Mastering talent acquisition in 2024: 6 expert strategies unveiled

Finding talent is critical to business innovation and competitiveness. But it’s a big challenge.
The current tight labour market demands innovative approaches to recruitment marketing in order to attract top talent.

How do you stand out in a competitive job market? How can you accelerate hiring? And can technology help make it more efficient? 

To help you succeed in finding the best talent, we interviewed experts from various leading recruitment agencies to share their experiences. Their shared wisdom is tailored to help you navigate the competitive terrain of 2024, ensuring you're well-equipped to attract and retain the finest talent.

Embrace their innovative approaches to revolutionise your talent acquisition strategies in the year ahead. 

Key takeaways on talent acquisition from the experts

Can't wait to hear what the experts have to say? Here's a summary of the strategies and tactics mentioned in the article.

• Personalised recruitment experience: Focus on connection, speed, and clear communication to create an effective and personal recruitment journey.
• Strong employer branding: Utilise modern recruitment marketing techniques, including crafting compelling employer branding messages to attract top talent.‍
• Tech-human synergy: Balance AI-driven tools and human intuition in recruitment to ensure authentic connections and precise candidate matching.‍
• Real employee experiences: Use personal stories and employee testimonials to build a genuine employer brand and connect with potential candidates.‍
• Candidate-centric approaches: Cater to the diverse needs of candidates with tailored strategies, recognising individual desires and motivations.‍
• AI and social media in recruitment: Implement AI for efficient sourcing and screening, and leverage social media for effective outreach and engagement.

These concise insights are just the tip of the iceberg. For those looking to dive deeper into the nuances of modern talent acquisition, the full interviews in our article are invaluable. 

Discover the ins and outs of successful talent attraction in the interviews featured below. 

Tamara Schenk - Kelly Services 

Hey Tamara! Who are you and what do you do at Kelly Services? 

Officially, I wear the hat of VP of International Marketing at Kelly Services, overseeing the marketing strategy for 16 diverse countries.

Unofficially, I think of myself as a connector and explorer, ensuring we're supporting the business growth through innovative and effective marketing campaigns that make an impact.

How do you help clients of Kelly Services to stand out to attract top talent in today’s competitive job market?

At the heart of our approach is connection, speed, and clear communication. Essentially, we focus on the experience that both candidates and clients feel during the recruitment journey. Our role is to guide businesses in finding and appealing to the right talent, ensuring that the process is effective and feels personal. 

We use a mix of both time-tested and modern recruitment marketing techniques. Part of our strategy involves helping companies craft strong employer branding messages.

How do you envision the role and impact of talent attraction technology in your sector coming 2024?

By 2024, I foresee talent attraction technology becoming even more integral. AI-driven tools will refine candidate matching, ensuring precision in aligning skills and culture fit. Virtual reality might play a role in immersive job previews, and data analytics will guide strategies with real-time insights. 

However, amidst this tech evolution, the human touch will remain paramount. It's about harmonising technology with human intuition to create authentic, meaningful connections.

Falko Roos - Olympia

Hey Falko! Who are you and what do you do at Olympia? 

I’m responsible for flex worker recruitment within Olympia’s service centre. Together with my team, I manage all the digital channels and campaigns to recruit flex workers. We are the knowledge centre with regard to recruitment and sourcing.

How do you help clients of Olympia to stand out to attract top talent in today’s competitive job market?

On the one hand, we possess an extensive candidate database, allowing us to match them with our clients' open positions.

On the other hand, we help our clients present themselves in attractive ways to candidates. We create attractive vacancy texts, visuals, videos, customer-specific landing pages, and campaigns on social media. 

The most important source for our recruitment activities is the future colleagues of our candidates. The people who are already performing the job. They tell the real story of how they experience the job and employer. Why do they like to work there, what is the meaning of their job? This is key information for us to build their employer brand and make sure to match the company with the right person.

We translate this into a ‘Job Value Proposition’ and start the recruitment process.

How do you envision the role and impact of talent attraction technology in your sector coming 2024?

Technology makes work easier and faster. However, innovation doesn't solely originate from technology but from the individual who harnesses it. Each target audience has its own desires and needs, and addressing them is key.

Place the candidate in control of their own journey and guide them towards the job that suits them best. 

For some, you'll need to assist in finding the most fitting job, for others, you'll need to expedite the job placement process, and for yet others, you'll have to inspire and influence them to choose you over your competitors. This necessitates various technologies and methodologies to be successful.

Irina den Hartog - Actief Werkt! Select

Hey Irina! Who are you and what do you do at Actief Werkt! Select? 

I am a recruitment manager for our corporate recruitment department and simultaneously I am also a hiring manager for our hiring department at Actief Werkt! Select.

How do you help clients to stand out to attract top talent in today’s competitive job market?

Actief Werkt! Select assists clients through a range of strategies. Firstly, we help clients strengthen their employer brand. This entails clarifying what their organisation offers to employees, including salary and benefits as well as aspects of culture, mission, and vision.

We aid clients in developing, communicating, and measuring their employer brand through effective job intake and utilising labour market data from the target group dashboard provided by the Intelligence Group.

In addition, we leverage technology like advanced tools and recruitment platforms to attract the best candidates. 

This spans from the ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) cockpit by recruitnow to an automation tool across LinkedIn that automatically connects candidates from your recruiter seat search, utilising sourcing through boolean search and recruiter seat LinkedIn to AI-supported processes.

Furthermore, we utilise job marketing, creating social media campaigns for specific vacancies to generate leads. Additionally, we employ recruitment automation.

How do you envision the role and impact of talent attraction technology in your sector coming 2024?

There is an increasing scarcity of talent, a growing need for data, and the necessity to distinguish oneself in the current landscape.

Artificial intelligence will be employed to source and screen candidates, acting as chatbots and virtual assistants to alleviate much of the recruiter's preliminary workload. This includes writing job descriptions, heightened utilisation of social media, and lead generation. 

Consequently, the personal connection will become a key focal point as numerous tasks become automated.

Siliën Sprenkels - Bluebird 

Hey Siliën! Who are you and what do you do at Bluebird?

I’m Siliën and I help our partner SaaS companies with building out their go-to-market teams. This includes sales, customer success and marketing. 

Before I joined Bluebird, I worked in sales myself for a marketing technology company. Everyone at Bluebird comes from the SaaS industry and can leverage their expertise to help our partner companies in finding the right talent within their domain. 

How do you help clients to stand out to attract top talent in today’s competitive job market?

We typically work with start-ups and scale-ups that appeal to us as well. For talent, finding their best next step to further their career is a daunting task. Simultaneously, tech companies are finding themselves in a competitive market, fighting for the same talent. 

We bridge that gap by leveraging our industry experience. Candidates see us as peers, they trust us and prefer working with us. As a result, our clients profit from a larger pool of strong candidates. 

Our experience also means we can give tangible advice to clients and candidates alike. We help them navigate the right fit, which they otherwise may have never considered. 

How do you envision the role and impact of talent attraction technology in your sector coming 2024?

Talent attraction technology is a beneficial tool for many organisations, aiding in increasing their brand awareness and appeal. However, it's important to acknowledge that it operates within a labour market. The talent shortage in tech is expected to persist, with no indicators of short-term changes. 

In addition, the talent you want to engage with is often not actively seeking opportunities, posing a challenge not easily addressed by technology alone. This is where the right recruitment partner can play a crucial role in driving talent to your doorstep. 

Investing in your employer brand using available technology will significantly increase the likelihood of becoming a preferred employer.

Corwin in den Eng - Decent 

Hey Corwin! Who are you and what do you do at Decent? 

I am the founder of Decent, a recruitment agency with the mission to humanise digital growth. We assist companies in finding digital marketing and e-commerce talents and leaders for the digital world of tomorrow.

I have a background as an entrepreneur, digital transformation consultant, and am actively involved in various businesses/startups as a coach, investor, and advisory board member. Outside of work, I contribute to the multidisciplinary network association of Hippodameia

How do you help clients to stand out to attract top talent in today’s competitive job market?

In a world where digitization, innovation, and transformation take centre stage, one aspect remains untouchable: the importance of human leadership. Leaders are the driving force. It’s the individuals and teams that point the way forward with dedication, enthusiasm, and passion.

We specialise in identifying and connecting digital leaders and specialists with organisations, supporting companies in their growth. In an ever-changing world, Decent is dedicated to finding the right people for organisations, both now and in the future. We act as a strategic advisory partner for meeting needs and solving recruitment-related challenges.

We challenge our clients to look critically at themselves. We advise them on the deployment of new generations, motivations, and beliefs of candidates. Central to this is the growth of both the individual and the organisation, driven by ambition, conviction, and human potential. It’s about building teams; it's more than just filling a vacancy.

How do you envision the role and impact of talent attraction technology in your sector coming 2024?

I anticipate that talent attraction technology will play an even more significant role in recruitment in 2024, particularly in the fields of digital marketing and e-commerce. These industries are characterised by intense competition in the job market, fueled by a significant demand for talent and the emergence of a new generation of leaders. 

Technology can assist recruiters in meeting this demand by automating and streamlining the talent identification, recruitment, and selection processes.

I see artificial intelligence, social media and gamification as a few of the biggest developments in talent attraction technology. AI will assist in analysing vast amounts of data to identify and match candidates. Social media will facilitate outreach and provide an effective channel to persuade potential candidates to apply. 

And lastly, gamification will be employed to transform the recruitment process into a fun and interactive experience. This will make potential candidates more inclined to apply. 

Above all, I believe that alongside technology, a human-centric approach is crucial. Genuine interest in a candidate, a personalised approach, and a human touch will be decisive when combined with technology.

Maureen Eichelsheim - Recruitment Now

Hey Maureen! Who are you and what do you do Recruitment Now? 

Nice to meet you, I am Maureen Eichelsheim. A 26 years old marketing enthusiast working as a recruitment marketing advisor at Recruitment Now.

Being a recruitment marketing advisor means leading and implementing projects from beginning to end regarding recruitment marketing and employer branding. 

How do you help clients to stand out to attract top talent in today’s competitive job market?

We bring a vacancy to life with attractive visuals and get it under the attention of the target audience via online campaigns. Why post a vacancy on a job board when there are way less active job searchers? 

We target our campaigns at a group known as latent job seekers—individuals open to exploring new job opportunities but requiring enthusiasm. Engaging with them on platforms where they are active, ensures that we capture their attention.

With outstanding visuals we attract their attention, once we get their interest we make sure they can leave their information easily. No resumes, just their email and phone number. We call them within 2 days and tell them more. Both excited? Then they directly get an invite for a cup of coffee. 

Working in today’s competitive job market means being visible on the right platforms, targeting the right audience, acting fast and carefully listening to what the audience wants.

How do you envision the role and impact of talent attraction technology in your sector coming 2024?

Not only in 2024, but AI and talent attraction technology are poised to unlock significant possibilities for the future. The automation of various processes will afford candidates more time. Additionally, emerging technologies like VR and AR are set to redefine the candidate journey.

The profound impact lies in the ability to provide a more immersive visualisation of both the vacancy and the workplace. This enhanced perspective will empower candidates to make more informed decisions, leading to reduced turnover.

Food for thought to improve your hiring game

It’s a wrap. That’s it for the first iteration of our expert interview series, and the consensus is clear: finding the right mix of technology and a personal touch is crucial. This approach helps companies make candidates feel valued and supported throughout their journey.

We hope this talent attraction series was helpful to improve your hiring game. Do you have expertise you want to share? Let’s get in touch. We’re happy to include you in our next interview.

How can you leverage talent attraction technology for your business in 2024?

As mentioned by the experts, the right tech in combination with a human touch will help you to reach your hiring goals. Get ready for AI, social media and gamification to be big players in the talent game.

When it comes to social media, Wonderkind is here to help you too. Our talent attraction technology enables you to automate talent acquisition on social media, saving you time and budget while filling more positions. This way you can focus on building genuine relationships to add a human touch.

Book your demo below to learn more about accelerating hiring.