Should you be recruiting or acquiring talent? Maple C&S throws some light on your quandary.

Recruitment is a sub-part of Talent Selection and Acquisition. The difference between recruitment and talent acquisition is as simple as differentiating between quick fixes and long-term planning says Mr. Anil Raikundlia, MD, Maple C&S, a niche HR consulting firm in Mumbai.
Recruitment is about filling in a vacancy, but Talent Sourcing is an on-going approach to find specialists, leaders or future executives for your company so that you have a ready database to tap into when you have a vacancy or if you are looking for a reorganisation.
The focus here is turning one-dimensional recruitment into a multi-dimensional Talent Management function. Providing a one-dimensional recruitment only service may meet your current needs but will not meet your organisations future needs.
A critical element of talent selection and acquisition is that it is an on-going process, one that companies may not always have the time or resources for. Hence outsourcing talent selection is a viable option.
How can an external agency help you to meet your needs?
Attracting the best and brightest employees to your company isn’t a one-time only event. It is a continuous process. How do you get started? Setting up a talent acquisition program is a big project, but it’s worth the effort says Anil. Take it one step at a time:

• Get organized – How are you going to keep track of the talent you find and the resources you’re using? Well organized spreadsheets or a specialized software helps you arrange and search your data as you like.
• Know where to find talent: Social networks and communities forums like LinkedIn Groups are good places to search for viable candidates. A full-time process, a talent sourcing agency can help you as they would already have a wide network and detailed profiles of potential candidates.
• Retain and enhance talent: A learning oriented work culture and a motivating environment appeals to top talent. An outsourcing agency like Maple C&S not only professionally mentors employees but helps you align company goals with HR requirements.

How can we align recruitment with Talent Selection?
Right talent is the greatest asset for any enterprise. In fact, one of the most important roles of HR is to make sure employees with the right skills stick with the company for long enough. Recruitment remains an important activity to fill immediate vacancies, but top positions require a long-term strategy to make hiring more efficient and more productive.
Talent Selection is a conscious, deliberate approach undertaken to attract, develop and retain people with the aptitude and abilities to meet current and future organisational needs.
Companies must ask themselves which positions will be difficult to fill when a vacancy comes up (as it inevitably will, eventually). Niche markets, technology skills, highly specific experience, and leadership roles call for a thoughtful, long-term approach to talent acquisition.
Talent management goes beyond recruitment and involves individual and organisational development in response to a changing and complex operating environment. It includes the creation and maintenance of a supportive, people oriented organisation culture.
Talent acquisition takes more time up-front, but in the end, it will help you build the best possible team for your company signs off Anil Raikundlia.