Talent Acquisition Strategies 2008: Quality and the Passive Candidates Reign Supreme

Companies Look to Duplicate Traits of Top Performers, and Better Measure Performance of New Employees


BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - August 6, 2008) - If job seekers sometimes feel that hiring managers wouldn't know a good candidate if they saw one, they might be right. At least that is among the key findings of the latest research on talent acquisition strategies from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS).

In the new benchmark report, "Talent Acquisition Strategies: Employer Branding and Quality of Hire Take Center Stage," Aberdeen found that not only are organizations struggling to find desired talent in the workforce, but they are also unsure of how to measure quality once a new worker comes on board. However, for those organizations that are successfully managing a talent acquisition program, the gains can be huge. Best-in-Class organizations were found to have:

--  improved quality of hire on average by 32%
--  increased employee retention on average by 21%
    

But getting there isn't easy. Competition for skilled labor is the overriding pressure driving organizations to invest in talent acquisition programs, cited by 88% of all organizations. That is followed by a shortage of desired skills, cited by 83% of all organizations. In response, organizations are changing and enhancing their traditional recruiting methods. Greater emphasis is being placed on enhancing a company's brand and reputation in the market, on proactively searching for so-called passive candidates, and in marketing to younger workers through new means, such as social networking sites on the Internet.

"Top performing organizations are more effective at identifying the traits of their top performing employees, in order to seek more like them," said David Weldon, research analyst, human capital management at Aberdeen and author of the report. "However, a successful talent acquisition program involves far more than deciding what skills and attributes are needed from candidates and finding new sources for them. It also involves the ability to measure and assess how well new hires perform in their roles during the first year on the job. This is where quality of hire is really determined."

In addition to impressive gains in quality of hire and new hire retention, Aberdeen's research also found that Best-in-Class organizations have shortened the time-to-hire an average of 22%. From the perspective of hiring managers, all of these benefits have paid off with an average 31% improvement in overall satisfaction with the talent acquisition program.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: First Advantage, Hodes iQ, iCIMS, Peopleclick, PreVisor, and SilkRoad technology. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5128.

To access all of Aberdeen's complimentary research please visit http://research.aberdeen.com.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to AberdeenTM for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

Contact Information: Media Contact: David Weldon Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5374 David.weldon@aberdeen.com © 2008 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company 451 D Street, Suite 710 Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928 Telephone: (617)854-5200 Fax: (617) 723-7897 www.aberdeen.com