Why Your Business Needs a Talent Acquisition Audit

July 10, 2024

How many of us can honestly say business is running as smoothly as it could be? Between fragmented operations, over-extended budgets, underperforming sales, and missed deadlines, it’s the rare unicorn who proclaims business couldn’t possibly be doing better. 

On the labor side, employees are responsible for producing deliverables at capacity. But on the operational side, leadership is required to fill positions with talent that can deliver efficiently and consistently. So where are we going wrong?

Diligent and effective talent is the spinal cord of a well-functioning business. Many businesses are scratching their heads about how to make quarterly and annual targets, while legacy hiring practices continue to integrate less-than-ideal employees. We’re here to dissect the talent acquisition audit and discuss how to identify whether your business needs one. 

What is a Talent Acquisition Audit? 

A talent acquisition audit takes a deep dive into all aspects of a business’s talent function, examining existing processes and providing recommendations. Areas of strength are magnified, while weaker spots are fortified or overhauled. This ultimately leads to more effective hires, long-term talent solutions, and enhanced productivity. Focus areas are broken down below: 

• Identify Skill and Knowledge Gaps: Internal audits determine your current talent and indicate areas where your business strategy may need additional support.
• Enhance Employer Branding: Increasingly, how your image as an employer appeals to potential candidates is critical to attracting the right people. 
• Recruitment Forecasting: An audit takes a look into current and future hiring needs to accommodate growth and succession planning. 
• Hiring and Onboarding Processes: Are recruits receiving the support they need? Is there any way tech solutions can bolster your strategy or economize resources? An audit will identify gaps and areas for improvement. 

Why Audit Your Recruitment Practices?

Talent acquisition no longer falls under HR responsibilities. The recruitment landscape is evolving with greater opportunities for global hires, decreased tenure, and increased movement toward lateral, rather than linear, career trajectories. The augmented scope of talent acquisition requires a distinct skillset from specialists in the field. 

By closely scrutinizing which processes produce tangible, objective results, businesses can solve gritty hiring challenges, develop high-functioning teams, and remain competitive in the market. 

Consider this: It costs a business at least 33% of the employee’s salary to find their replacement. That means for an employee on a salary of $75k, it’s a $25k spend — and the figure creeps even higher with seniority. An internal audit performed by a specialized talent acquisition consulting team reduces the figurative and literal cost of outdated recruitment processes.

The Benefits of a Talent Acquisition Audit

With a humming talent acquisition strategy, you can maximize potential candidate competency within your business over the long term and align your direction with strategic objectives. Here’s what you can expect: 

Streamlined Recruitment Efforts

Fragmented hiring processes involving too many (or the wrong) people will give way to a precise, actionable, and repeatable process that produces lasting results. A consistent cross-departmental recruitment framework helps hiring managers make unbiased decisions about the best fit for the role and elevates your business’s employer brand.

Discover High-Quality Candidates

Find the people you actually need. Putting the right messages in front of the right candidates attracts high-level job seekers into your talent pipeline — those with the skills and experience required to excel in their role within a company. Plus, you’ll quickly determine an applicant’s suitability for the role based on competencies, character, and your company’s current skill distribution.

Maintain Compliance With Laws and Regulations

Recruitment’s regulatory environment is constantly shifting, with new inclusion, pay equity, and AI frameworks introduced almost daily. A talent acquisition audit examines your processes and communications from the inside out, ensuring practices are updated and legally compliant.

Elevate the Candidate Experience

According to Forbes, nearly 38% of employees quit in their first year on the job — and more than 40% of that group depart in the first 90 days. Does that have you on the edge of your seat? Offering a smooth, supported hiring experience sets the tone for recruits, encouraging a positive attitude and high commitment levels. 

Gain Actionable Insights from Data

An audit report provides valuable insight and analytics showing what’s working across your recruitment efforts and what’s not. With the opportunity to work through challenges and refine your approach, you can tangibly enhance your potential for success.

7 Signs You Need a Talent Acquisition Audit

Talent acquisition audits are not always the most obvious solution in an underperforming business. However, often, they’re the most necessary. Here are seven tell-tale signs you need an audit: 

1. High turnover rates: If staff tend to leave as fast as they come, it may point to potential communication gaps at the outset. A specialist evaluates how roles are advertised to create realistic expectations and target genuinely motivated prospects.
2. Extended time-to-fill: Positions that remain vacant for extended periods can slug operations and add pressure to employee workloads. An audit analyzes where your ideal candidates are searching for positions and targets those spaces to reduce vacancy and handover timeframes. 
3. Difficulty attracting quality candidates: This can indicate a need to revamp or strengthen your employer brand as it relates to recruitment. 
4. Poor candidate experience: If you’re fortunate enough to receive negative feedback about the hiring experience from a new recruit, it’s likely not an isolated incident. An audit helps streamline processes and support employees from the get-go. 
5. Low-quality hires: Struggling to find the right person is bad, and hiring the wrong person is even worse. A talent acquisition consultant equips you with the tools to consistently identify the most qualified prospects from your pool of applicants according to predefined criteria. That way, you can accurately evaluate candidate compatibility before you commit.
6. Inconsistent hiring practices: Variation between departmental recruiting practices or hiring managers leaves little space for cohesion or objectivity in decision-making. This can later manifest in misaligned or unproductive teams. 
7. High recruitment costs: With the volume of recruitment software and technology available on the market, you shouldn’t need to spend serious money attracting talent. An audit takes a look into where and how you’re sourcing candidates and recommends more cost-effective alternatives. 

Take Your Talent Acquisition to the Next Level With RPO

A talent acquisition audit offers a single, broad-reaching, and comprehensive fix to resolve hiring challenges and create an enduring impact. Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provides your business with an external team of experts that analyze your recruitment strategy and provide recommendations to resolve enduring hire challenges — without the need to recruit an in-house specialist. 

Envision RPO offers solutions to optimize your hiring strategy and ensure recruits consistently meet your organizational goals. Our experts can integrate into your business to understand your culture and produce a fully aligned blueprint congruent with your long-term goals. Reach out to our team to kickstart your RPO journey today.