Embedded Talent Acquisition: Everything You Need To Know

Given the impact of the economic downturn, major tech firms announcing layoffs globally, and increasing attrition rates, talent acquisition feels uncertain at present.

It may seem counterintuitive to keep hiring during a recession, but it can be a counter-cyclical way to stay ahead of the competition. While your competitors are downsizing and cutting back, this can be a great time to take stock and assess your current talent acquisition methods to build and maintain a healthy pipeline ready for when the economy begins to improve. 

Having shared many of the same challenges as our clients in the past, we understand the pressures that internal Talent Acquisition teams are under. This experience has enabled us to develop our Embedded Talent Acquisition model to help our clients build their teams in a way that suits their current strategy and delivers a strong ROI. 

In this article, we are giving you the lowdown on everything you need to know about Embedded Talent Acquisition and how it can add value to your Talent Acquisition function, whatever your stage of growth. 

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What Is Embedded Talent Acquisition?

Embedded Talent Acquisition is a model where a consultancy agency works as part of your in-house talent function. This allows them to understand your company and culture and provide personalised and efficient talent acquisition services that are tailored to your specific needs.

The best part? Embedded talent acquisition partners work as an extension of your in-house team, which means they're fully dedicated to finding the right candidates for you. They'll handle everything from sourcing and screening to interviewing and onboarding, making the process as smooth as possible for you.

Another benefit of embedded talent acquisition is that it can save you time and money in the long run. Instead of spending hours sifting through resumes and conducting interviews, you can focus on your core business activities while the embedded recruiters handle the hiring process.

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Comparing Agency, RPO and In-House Talent Acquisition

Agency Recruitment

Agency recruitment means you hire an external agency to source and screen candidates on behalf of your organisation. The agency is responsible for managing the recruitment process, from job posting to the final selection of candidates. Agency recruiters are experts in their fields and have extensive networks and databases of candidates. They also have a deep understanding of the job market and can provide valuable insights into recruitment trends.

Pros:

• Access to a large pool of potential candidates through agency databases and networks.
• Reduced time to hire as agencies are solely focused on sourcing and screening candidates.
• Expertise and knowledge of recruitment trends and market insights.
• The outsourced recruitment process relieves in-house HR teams of the burden of recruitment.

Cons:

• As agencies charge fees for their services, high costs are typically a percentage of the candidate's first-year salary.
• Limited control over the recruitment process, which the agency manages.
• Potential for lack of alignment with company culture and values as the agency may prioritise filling the position over cultural fit.

‍Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)

RPO or Recruitment Process Outsourcing is a model where an external provider takes full responsibility for an organisation's recruitment process. RPO providers offer various services, from job posting to final candidate selection. RPO providers can be on-site or off-site and collaborate closely with in-house HR teams.

Pros:

• Access to expertise and knowledge of recruitment trends and market insights.
• A flexible solution that can scale recruitment capacity based on business needs.
• Cost-effective recruitment as RPO providers can offer more favourable rates than agency recruiters.
• Streamlined recruitment process as the RPO provider takes full responsibility for recruitment.

‍Cons:

• The RPO provider may not have the same knowledge and expertise in the company's industry or market as an in-house recruitment team.
• Limited control over the recruitment process, which the RPO provider manages.
• Potential for lack of alignment with company culture and values as the RPO provider may prioritise filling the position over cultural fit.

In-House Talent Acquisition

In-house talent acquisition is when the company’s internal HR team manages the hiring process, from job posting to final candidate selection. In-house talent acquisition teams are experts in the company's culture, values, and requirements.

Pros:

• Total control over the talent acquisition process, allowing the HR team to prioritise cultural fit and alignment with company values.
• The ability to build relationships with candidates and create a positive candidate experience.
• Cost-effective recruitment as there are no external fees to pay.

Cons:

• Limited access to a pool of potential candidates as in-house talent acquisition partners may have a smaller network and database.
• Time-consuming recruitment process as in-house recruiters may have other HR responsibilities to manage.
• Limited expertise and knowledge of recruitment trends and market insights.

How does Embedded Talent Acquisition measure up?

At BOOSTA, we’re leaders in Embedded Talent Acquisition, which combines the best parts of agency, RPO and in-house talent acquisition. We embed ourselves fully into your business, allowing you to add a team of dedicated, knowledgeable and experienced talent acquisition partners to your internal team. You’ll get access to:

• A much wider pool of candidates than you could reach yourself thanks to our database of over 850,000 jobseekers
• An unparalleled tech stack which allows us to amplify your search online
• Reduced time to hire
• Deep industry knowledge and understanding of trends in your local market
• A flexible solution that can scale recruitment capacity based on business needs
• A cost-effective model with flat, transparent fees

Signs your company needs to bring in an Embedded Talent Agency

Whether you’re starting out, scaling up or in a period of hyper-growth, there are times when your internal resources are just not going to be enough to help you with your talent acquisition needs. If any of these sound familiar, it might be time to think about bringing in an embedded partner to add superior hirepower to your strategy:

You have difficulty in finding the right talent

‍If your company is struggling to find the right candidates for open positions, it may be time to consider hiring an embedded talent acquisition agency who can assess why you’re struggling and help you to improve your processes to find great-fit candidates with the tools and resources to find more candidates for your roles. 

You’re experiencing a high turnover rate

‍A high rate of employee turnover can be a red flag that your hiring process needs to be reevaluated. An embedded talent acquisition agency can help streamline the hiring process and ensure that the right people are hired for the right roles.

You have limited internal resources

‍If your company has limited internal resources to dedicate to the hiring process, partnering with an embedded talent acquisition agency can help alleviate the burden and ensure that your hiring needs are met.

‍Your business has a lack of hiring expertise

‍Hiring can be a complex process that requires specific knowledge and expertise. If your company doesn't have that expertise in-house, partnering with an embedded talent acquisition agency can provide access to that knowledge and help improve the hiring process.

How an Embedded Talent Acquisition partner like BOOSTA can add value to your TA function and drive long-term hiring success

Headcount and workforce planning

‍Our embedded talent partners use your projected growth data to align your hiring plan with your company's goals, ensuring you have the key hires you need in place to scale successfully. We can also help you build your recruitment infrastructure, implement systems, processes, and strategies, and maintain a database of candidates for your future talent pipelines.

Building a database of candidates

‍Our Embedded Talent Partners can build and maintain a database of candidates, their skill sets, and what roles they’ve applied for, so you have ready-made candidate pipelines for your future hiring needs.

Employer branding

‍When Embedded Talent Partners join your team, they learn and embrace your brand inside out. This means you get the opportunity to showcase your reputation, employer brand, workplace culture and values through our team to every candidate and really show them why your company should be their next career move.

Candidate attraction strategy

‍By elevating your company’s employer brand and building your presence and reputation in the talent market, we’re able to attract the best talent globally. We establish methods for identifying, attracting, and nurturing top talent. We also provide access to a wider talent pool thanks to our candidate database of 850,000 job seekers and our unrivalled Talent Acquisition tech stack. 

Delivering an exceptional candidate experience

‍Embedded Talent Acquisition Partners mostly focus on sourcing candidates in the ‘passive market’ – which means they’re going after the best talent rather than relying on applications and the available talent. This means that the candidate experience is managed exceptionally well and positive, authentic relationships are built throughout.

Is Embedded Talent Acquisition right for your stage of growth?

You’re growing quickly but Talent Acquisition capacity is limited

The prospect of exponential growth looms ahead, but the capacity of the talent acquisition team is limited. The company has ambitious hiring goals for various teams, including product, development, data, creative, marketing, commercial, and operations, but the current team cannot manage the influx of recruitment needs. Additional resources are required urgently.

Recruiting has become highly competitive, not just for great tech talent, but for recruitment professionals themselves. This makes it challenging to hire the right talent to source, engage, and secure top-notch candidates. The process of sourcing, onboarding, and developing an internal recruiter can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, which can delay hiring for up to six months. With an ambitious product roadmap and company goals, this may be six months you just don’t have.

To overcome these challenges, embedded talent partners offer a proven blueprint for hiring success. They can quickly provide a team that is well-versed in role intake and knows how and where to source and engage the right candidates for the company. This approach ensures that the hiring process is efficient and consistent. With a team ready to deploy in just a few weeks, Embedded Talent Acquisition Partners can help the company hit the ground running from day one.

You have an internal Talent Acquisition team, but you need additional expert support to fill some niche roles

Your upcoming headcount plan includes hard-to-fill or niche roles that your current team lacks the expertise to source, engage, and hire at the required pace.

Undoubtedly, you want to attract top talent to your business. However, hiring internal recruiters specialising in JavaScript, .Net engineers, or niche AI talent can be costly. Additionally, finding suitable candidates can be a daunting task, and when the demand for such skills diminishes, their role and responsibilities may also reduce.

Fortunately, an embedded talent partner can provide the solution you need. They specialise in sourcing these candidates exclusively for you and the specific roles you are trying to fill. With their comprehensive understanding of the market, they work closely with your hiring managers to find the best match for the required skills, fostering a positive, authentic relationship with the candidate, and increasing your chances of securing their acceptance of the role.

You need a solution to make impact over time, rather than short-term fixes

While an RPO sounds like a good option to future-proof your recruitment process and scale your business, you need quick implementation, faster speed to performance, impact, and more flexibility and agility to adapt to your scope of work. 

This is where BOOSTA comes in.

Our Embedded Talent Acquisition Partners not only provide support, training, and advice on building your recruitment infrastructure and improving your hiring process but also uses data to identify and resolve blockers across your talent pipelines, significantly reducing your time to hire and providing quality results faster and more consistently.

Our priority is to leave our partners stronger than when we found them. We ensure that your team is upskilled on all the above and that we leave you set for the future - solid, scalable, and successful.

The hiring needs we help you tackle - your questions answered

We work with companies at every stage of growth, from start-up right up to large enterprises. And these are some of the most common issues we help solve. If any of these sound familiar, it might be time to get in touch with us. 

We’re scaling at pace, and we need to hire talent fast

Hiring plans are not always predictable or consistent, and capacity planning can be tough when you’re growing quickly. BOOSTA’s expert Talent Partners plug into your business quickly and seamlessly to bridge that gap while you’re looking to find the calibre of hire you need to complement your existing team.

We don’t even have a talent acquisition team. How would we work with you?

We can help build a talent function or spin up a project team for you from inception. We ensure you implement the best recruiting processes and practices to guarantee long-term hiring success. No matter the function you’re looking to build, we have you covered.

We need extra support for our in-house talent team

We embed with already established and high-performing talent functions and add Hirepower during times of hyper-growth or for specific hiring projects/programs. At times when you don’t need a full-time headcount or heavy agency costs, this is the perfect solution.

We want to improve our recruitment process

Auditing and improving your recruitment processes is essential to successful and consistent team growth, and is something that can be improved even when your hiring needs have slowed down or been frozen. It’s a good idea to bring in external expertise to make sure this is done correctly, in a way that will benefit you in the long run. 

We want to reduce our recruitment costs

At BOOSTA, we charge a flat and transparent fee for our projects which saves our clients on average 50% versus a traditional agency. The reason for this is that we prioritise building long-lasting partnerships with our clients, instead of simply taking commission on individual roles. By doing so, we aim to ensure that our clients receive a strong return on investment over time. In fact, some of our partners have even found that a blended model is actually more cost-effective in the long run, compared to hiring additional members for their in-house team. You can read about the savings we’ve helped our clients achieve below. 

How Embedded Talent Acquisition has helped our clients

Trainline

Trainline engaged with us to help BOOST their talent teams as they scaled their business across the UK and Europe. We delivered high calibre individuals within Technology, Product and Data as well as Corporate, Commercial and Operations. Working with us saved Trainline £695,000.

Bark

Bark required a solution that could provide instant improvements to their hiring power across technology roles and we quickly proved our value by securing multiple offers within the first 3 weeks of our assignment for key roles within product and engineering. When working with BOOSTA, Bark achieved 74% growth in their technology function, while saving £88,000. 

‍JustEat

BOOSTA were engaged by Just Eat to manage and deliver a business-critical scale-up project. We onboarded and integrated a new, high-profile customer into their platform and produced a strategy to hire 36 specialist contract technologists within 8 weeks.

‍Foolproof

Foolproof needed help expanding its Talent function, requiring two Senior Talent Partners with proven experience of Digital and Creative. BOOSTA delivered OPEX cost-savings of £203,198 on agency spend and a perfect example of service excellence and impact. Working with BOOSTA, Foolproof were able to treble their creative and tech teams, growing by over 100 people. 

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If you think you might need help from the Embedded Talent Acquisition experts, get in touch with our team and see how we can support you, at any stage of your growth. 

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