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RecruitHow to Hire a Talent Acquisition Manager: A Comprehensive Guide
Your company is only as good as the people who work for you — which is why choosing the right talent is critical. Several people play a role in hiring, through tasks such as creating job posts, assessing applications, and interviewing candidates. Heading up the team is often a talent acquisition manager. If you don’t currently have a talent acquisition manager on staff at your company, this may be something to consider.
What Is a Talent Acquisition Manager?
A talent acquisition manager leads a team of human resources professionals who recruit workers to meet the organization’s staffing needs. As well as overseeing their teams’ work, talent acquisition managers create recruitment strategies, identify staffing requirements, and work on employer branding efforts. They also avoid issues with a lack of talent in the future by keeping the pipeline full of potential candidates and by supporting the retention of staff the company has already hired.
Key to the role of a talent acquisition manager is putting the organization on track to scale and to be successful in its endeavors. For this reason, a talent acquisition manager needs to have the skills to determine who would be a good fit for the company and what kind of talent would help the organization grow while staying within its budget.
Job Outlook for Talent Acquisition Managers
In general, jobs in human resources are on the rise due to the challenges many businesses are facing around hiring talent while staying within their budgets. Some of the main issues companies are struggling with include skills gaps, changing employee expectations (which, if not met, may lead to a lack of employee engagement), advances in workplace technology, and losing workers to retirement. This is leading to a greater demand for both HR managers and HR specialists.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the job outlook for human resources managers between 2023 and 2033 to be 6%, which is faster than the average for all occupations. Expected job growth is even higher for human resources specialists, at 8%.
Duties and Responsibilities of a Talent Acquisition Manager
The day-to-day tasks of a talent acquisition manager focus on determining the need for talent, recruiting employees with the necessary skills, and retaining employees once they start working for the company. Typical duties of a talent acquisition manager include:
- Launching marketing campaigns to find talent, including by creating optimized job posts and using employment branding initiatives.
- Collaborating with external partners, such as recruitment agencies.
- Identifying current skills gaps at the company and predicting future needs for talent.
- Communicating with the heads of other departments to understand their talent needs.
- Planning attendance at job fairs to find candidates.
- Reaching out directly to talent that the company is interested in hiring.
- Creating protocols for the recruitment process, including how to assess applications and interview candidates.
- Providing candidates with enticing information about the company (including about salary, benefits, and company culture) to compete with other businesses for top talent.
- Interviewing candidates or assisting recruiters with the process — the talent acquisition manager often makes the final decision.
- Identifying when candidates with a nonstandard background have potential.
- Determining if existing employees would be suitable for open roles in promotions or vertical moves.
- Ensuring candidates have a positive experience with the company, even if they’re not successful.
- Contributing to employee retention and development strategies.
- Using HR tools, such as scheduling software, applicant tracking systems, onboarding tools, a CRM, and background check software.
What Do Talent Acquisition Managers Need to Succeed?
The decisions a talent acquisition manager makes have a major effect on the company. The right talent will bring the organization closer to meeting its goals — whereas a poor choice is a waste of resources and will cost the company money. For this reason, it’s critical that companies make the right decision when choosing an acquisition manager. In particular, there are certain skills, qualifications, and characteristics to look for.
Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills
Analytical skills are part of a talent acquisition manager’s job in several ways. In addition to analyzing candidates for their suitability for a position and for the company culture, a talent acquisition manager needs to analyze the market for opportunities and use data to determine areas for improvement, such as in the recruitment process or for diversity and inclusion efforts.
Often, it is also necessary to use analytical skills for problem solving. For instance, a talent acquisition manager may need to determine why there are leaks in the candidate pipeline and how to stop candidate dropouts. Other problems to solve may include scheduling conflicts, high employee turnover, or speeding up time to hire.
Communication Skills
There’s a great deal of communication involved in talent management — from coordinating with the rest of the team and writing hiring guidelines to interviewing candidates and providing them with feedback. For this reason, talent acquisition managers need to have excellent written and verbal communication skills with a good attention to detail to ensure they present the company in a professional way. In addition, they need to be good active listeners to effectively assess candidates and understand the company’s needs.
Time Management Skills
Talent acquisition managers rarely have a direct supervisor dictating their schedules. The role requires taking initiative, which requires the ability to manage one’s time without oversight. Talent acquisition managers need to be organized to ensure they meet the hiring goals (often which they set themselves) and to maintain a competitive position in the job market. Most talent acquisition managers will need several years of experience to develop such skills — not to mention plenty of self-discipline.
Leadership Skills
Although talent acquisition managers may work alone, it is common for them to lead a team of recruiters and other HR professionals. They need to motivate their teams to do the best work possible — without micromanaging. This involves paying attention to where individual team members excel to delegate tasks that align with their abilities. In addition, it’s important to notice where team members are struggling to provide them the support they need to succeed.
Negotiation Skills
Candidates — especially executives and other leaders — often want to negotiate the terms of their employment. It’s important that talent acquisition managers arrive at a good deal to ensure they secure top talent but also stay within the company’s budget. Key to this is negotiation skills.
A big part of negotiation is empathy. Talent acquisition managers must understand candidates’ motivations and desires to ensure they are highlighting the right benefits of the company. They also need to negotiate with insurers and other third parties to create appealing benefits packages for employees.
Knowledge of HR
To ensure the company is using recruitment best practices, a talent acquisition manager needs to have a good knowledge of HR. This tends to mean having an appropriate educational background (such as a degree in human resources, business management, or even psychology) as well as experience in the field, particularly in the recruitment aspects of HR.
Most important of all is that the talent acquisition manager is compliant with employment laws. In the U.S., examples of applicable laws include:
- Americans with Disabilities Act — Prohibits discriminating against employees based on a disability and requires companies to have accessible facilities for their employees.
- Equal Pay Act — Requires companies to pay employees of different genders the same wages and provide the same benefits when the work involves similar skills, effort, and responsibility.
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act — Prohibits companies from making employment decisions based on the race, color, religion, sex, or national origin of candidates.
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act — Applies to discriminating against candidates who are aged 40 and above. Employers are not allowed to ask any questions that could be perceived as an attempt to determine a candidate’s age.
- Pregnancy Discrimination Act — Prohibits the discrimination of pregnant employees as well as those affected by related medical conditions and childbirth.
- Immigration Reform and Control Act — Requires employers to ensure that applicants are legally allowed to work in the country.
In addition, the talent acquisition manager will need to be familiar with state and local labor laws where each employee or candidate is based. Furthermore, since laws are different if you’re hiring in another country, sourcing talent abroad requires another level of expertise.
Passion for Hiring
Lastly, top talent acquisition managers are passionate about what they do. Whereas it’s possible in some careers to put in a minimal amount of work to see results, this is not the case with talent acquisition — managers need to be committed to going the extra mile to ensure they are making the right choices. They need to take a personal interest in the strategies they’re launching, stay up to date with changes in the field to avoid being left behind, and be willing to pivot if something is not working.
Being passionate about hiring also means taking an interest in all areas of the company to understand what different departments need in their hires. A talent acquisition manager needs to put in the time and effort to understand the goals and skills gaps of each department to hire candidates that bring the company closer toward meeting its objectives.
How Much Does a Talent Acquisition Manager Make?
A talent acquisition manager’s salary depends on factors like the size, location, and industry of the company as well as the experience of the individual. ZipRecruiter reports the average annual salary to be $87,623 a year (equivalent to around $42 an hour). However, there is a wide range of reported salaries — from $35,000 on the low end to $139,000 on the high end.
Since talent acquisition managers can work remotely, some companies are now outsourcing the role to employees based in other countries to save money. A popular option for companies based in the U.S. is Latin America, due to the time zone and the feasibility of finding HR professionals with a high proficiency in English.
Finding a Talent Acquisition Manager for Your Company
No matter the size of your company, you need talent to be able to grow. However, you may currently be too small to have more than a couple recruiters (if any at all), which means you’re still some way off needing a talent acquisition manager. Another reason a talent acquisition manager may be inappropriate for your needs is if you’re more interested in hiring talent based abroad. This will mean you need to have specialists who understand each of the markets you want to enter to ensure you remain compliant with local regulations.
The good news is that hiring a talent acquisition manager is far from your only option. At Remote People, we take care of the entire recruitment process for you. We identify talent that meets your needs and simplify the hiring process by acting as your employer of record (EOR). This makes it possible to hire from more than 150 countries without needing to set up a legal entity anywhere but where you’re based. Request a free proposal to find out more about our international staffing solutions.
Our international talent network, combined with a comprehensive recruitment platform, removes the guesswork from locating these specialists. From shaping a job description to refining compensation packages, we support every step of your hiring journey.
Connect with us today to jumpstart your search and bring on the talent acquisition manager who can truly make a difference.
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