In today’s job rich, candidate short market it is easy to get carried away with securing a candidate only to find the skills, knowledge and experience are lacking or not what you assumed. An expensive mistake to make.

There is plenty of information in way of hints, tips and advice for candidates to excel at interview. Not so much for the interviewers. Effective interviewing, in my opinion, remains a skill people think they know a lot about purely because they have been doing it.

Currently high-performing, quality candidates are in short supply. You may not think it, but if you’re a business recruiting for key positions, it will be hard to find a candidate to meet 80% of your job brief, let alone the full 100%.

Your advertisement works in a similar fashion to a CV – a metaphorical shop window enticing the reader in; will they walk past with a cursory glance or will they come in, explore and make a purchase?

The reality is that teams are being assembled based on skills rather than geography. One thing is very clear. Businesses who embrace offering an enjoyable digital candidate experience will have the advantage.

If the employees (human capital) knowledge, skills and capability are the key elements of driving business value, it is vital that a company take a more strategic approach to talent acquisition and focus on investing in attracting and selecting the best talent available to that business.

Knowing these differences will help you identify which approach would be the best fit and goal for your business. Both approaches work and depending on your needs can be deployed effectively and successfully.

Where recruitment is more reactive and short term (there is a requirement and is handled in isolation), talent acquisition is an ongoing long term strategy to identify key personnel (a hard to find skill set perhaps), leaders or future executives for your company.

The talent pipeline is a combination of external candidates (active or passive) as well as existing employees who show potential, can be promoted or transferred internally from within the business.

Building a talent pool allows a business to develop relationships with individuals whose skills and experience align with their future requirements.