Talent Acquisition: Attracting & Retaining Skilled People for Long-Term Goals - Essay Sample

Introduction

The recruitment process in any organization is aimed at hiring and training people to serve in certain roles in the company. Talent acquisition is slightly different from the recruitment process in that it involves attracting the most talented and skilled people in the market and it has long-term goals to retain them for as long as possible. The target is to retain these skilled people and win their commitment to the organization so that they can benefit the operations of the business. For that reason, talent acquisition requires the human resources managers to use strategies that align the objectives of the business with the recruitment and retention process. The retention process is deeper than the traditional invitation for a job whereby candidates are invited and hired without much emphasis on their talents and abilities. It also involves attracting the required talents regardless of the vacancies available.

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Literature Review

The high competition and business threats in today's world can have numerous challenges to organizations. One of the biggest challenges is when the company does not have the right people to propel its ideas. For example, if a company deals with technology, it requires experts in Information Technology (IT) who can understand the different needs and preferences in the market. In the service industry, the companies strategize on getting people who can handle customers in the best way possible. Companies with effective talent acquisition strategies always win over their competitors who don't. Firmenich, the private Swiss company in the fragrance and flavor business, has been in operation for over 100 years and it has over 7,000 employees (Ramachanderan & Schaefer, 2019). Among these employees, some are highly qualified and talented and some are the joy-riders. The strategy of the company is to attract the others who are highly talented and to retain the ones that are already in the company. Firmenich has many research centers in many parts of the world including Geneva, Shanghai, China, Switzerland, and New Jersey (Foulds, 2018). To achieve such research goals and sustain them, the company requires the best researchers who can be relied upon to deliver the best of data.

Workforce Planning

The purpose of the workforce planning strategy is to align the goals of the organization with the hiring process and ensure that all people recruited into the organization are suitable for the positions. It is a strategy used in most of the organizations and it ensures that all employees are aware of the main goals of the company and have the right skills to achieve them. It is commonly used in the production companies to align the skills with the production targets. For example, in healthcare, workforce planning involves hiring people who can minimize the costs of treatment and maximize the outcomes of the healthcare facilities (Lopes, Almeida, & Almada-Lobo, 2015). In Firmenich, the workforce planning process requires the involvement of all departments to ensure that there are no resistant ideas.

The company's workforce is diverse and large and this makes it necessary to plan well before making decisions. The company generated a high revenue of over $3.7 billion in 2017 and this can be attributed to the good planning of the workforce and the goals of the organization (Ramachanderan & Schaefer, 2019). The flavors, fragrance, and ingredients made by the company require adequate expertise and the right workforce can achieve it. The company has plans to starts a sustainability academy to retain 100% of their workforce by 2020. In most organizations, employees are trained in the ways to commit their efforts to the organization and to remain relevant and efficient. Therefore, companies strive to retain the experienced ones and prevent their turnover rate. The plan to start the sustainability academy by 2020 will support the workforce planning strategy in that the current workforce and the ones who will be hired this year will be retained.

The workforce planning process requires that the staffing needs of the organization be identified and understood. In this company, the first staffing need is in the research and development department that gives direction on the changes in taste and preferences in the market and the changing technology that could affect the company. The department also identifies how the company can satisfy the needs of the market. The department requires experts in analytical innovation, which involves guiding on the innovative procedures that the company can use to remain competitive and relevant. The department also requires to have experts in cellular biology and organic chemistry, the areas that involve the understanding of the chemical ratios of the products. Knowledge management and biotechnology are also important and the human resources department should have experts in all these and more fields. Once the staffing needs are understood, the other step is to have an analysis of the supply chains used to determine the special needs associated.

The company has a target of becoming the leading and the largest supplier of the flagrance products in Central America and other parts of the world. Such a goal can only be achieved if the management can have a comprehensive demand analysis to determine the changes in demand that could affect its profit. According to the research by Soderbery (2015), the analysis of the demand and supply in the market helps organizations plan their resources and achieve their targets on time. The challenges affecting the current market for Firmenich is the increased competition, high production costs and taxation challenges in some countries among others. The other step in talent acquisition is to determine the existing gap that needs to be filled. If the organization wants to achieve new targets, it will require new workers who have expertise in the new area. It can also train the existing workforce to undertake new tasks. Solutions are then identified and implemented to get the right workforce.

The workforce planning strategy can be applied in any organization that has many employees like Firmenich and it requires the efforts of the leaders and the managers. The success of workforce planning relies heavily on the support of the top management team. The company can use the current workforce to determine the gaps that should be filled and identify the solutions to the challenge. The supply of the workforce will also determine the way the company achieves its targets. The challenges expected when this strategy is implemented include inadequate information about the market and poor planning that could lead to inaccurate conclusions.

Building the Employer Brand

The employer brand refers to the image that the company has in the market which is based on the views of the consumers. The target market served by the company is one of the most critical parts of an organization and the employees come from this group. It is important, therefore, to ensure that the identity created by the company is appealing to the market and encourages people to work with it. The brand image of the organization should reflect the philosophy they follow, and the talent management process should be in line with the image portrayed (Bali & Dixit, 2016). The first step in the building of an employer brand is discovering the unique characteristics of the company and using them to win the market. Firmenich is known for its success in research and in producing fragrance products that are of high quality. The values of the company include good management and social responsibility. The employment environment is also favorable and attractive. Such an image is unique and makes the organization more attractive than many of its competitors. The other characteristics f the organization should be built around this unique image.

The other step is to use key performance indicators (KPI) that help identify the way the workforce performs. Some of the KPI techniques used are based on the nature of the company and the industry in which it operates. KPIs can be used to drive the organization towards its targets and to increase the efficiency of the hiring process (Parmenter, 2015). The performance of the employees can be determined by the quality and quantity of their production and the innovativeness they exhibit. The other step is to create a fan base of the employees, which can connect them and make them grow together. The competition for the skills should also be analyzed to determine if the company can get the required number of employees without much struggle. The brand can also be built using the website. For example, the business code of ethics and the business conduct, which also includes the anti-corruption policy, is found on the company's website. The documents can be accessed by the existing and potential employees and this improves the chances for effective talent acquisition. The website can also be used to sell the company, by improving the reputation of the company.

In building the employer brand, it is also advisable to target the potential applicants and use creative media to create an image that attracts the right people. The analysis of the careers in the company on the online platform helps create an image of the expectations of the company and how the interested people can get a chance to work with it. The company has a careers page where people can access the information about the available vacancies and how to apply for the available jobs. The use of social media can increase the accuracy and efficiency of the employer brand building because it helps the business to expose its abilities and needs to the target market easily. Employers need to create an attractive image that makes people aim at working with them. The use of social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is important in attracting and retaining the right personnel into the company (Kaur, Sharma, Kaur, & Sharma, 2015). Most of the companies fail to use the platforms to introduce their culture to the people and this makes them less effective than they should. For Firmenich, the management should include the use of social media sites in their strategies to acquire and retain the required talents. So far, the company uses social media to engage most of their stakeholders and this makes it easy to reach out to people who are in different geographic locations.

The employer brand building includes transparency and trust-building. The importance of having transparent operations is that it increases the loyalty of the employees and other stakeholders. In Firmenich, the company should use social media platforms and the career page to create a transparent relationship with the target talented population. For example, the use of a clear and comprehensive reward system can attract and retain the right employees. The employees should understand how they acquire the promotions, the way people get hired and fired, and any other issues related to the acquisition of the jobs. The communication should also show the uniqueness and superiority of the company over the competitors. The research and development department should research on the level of competition that affects the industry and suggest ways to remain competitive.

It is advisable to have adequate information on the expectations of the market and the possible ways in which it can be attracted to work with Firmenich. The first step is to understand the perceptions that people look for in any employment and to include it in social media sites. It is also advisable to use the comments of the employees to understand their discontent and determine the solutions that can help reduce the challenges. T...