Recruiting vs. talent acquisition: What's the difference?

July 14, 2021

 

Alex Oliver

6 min read

Recruitment and talent acquisition often get used interchangeably. No one is going to knock you for using one over the other in conversation. They sound like they’re the same thing.

While the goal is similar – hire amazing people – recruiting and talent acquisition differ tremendously in approach. In fact, they’re essentially polar opposites.

The main difference between recruiting and talent acquisition is short-term vs. long-term planning. From our glossary of HR software terms: “Recruitment is the process of finding and screening qualified candidates for a specific position and offering the position to the best candidate.” By contrast, talent acquisition is larger than any one position or moment in time. Whereas recruitment tends to be reactive, talent acquisition sources candidates proactively.

What is talent acquisition?

Talent acquisition is a long-term strategic approach to identifying, assessing, and acquiring new employees. Unlike general recruitment, which sometimes emphasizes quantity over quality, talent acquisition is a carefully curated process designed to find the very best fit for your team.

At first glance, one might assume that organizations hiring for niche, highly specialized roles will opt for talent acquisition over recruitment. While that’s often true, companies hiring at high volume for less complex roles may still choose to implement a talent acquisition strategy.

For example, Hard Rock planned for their international expansion with talent acquisition strategy designed to help them source staff in dozens of countries as new locations came online. Equally, Cedar Fair staffs their amusement parks with part-time workers, most of whom are students are retirees. The window in which they staff is very short; as such, they rely on a TA strategy designed to reengage past employees and find, hire, and onboard new ones quickly.

What is recruitment?

Recruitment is the process of actively seeking out talent to fill a specific role. Often, recruitment is not planned ahead of time – though that’s not to say it’s unsophisticated. Recruiting can, and often does, draw on advanced tactics, such as sourcing from talent pipelines, by use of hyper focused recruitment marketing ads, or by looking at internal talent.

A common example is when a long-term employee gives notice. It’s not surprising when this happens. We expect employees to change jobs and pursue new opportunities. While we expect they’ll eventually leave, it’s not something we actively plan for until it happens.

Talent acquisition vs recruitment

The difference between talent acquisition and recruiting can be explained by how people plan for vacation.

Some are up late packing a week’s worth of clothes the night before an early flight. They booked this trip on short notice, so there’s no real agenda. The deal was too good to pass up; they’ll figure it out when they get there.

Others work from a list they created months in advance and begin setting aside clothes and other essentials in the weeks leading up to their trip. They’re the kind of folks that buy (and read) travel guides. They know exactly where they’re going and what they’ll do when they get there, right down to their drink orders.

Key similarities between talent acquisition and recruitment

Despite the differences, talent acquisition and recruitment are similar in many ways – which is why the terms are used so interchangeably. Although talent acquisition is focused more on the future, and often has more touch-points with candidates, both can be used to hire quickly. In fact, most of the planning that goes into TA is so once a job requisition officially opens, it can be filled fast – even if the go signal doesn’t happen for six months from now.

Another similarity is that both talent acquisition and recruiting often rely on many of the same steps and tactics. Recruitment marketing ads, resume parsing, video interviews – all are found in either or both. Even tactics that are more long-term efforts like talent pipelines are used for both recruiting and talent acquisition. The difference is how talent pipelines are used. In recruiting, talent pipelines are sourced as needed; in talent acquisition, those pipelines are actively managed and engaged over time, even when no relevant jobs are available.

Finally, both recruiting and talent acquisition should have key performance indicators (KPIs) and clear benchmarks for success. Again, we aren’t looking to give the impression that recruiting is somehow inferior or less sophisticated than talent acquisition. Organizations that primarily rely on recruiting aren’t just winging it – rather, the recruitment process better suits their needs than long-term tactics. Both should be concerned with tracking all the usual metrics, including things like time-to-fill and cost-to-fill.

Talent acquisition scales better than recruitment

Recruitment doesn’t scale well because it’s focused on immediate needs in the short term. There’s only so much recruiters can accomplish in a day. A handful of vacant roles is one thing. But too many job openings without a clear plan to fill them can create pain for an organization. That pain expresses itself as employee burnout, lower productivity, and lost revenue.

Talent acquisition benefits from prior strategic planning. Acquiring a company, launching a new product, or opening a new location overseas? You’re probably going to need more people with specific skills and experience, perhaps in engineering, brand reputation, or cybersecurity.

The narrow scope of recruiting (e.g., fill this job) means you’re starting more or less from scratch for each new role. Success or failure is obvious and linear. With the talent acquisition process, there are more and quicker avenues to success. Your next great hire could be sourced externally, from an existing talent network, or filled by an internal candidate.

When should recruiting or talent acquisition be your primary focus?

Both recruitment and talent acquisition have an appropriate time and place. All things being equal, talent acquisition wins out over recruitment because it approaches people as a strategic investment. That’s not to denigrate recruitment; sometimes the right move – the only move – is to get warm bodies into seats as quickly as possible. We don’t always have the luxury of planning ahead.

That said, talent acquisition takes into account how to attract, engage, hire, and advance the people at every level who are going to help your business thrive. It’s also better at adapting to the unexpected because recruiting teams that practice it are continuously building talent networks and engaging internal and external candidates. There’s no switch to flip on; it’s always running.

Ready to learn more?

In summary, recruiting and talent acquisition have a lot in common. By and large, recruiting is used to fill roles as they open. Talent acquisition is a longer, more strategic process. Both use many of the same tactics, and often organizations will use a combination of the two approaches to staff their teams. One isn’t necessarily better than the other. Each works well given the right circumstances.

To learn more about how you can attract the right talent – regardless of whether you’re recruiting or acquiring them – click here.