, and the intentions of more than 620 enterprises regarding their talent acquisition initiatives.

Study Focus

Responding HR executives and practitioners completed an online survey that included questions designed to determine the following:

The degree to which talent acquisition technologies are being utilized to track and communicate with active candidates and engage passive candidates

The effectiveness of the existing talent acquisition program and system.

Current and planned use of recruitment technology to aid in talent acquisition activities

The metrics used to determine the quality of hires

The study aimed to identify emerging best practices for and to provide a framework by which readers could assess their own talent acquisition capabilities.

Aberdeen supplemented this online survey effort with interviews with select survey respondents, gathering additional information on recruitment strategies, experiences, and results.

Responding enterprises included the following:

Job title / function: The research sample included respondents with the following job titles: senior management (CEO, COO, CFO, CIO, CTO, president) (4%); vice president (VP, SVP, EVP) (10%); director (27%); manager (30%); others (29%). In terms of functions in their respective organization, the majority of respondents (79%) were in human resources (including recruiting, talent management, training and organizational development). Other functional areas represented operations (5%), and sales / marketing (5%).

Industry: The research sample included respondents from a variety of industries. Telecom, hi-tech and IT (including software, hardware and services) represented 13% of the sample, followed by consumer durable goods (8%). Aerospace and defense represented 4% of the sample.

Geography: The majority of respondents (88%) were from North America. Remaining respondents were from Europe (6%), Asia-Pacific (5%), and Middle East / Africa (1%).

Company size: Twenty-seven percent (27%) of respondents were from large enterprises (annual revenues above US$1 billion); 43% were from mid-sized enterprises (annual revenues between $50 million and $1 billion); 30% were from small businesses (annual revenues less than $50 million.

Headcount: Thirty-seven percent (37%) of respondents had over 2500 employees; 14% had between 1000 and 2500 employees; 22% had between 250 and 1000 employees; 27% of respondents came from companies with less than 250 employees.

Solution providers recognized as sponsors were solicited after the fact and had no substantive influence on the direction of this report. Their sponsorship has made it possible for Aberdeen Group to make these findings available to readers at no charge.




Table 5: The PACE Framework Key

Overview Aberdeen applies a methodology to benchmark research that evaluates the business pressures, actions, capabilities, and enablers (PACE) that indicate corporate behavior in specific business processes. These terms are defined as follows: Pressures external forces that impact an organizations market position, competitiveness, or business operations (e.g., economic, political and regulatory, technology, changing customer preferences, competitive) Actions the strategic approaches that an organization takes in response to industry pressures (e.g., align the corporate business model to leverage industry opportunities, such as product / service strategy, target markets, financial strategy, go-to-market, and sales strategy) Capabilities the business process competencies required to execute corporate strategy (e.g., skilled people, brand, market positioning, viable products / services, ecosystem partners, financing) Enablers the key functionality of technology solutions required to support the organizations enabling business practices (e.g., development platform, applications, network connectivity, user interface, training and support, partner interfaces, data cleansing, and management)


Table 6: The Competitive Framework Key

Overview The Aberdeen Competitive Framework defines enterprises as falling into one of the following three levels of practices and performance: Best-in-Class (20%) Practices that are the best currently being employed and are significantly superior to the Industry Average, and result in the top industry performance. Industry Average (50%) Practices that represent the average or norm, and result in average industry performance. Laggards (30%) Practices that are significantly behind the average of the industry, and result in below average performance.

In the following categories: Process What is the scope of process standardization? What is the efficiency and effectiveness of this process? Organization How is your company currently organized to manage and optimize this particular process? Knowledge What visibility do you have into key data and intelligence required to manage this process? Technology What level of automation have you used to support this process? How is this automation integrated and aligned? Performance What do you measure? How frequently? Whats your actual performance?


Table 7: The Relationship Between PACE and the Competitive Framework

PACE and the Competitive Framework How They Interact Aberdeen research indicates that companies that identify the most influential pressures and take the most transformational and effective actions are most likely to achieve superior performance. The level of competitive performance that a company achieves is strongly determined by the PACE choices that they make and how well they execute those decisions.





Appendix B: Related Aberdeen Research

Related Aberdeen research that forms a companion or reference to this report includes:

Workforce Collaboration and Web 2.0: Improving Productivity by Facilitating Knowledge Transfer; June 2008

Managing Employee Performance; May 2008 RPO: The Ins and Outs of Recruitment Process Outsourcing; March 2008 All Aboard: Effective Onboarding Techniques and Strategies; January

2008

The Global War for Talent: Getting What You Want Won't Be Easy; June 2007

Information on these and any other Aberdeen publications can be found at www.aberdeen.com.

Author: David Weldon, Research Analyst, Human Capital Management Practice, [email protected]

Since 1988, Aberdeen's research has been helping corporations worldwide become Best-in-Class. Having benchmarked the performance of more than 644,000 companies, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to provide organizations with the facts that matter the facts that enable companies to get ahead and drive results. That's why our research is relied on by more than 2.2 million readers in over 40 countries, 90% of the Fortune 1,000, and 93% of the Technology 500.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information Opportunity Insight Engagement Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com

This document is the result of primary research performed by Aberdeen Group. Aberdeen Group's methodologies provide for objective fact-based research and represent the best analysis available at the time of publication. Unless otherwise noted, the entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by Aberdeen Group, Inc. and may not be reproduced, distributed, archived, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent by Aberdeen Group, Inc.

Executive SummaryBest-in-Class PerformanceCompetitive Maturity AssessmentRequired Actions

Table of ContentsFigures Tables

Chapter One: Benchmarking the Best-in-ClassAberdeen's AnalysisThe Maturity Class FrameworkThe Best-in-Class PACE ModelBest-in-Class Strategies

Chapter Two: Benchmarking Requirements for SuccessCompetitive AssessmentCapabilities and Enablers

Chapter Three: Required ActionsLaggard Steps to SuccessIndustry Average Steps to SuccessBest-in-Class Steps to Success

Appendix A: Research MethodologyAppendix B: Related Aberdeen Research

Aberdeen Talent Acquisition Report

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