There has been a long-standing debate about Talent Acquisition and Recruitment and the relation between the two. Based on this development it’s obvious that we’d like to know more about it hence the question what is the difference between Talent Acquisition and Recruitment?

Luckily one of the members of the popular Wednesday’s discussion addressed this very topic, “Difference between Talent Acquisition and Recruitment” upon the suggestion of Swarnim from the Pune WhatsApp Group @SourcingAdda. We received an outpour of responses and here’s what we discovered…

Well if you’ve read this far then I’m sure you’ve found what you’re looking for and are now looking for clarity about what you’ve read so far. Therefore we’ve decided to highlight the key take aways of what was discussed. So here they are…

Commonalities

Talent Acquisition, Recruitment, Human Resource & Personnel Management share the commonality of simply being repackaging to match up to the current Global Business environment standard.

Difference between Talent Acquisition and Recruitment

Talent Acquisition

1. Talent Acquisition means acquiring Talent
2. Talent acquisition is more strategic and aligned to businesses and outside-in approach
3. Talent Acquisition is more to do with domain and increased control
4. Talent Acquisition is recruiting to retain and be a brand ambassador for the company
5. Talent Acquisition is strategic planning, identifying, and sourcing at a high level for futuristic hiring plans in collaboration with the Business.
6. Talent Acquisition is attracting, engaging and onboarding the right talent for the right roles and the real Talent advisor.
7. Talent Acquisition is an ongoing strategy to find a specialist, leader or future executive for the company.
8. Talent Acquisition is the umbrella with more focus on skill matrix such as preparing database analysis of the exact recruitment market.
9. Talent Acquisition is about effectively utilizing Candidate and their skills to fill similar positions in the future when required.
10. Talent Acquisition is a mix of Art and Science which is about the measurement of the two.
11. Talent Acquisition is an ongoing process that includes communication of value proposition, employer branding and ongoing relationship with creating chains of Talent.

Recruitment

1. Recruitment is more of a transactional and operational with an inside out approach
2. Recruitment is gathering and shortlisting Candidate résumés and hiring for any position
3. Recruitment is a vital function which directly affects businesses
4. Recruitment is Sourcing to onboarding
5. Recruitment is filling in short term requirements/vacancies speedily based on BU timelines
6. Recruitment is one function of Talent acquisition and is entirely a tactical event with more focus on the current scenario.
7. Recruitment is the Implementation of strategies of acquiring talent which is more linear in process.

To some up Talent Acquisition, Recruitment, Human Resource & Personnel Management all different terms share the commonality of repackaging to meet the changes to the Global Business environment standard. Talent Acquisition means acquiring Talent and is more to do with a Business’ growth and is related to these aspects while Recruitment is one function/part of / a subset of Talent Acquisition as a whole.

If you’d like to be part of these discussions then be sure to follow us @SourcingAdda to get real-time updates to our upcoming event and activities. If you’ve got some points to add then do leave them in the comments section.

The previously held #SourcingContest had its grand finale at #TASCON15 with the conduction of the Mega Sourcing Contest. Similarly, the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge was the grand finale to the two Sourcing Premier League Challenges (#SPL1 & #SPL2) that were conducted prior to #TASCON16.

Sourcing ADDA (@SourcingAdda) as a  Talent Acquisition and Sourcing Community have been proud hosts of #TASCON15 & #TASCON16, 12 Sourcing Contests (#SourcingContest, Apr’14 to Mar’15), the Mega Sourcing Contest, the Sourcing Premier Leagues (#SPL1 & #SPL2) and now with the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge success.

Sourcing Premier League

The Sourcing Premier Leagues (#SPL1 & #SPL2) which were hosted was a continuation of our previously held #SourcingContest with its grand finale being Mega Sourcing Contest live at #TASCON15. Similarly, the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge was held live at #TASCON16.

Crack the code contest

The #SPL Challenge started on June 5, 2015, with a crack the code contest wherein the contestants had to send their responses to the email ID cracked as the 2^nd part to the contest. And below are the details to the same.

Tagline

The Tagline read, “IPL is over…. To reveal what’s next Crack the Code…”

Cracking the Code

“USCORGNI, EPERIMR and EAUEGL”

Instructions

1. Use the initials of the three words to complete the Email ID: ___@sourcingadda.com
2. Submit the code to the same Email ID
3. The first 10 submissions will get 5 Bonus Points in the #SPL Challenge to be held.

   The puzzler if solved correctly completed the Email ID (___@sourcingadda.com) to which the responses had to be sent. Upon cracking the code the contestants had to send their responses to that Email Id (spl@sourcingadda.com).

   The icing on the cake was the 5 Bonus points that the first 10 submissions received at the start of the #SPL making them ahead of the rest of their competitors. The participants that received these points were marked by an “*” against the names of the contestants and the company they represented. The contestants that received these bonus points were revealed at the end of each of the challenges #SPL 1 & #SPL2 on the Individual as well as the Company LeaderBoards.

   SPL1 and SPL2

   Prior to the start of #SPL, we hosted 2 webinars on the skills required to boost success. #SPL 1 began in June 2015 and ended in September 2015. #SPL 2 began in Nov 2015 and ended in March 2016. Both #SPL1 and #SPL2 each had 3 identical levels with the same format.

   Level 1 comprised of 50 questions (1 point each, total 50 points)

   Level 2 comprised of 15 questions (5 points, total 75 points)

   Level 3 comprises of a combination of 4 search questions (35 points) and 6 descriptive questions (65 points) hence 10 Questions (Total 100 Points)

   There were 2 types of LeaderBoards for the participants to refer to and watch their progress.

   One was an Individual LeaderBoard and the other was a Company LeaderBoard. We had two LeaderBoards so that the individuals could track their performance at an individual level and even at a Company level.

   The winners of the #SPL1 won an iPad 3 each and would not be taken into consideration if they win #SPL2 as well, in order to give others an opportunity to win. While the #SPL2 winners won an iPad 4 each.  Each one of them gained entry into the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge.

   Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge

   Sourcing Adda hosted two Sourcing Premier Leagues (#SPL1 & #SPL2). The SPL that began in July 2015 ended in March 2016. The 3 winners from each of the two Leagues participated in the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge which brings the total to 6 contestants. We even had two more added to this challenge. These were the Surprise Entries called the Wild Card entries that were selected live at #TASCON16.

   Each of these contestants got the opportunity to compete with each other in the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge scheduled for April 2016 to win exciting prizes live at #TASCON16.

   Contestant Lists

   Chinmay Chavan was the host. Prior to the Challenge, the contestants were nervous, anxious, scared & excited all at once. You’d know the feeling if you’ve had an opportunity to participate in one especially, for the two Wild Card entries i.e. Tatyasaheb Kolage (@Tatya_Kolage) & Rakesh Suvare. It all sounds overwhelming, doesn’t it?  The same was the story of the Sourcing Premier League Challenge qualifiers we had from several companies such as…

   Name	SPL Winners	Company
   Ritesh Madraswala	SPL1	Capgemini
   Anju Rai	SPL1	Capgemini
   Ashish Peshave	SPL1	ZS Associates
   Roland Pavamani	SPL2	Capgemini
   Aparna Agrawal	SPL2	RolJobs
   Kiran Paratane	SPL2	Helix Recruiting
   Wild Card Entries
   Tatyasaheb Kolage	Mega SPL Challenge	Helix Recruiting
   Rakesh Suvare	Mega SPL Challenge	Helix Recruiting

   Procedure

   In this challenge, the previous 3 winners of the two Sourcing Premier Leagues (#SPL1 & #SPL2) competed with each other and the wild card entry contestants to win the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge.  The wild card entry contestants were picked from a pool of the previously held Sourcing Mega contest participants hosted by Chinmay Chavan (@SourcingNinja).

   Final Decision

   At the end of the event, the winners of the Sourcing Premier League were presented with trophies for two levels categorized into the Individual LeaderBoard and the Company LeaderBoard.

   On the Individual LeaderBoard, the #SPL1 winners were Ritesh Madraswala the Winner, Anju Rai was the Second runner up and Ashish Peshave was the Third runner up. Similarly for #SPL2 Roland Pavamani was the Winner, Aparna Agrawal came in Second and Kiran Paratane came in Third.

   On the Company LeaderBoard, we had Helix Recruiting as the Second runner up, ZS Associates as the Third runner up and the winners were Capgemini for #SPL1.  Along the same lines, we had Helix Recruiting as the Second runner up, the third runner up wasn’t present hence we proceeded to the winners for #SPL2 and once again it was Capgemini.

   Unfortunately, the Sourcing Premier League Challenge wasn’t solved as planned by the organizers due to the difficulty level in spite of the contestants putting in their very best efforts. The challenge wasn’t completed as expected hence the team decided to reward the first individual to solve the 2^nd milestone correctly. Therefore Ritesh Madraswala was declared the winner and presented with a Trophy and a Digital Camera as a gift.

   To those who were present, it’s safe to say that overall it was an amazing challenge where the participants put in their best efforts and were enjoyed by all participants including the host. The competitors displayed great sportsmanship and were not defeated just yet. The attendees enjoyed #TASCON16 and were eagerly waiting for their next challenge and #TASCON17 to add to their knowledge. Overall it was a grand success if you’d like to get updates to our upcoming events and activities it is absolutely essential that you follow us @SourcingAdda right now!

The previously held #SourcingContest had its grand finale at #TASCON15 with the conduction of the Mega Sourcing Contest. Similarly the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge was the grand finale to the two Sourcing Premier League Challenges (#SPL1 & #SPL2) that were conducted prior to #TASCON16.

Sourcing ADDA (@SourcingAdda) as a  Talent Acquisition and Sourcing Community have been proud hosts of #TASCON15 & #TASCON16, 12 Sourcing Contests (#SourcingContest, Apr’14 to Mar’15), the Mega Sourcing Contest, the Sourcing Premier Leagues (#SPL1 & #SPL2) and now with the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge success.

Sourcing Premier League

The Sourcing Premier Leagues (#SPL1 & #SPL2) which were hosted was a continuation to our previously held #SourcingContest with its grand finale being Mega Sourcing Contest live at #TASCON15. Similarly the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge was held live at #TASCON16.

Crack the Code Contest

The #SPL Challenge started on June 5, 2015 with a crack the code contest wherein the contestants had to send their responses to the email ID cracked as the 2^nd part to the contest. And below are the details to the same.

Tagline

The Tagline read, “IPL is over…. To reveal what^?s next Crack the Code…”

Cracking the Code

“USCORGNI, EPERIMR and EAUEGL”

Instructions

1. Use the initials of the three words to complete the Email ID: ___@sourcingadda.com
2. Submit the code to the same Email ID
3. The first 10 submissions will get 5 Bonus Points in the #SPL Challenge to be held.

The puzzler if solved correctly completed the Email ID (___@sourcingadda.com) to which the responses had to be sent. Upon cracking the code the contestants had to send their responses to that Email Id (spl@sourcingadda.com).

The icing on the cake was the 5 Bonus points that the first 10 submissions received at the start of the #SPL making them ahead of the rest of their competitors. The participants that received these points were marked by an “*” against the names of the contestants and the company they represented. The contestants that received these bonus points were revealed at the end of each of the challenges #SPL1 & #SPL2 on the Individual as well as the Company LeaderBoards.

SPL1 and SPL2

Prior to the start of #SPL15 we hosted 2 webinars on the skills required to boost success. #SPL1 began in June 2015 and ended in September 2015. #SPL2 began in Nov 2015 and ended in March 2016. Both #SPL1 and #SPL2 each had 3 identical levels with the same format.

Level 1 comprised of 50 questions (1 point each, total 50 points)

Level 2 comprised of 15 questions (5 points, total 75 points)

Level 3 comprises of a combination of 4 search questions (35 points) and 6 descriptive questions (65 points) hence 10 Questions (Total 100 Points)

There were 2 types of LeaderBoards for the participants to refer to and watch their progress.

One was an Individual LeaderBoard and the other was a Company LeaderBoard. We had two LeaderBoards so that the individuals could track their performance at an Individual level and even at a Company level.

The winners of the #SPL1 won an iPad 3 each and would not be taken into consideration if they win #SPL2 as well, in order to give others an opportunity to win. While the #SPL2 winners won an iPad 4 each.  Each one of them gained entry into the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge.

Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge

Sourcing Adda hosted two Sourcing Premier Leagues (#SPL1 & #SPL2). The SPL that began in July 2015 ended in March 2016. The 3 winners from each of the two Leagues participated in the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge which brings the total to 6 contestants. We even had two more addition to this challenge. These were the Surprise Entries called the Wild Card entries that were selected live at #TASCON16.

Each of these contestants got the opportunity to compete with each other in the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge scheduled for April 2016 to win exciting prizes live at #TASCON16.

Contestant Lists

Chinmay Chavan was the host. Prior to the Challenge the contestants were nervous, anxious, scared & excited all at once. You’d know the feeling if you’ve had an opportunity to participate in one especially, for the two Wild Card entries i.e. Tatyasaheb Kolage (@Tatya_Kolage) & Rakesh Suvare. It all sounds overwhelming, doesn’t it? The same was the story of the Sourcing Premier League Challenge qualifiers we had from several companies such as…

Procedure

In this challenge the previous 3 winners of the two Sourcing Premier Leagues (#SPL1 & #SPL2) competed with each other and the wild card entry contestants to win the Mega Sourcing Premier League Challenge.  The wild card entry contestants were picked from a pool of the previously held Sourcing Mega contest participants hosted by Chinmay Chavan (@SourcingNinja).

Final Decision

At the end of the event the winners of the Sourcing Premier League were presented with trophies for two levels categorised into the Individual LeaderBoard and the Company LeaderBoard.

On the Individual LeaderBoard the #SPL1 winners were Ritesh Madraswala the Winner, Anju Rai was the Second runner up and Ashish Peshave was the Third runner up. Similarly for #SPL2 Roland Pavamani was the Winner, Aparna Agrawal came in Second and Kiran Paratane came in Third.

On the Company LeaderBoard we had Helix Recruiting as the Second runner up, ZS Associates as the Third runner up and the winners were Capgemini for #SPL1.  Along the same lines we had Helix Recruiting as  the Second runner up, the Third runner up wasn’t present hence we proceeded to the winners for #SPL2 and once again it was Capgemini.

Unfortunately the Sourcing Premier League Challenge wasn’t solved as planned by the organisers due to the difficulty level in spite of the contestants putting in their very best efforts. The challenge wasn’t completed as expected hence the team decided to reward the first individual to solve the 2^nd milestone correctly. Therefore Ritesh Madraswala was declared the winner and presented with a Trophy and a Digital Camera as a gift.

To those who were present, it’s safe to say that overall it was an amazing challenge where the participants put in their best efforts and was enjoyed by all participants including the host. The competitors displayed great sportsmanship and were not defeated just yet. The attendees enjoyed #TASCON16 and were eagerly waiting for their next challenge and #TASCON17 to add to their knowledge. Overall it was a grand success, if you’d like to get updates to our upcoming events and activities it is absolutely essential that you follow us @SourcingAdda right now!

The Talent Acquisition Industry is constantly evolving so what does that mean for us as fellow Talent Acquisitionist’s? It means we too need to adapt to the changes. Put simply it’s time to stop and find out what aspects need a change for Talent Acquisitionists like your-selves to achieve success.

After having said that the popular discussion topic was suggested by Srikrishnan from the Bangalore Group that focussed on, “what’s lacking in a Recruitment Consultants work and how to fix it?” and here’s what we uncovered…

In the discussion above we’ve covered three important aspects that matter namely, Recruiters, Team Leads and Candidates perspectives. Within the aspects spoken about we also find the pros and cons listed out of Recruiters, Team Leads and Candidates. We’ve even got solutions and suggested improvements for the parties in question. The Cons can be considered as improvements for those of us who are determined to excel at the profession of choice.

As Talent Acquisitionists let’s not compartmentalise roles due to its nature but in fact let’s evaluate the way we as well do things. Once we focus on being a success you open doors to other opportunities with a simple mundane task of developing a learning attitude. So while we’re going through the discussion on Consultant Recruiters let’s evaluate ourselves in the process and be better than we already are. Therefore here are the key pointers that we need to focus on…

Recruiters Perspective

Pros

• An interview scheduled
• Requirement / Role understanding and detailed screening is the key to the role of a Recruiter
• They are career makers and search specialists
• Recruiters approach to Candidates has to change to a long term relationships driven one

Cons

• Conveying inaccurate information about the job profile to get Candidates to interview
• Lack of Employee satisfaction
• Limited exposure to a variety of perspectives
• Only matching the skills for any profile
• Consultant should be treated like an employee at an MNC
• Lack good facilities and not limit their work to making calls
• JDs and CTC not well defined
• Sitting on CV’s without feedback even after follow ups
• Sudden freezing of positions and urgency without any proper communication
• Unclear communication and lack of confidence
• Over – commitment and delay in closing Candidates
• Improper Position Management
• Lack the understanding of the Corporate Recruiter’s pain area in closing critical requirements

Team Leads

Pros & Cons

• Every team lead should set the expectation in terms of perfect profiles
• What matters are not how many profiles you search but how many suitable profiles you Sourced

Solutions or Improvements

• Partnering with client and customers to gain clarity in creating relevant JDs
• Prioritise requirements with the client
• Be proactive and proactively find out more information about the role vacancy
• Avoid over commitments to clients
• Don’t remain only focussed on Targets and Numbers
• Inculcate skills of empathy and consulting before dealing with Candidates
• Recruiters need to understand both sides of the coin
• Establish a direct relationship with the Corporate Recruiter and Recruitment Consultant
• Corporate Recruiter to understand the requirement themselves before communicating to vendors
• Understand the revenue impact/billing rates and your organisations charter
• Corporate HRs should avoid setting expectations in terms of sourced profile but in terms of right profiles.
• Both types of Recruiters i.e. Corporate or Consultant should have the common understanding that both will benefit only if the Candidate joins.
• Recruiter’s should have strong convincing skills, be able to articulate well about the job and the organisation they represent.
• Understand a Candidates right career path by understanding their current roles, responsibilities and future growth.

Candidate Perspective

Pros

• Interviewing for the desired role

Cons

• Candidates not being truthful and immature
• Bad experience for the Interviewee
• Only to realise it’s the opposite role they are interviewing
• Lacking integrity when we speak of companies, Recruiters and Candidates

Now that we’re clear on the aspects that need to be improved let’s implement them as Consultants to make us better Recruiters. And if you’re a Recruiter then you’ve also been a candidate at some point so let’s make the improvements we need to be better at what we do and grow in the process. After all this is the reason for us to have such informative discussions with Thought Leaders in the Talent Acquisition Sphere so that we can enlighten ourselves.

If you’re not part of these discussions then it’s time you did so follow us @SourcingAdda and Tweet us if you’d like to be a part of these discussions.

The Talent Acquisition Industry is constantly evolving so what does that mean for us as fellow Talent Acquisitionist’s? It means we too need to adapt to the changes. Put simply it’s time to stop and find out what aspects need a change for Talent Acquisitionists like your-selves to achieve success.

After having said that the popular discussion topic was suggested by Srikrishnan from the Bangalore Group that focussed on, “what’s lacking in a Recruitment Consultants work and how to fix it?” and here’s what we uncovered…

In the discussion above we’ve covered three important aspects that matter namely, Recruiters, Team Leads and Candidates perspectives. Within the aspects spoken about we also find the pros and cons listed out of Recruiters, Team Leads and Candidates. We’ve even got solutions and suggested improvements for the parties in question. Cons can be considered as improvements for those of us who are determined to excel at the profession of choice.

As Talent Acquisitionists let’s not compartmentalize roles due to its nature but in fact let’s evaluate the way we as well do things. Once we focus on being a success you open doors to other opportunities with a simple mundane task of developing a learning attitude. So while we’re going through the discussion on Consultant Recruiters let’s evaluate ourselves in the process and be better than we already are. Therefore here are the key pointers that we need to focus on…

Recruiters Perspective

Pros

• An interview scheduled
• Requirement / Role understanding and detailed screening is the key to the role of a Recruiter
• They are career makers and search specialists
• Recruiters approach to Candidates has to change to a long term relationship-driven one

Cons

• Conveying inaccurate information about the job profile to get Candidates to interview
• Lack of Employee satisfaction
• Limited exposure to a variety of perspectives
• Only matching the skills for any profile
• A consultant should be treated as an employee at an MNC
• Lack of good facilities and not limit their work to making calls
• JDs and CTC not well defined
• Sitting on CV’s without feedback even after follow-ups
• Sudden freezing of positions and urgency without any proper communication
• Unclear communication and lack of confidence
• Over-commitment and delay in closing Candidates
• Improper Position Management
• Lack of the understanding of the Corporate Recruiter’s pain area in closing critical requirements

Team Leads

Pros & Cons

• Every team lead should set the expectation in terms of perfect profiles
• What matters are not how many profiles you search but how many suitable profiles you Sourced

Solutions or Improvements

• Partnering with client and customers to gain clarity in creating relevant JDs
• Prioritize requirements with the client
• Be proactive and proactively find out more information about the role vacancy
• Avoid over commitments to clients
• Don’t remain only focussed on Targets and Numbers
• Inculcate skills of empathy and consulting before dealing with Candidates
• Recruiters need to understand both sides of the coin
• Establish a direct relationship with the Corporate Recruiter and Recruitment Consultant
• Corporate Recruiter to understand the requirement themselves before communicating to vendors
• Understand the revenue impact/billing rates and your organizations charter
• Corporate HRs should avoid setting expectations in terms of sourced profiles but in terms of the right profiles.
• Both types of Recruiters i.e. Corporate or Consultant should have a common understanding that both will benefit only if the candidate joins.
• A recruiter should have strong convincing skills, be able to articulate well about the job and the organization they represent.
• Understand a Candidate’s right career path by understanding their current roles, responsibilities and future growth.

Candidate Perspective

Pros

• Interviewing for the desired role

Cons

• Candidates not being truthful and immature
• Bad experience for the Interviewee
• Only to realize it’s the opposite role they are interviewing
• Lacking integrity when we speak of companies, Recruiters and Candidates

  Now that we’re clear on the aspects that need to be improved let’s implement them as Consultants to make us better Recruiters. And if you’re a Recruiter then you’ve also been a candidate at some point so let’s make the improvements we need to be better at what we do and grow in the process. After all, this is the reason for us to have such informative discussions with Thought Leaders in the Talent Acquisition Sphere so that we can enlighten ourselves.

  If you’re not part of these discussions then it’s time you did so follow us @SourcingAdda and Tweet us if you’d like to be a part of these discussions.