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People Management

How to Recruit Top Talent

Jan 09, 2025 | By Jenna van Schoor
Reading time: 4 min
Talent Manager smiling in office

Why do some businesses succeed and others fail? There might be many different reasons. However, success often results from learning how to recruit top talent. 

For example, a high staff turnover is a common sign of a company in turmoil. If we don’t hire the right people, our staff turnover rate can indicate how effective our talent management is.

You can use many talent acquisition strategies to add value to a business and ensure employee wellbeing. In this post, we’ll expand on this and talk about why recruiting and retaining the right employees is so important.

Why is learning how to recruit top talent important?

Any organisation wants the best employees for the job. We want to employ people who add value and perpetuate a healthy culture which embodies success, fulfilment and meaning. However, this might look different depending on the business. For this reason, we need to understand what kind of talent we’re looking for.

To hire the best people for the job, you need a clear understanding of business goals and objectives and the skills and abilities required to make these a reality in the long term.

A human resources management team must have a holistic understanding of the business. Having a list of requirements for a role is one thing, but you also need to consider how to retain employees in the long term.

Employers must also market themselves effectively to potential hires in a changing world. Hiring is now a two-way street, and employers must consider what they can offer to potential talent.

What is talent management?

Hiring the best people isn’t just about scouting for the most qualified individuals. Looking at a person’s broader skillset is essential. For example, do they offer a variety of hard and soft skills? Do they have any experience, or do they need training?

Talent management comes down to hiring the right people at the right time. Effective hiring results from understanding a business’s needs and the roles people must fulfil to help the company grow. It’s also about proper planning. Hiring shouldn’t be a reactive process but form part of a broader strategy to ensure the sustainability of the business.

Organisations like Great Place to Work share that the dynamics of hiring have changed. It’s no longer about simply offering a job to someone looking for work. Millennials and Gen Z employees seek purpose and emotionally healthy work environments. Like dating, hiring requires making a long-term commitment from both sides, which relies on both parties having something to offer. 

On a practical level, hiring and training new employees also requires resources, making it paramount to find compatibility. You don’t want to waste time and resources on prospective employees who don’t add to your culture. You also don’t want to spend time training people who aren’t able or willing to meet the company’s needs (and vice versa).

The cost of recruitment

There are different ways to measure the cost of recruitment. Apart from the time and effort it takes to hire someone, it also takes time for new staff to learn about the business and settle into their roles. You also need to consider the time it takes for new hires to build relationships with other team members, contractors and suppliers.

Investing in staff

Overall, hiring new staff and retaining them is a long-term investment strategy. These investments can pay out in the long term if you make the right choices and know how to train, engage and consistently motivate your staff.

Of course, we are all human, and there will be lessons to learn along the way for any employee and manager. However, having a concrete idea of the skills and temperaments needed for given roles in a business can ensure a solid human resources investment. 

In other words, companies that invest in their staff and make wise recruitment decisions benefit from productivity, loyalty and talent retention.

How do you find and retain the right people?

You need proper planning and performance management to learn how to recruit top talent.

You can hire the most intelligent and talented employees, but if you don’t offer competitive benefits, reward performance, and ensure adequate compensation, you’ll lose people who might have been an asset. Providing a supportive working environment is essential to help these employees thrive. 

Ultimately, this comes down to effective human resource management. Apart from attracting new talent, it’s also about managing employee grievances and conflicts daily. We also need to ensure that companies weed out toxic behaviour so it doesn’t lead to communication breakdowns and a loss of productivity.

Learn how to recruit top talent with SACAP Global

There are many approaches to human resources management, but at SACAP Global, we aim to educate and empower our learners to be the kind of leaders and managers who understand how to recruit and retain top talent.

If you’d like to learn more about some of the tried and tested approaches to talent management, sign up for our Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent course.

For more information about other micro-credentials, which include topics rooted in Applied Psychology, Business Management and Communication, browse our course list

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