A recent Korn Ferry survey discusses the challenges faced by talent acquisition professionals in India, says a news report. More than 1,100 hiring professionals were surveyed from all over the world, by Futurestep, a division of Korn Ferry. The unique findings show how Indian hiring professionals view challenges at home, as compared to their global counterparts.

The following are the findings of the survey:

• 90% of the respondents, globally, said that 10-25% of the new hires call it quits within the first six months of joining. This trend has been attributed to low levels of unemployment in global markets.
• The talent war has intensified all over the world, and hiring is often dictated on the demands of the candidate. With a steep demand for talented professionals in India, this challenge is particularly troubling for Indian talent acquisition professionals.
• HR professionals in India say that although talent shortage is the biggest issue (40%), the competition within industries to scout for the best talent is also a major challenge (17%). Indians ranked ‘quality of hire’ as an essential factor in the hiring process (56%), higher than any other country.
• Indian hiring professionals are increasingly focussing on long-term success of new hires rather than measure the efforts put in the process, and an increased awareness regarding the cost of getting a new hire wrong is evident. Professionals in India are concerned with cost more than other countries in the same region.
• Indian talent acquisition professionals chose ‘time-to-hire’ as top priority metric (80%), followed by ‘retention’ (51%) and ‘cost-per-hire’ (46%) to evaluate the hiring process. Talent is being increasingly viewed as an important business asset.
• 40% of the Indian respondents were of the opinion that lack of candidate who can move up the leadership pipeline as the biggest reason for today’s talent shortage. This was the highest globally – 11% higher than Latin America, and 13% higher than EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).

The survey shows that the talent war has only intensified in the recent times, and is showing no sign of slowing down in the near future. By measuring the success of hiring by the means of retention, in addition to time and cost, hiring professionals are including pragmatic approaches to their work. If anything, the findings show that talent acquisition professionals are no longer merely filling vacant positions, but going all out to get the best fit for the position, in turn, ensuring that new hires stay longer. The integration of performance of a new hire might with rewards for the hiring professional is on the rise as well. Chong Ng, President, Asia Pacific, Korn Ferry Futurestep, explains, “We’ve seen members of the talent acquisition team receive bonuses based on the performance of candidates they brought into the organisation – particularly for sales positions and other jobs where performance can be easily quantified. While this is not a common practice, it very likely may become more popular as organisations seek to reward the recruitment of high performers.”

With talent being viewed as an essential business asset, which is likely to give agility to the organisation, it is no surprise that the spotlight is shining brightly on the quality of hires. In conclusion, talent acquisition and hiring professionals must brace for intensifying talent wars ahead, but must also be excited about using this as an opportunity to perform their role with renewed enthusiasm, new strategies and practical solutions. Sue Campbell, Korn Ferry, Futurestep, Managing Director, Asia, sums up, “Traditionally, the job of a talent acquisition professional ended when a position was filled. But in today’s competitive marketplace, the focus has shifted to finding, hiring and retaining workers who are not only effective in their roles today, but who can also be the leaders of tomorrow... Tackling the leadership pipeline shortage requires that organisations do a more effective job of leadership assessments, development, and succession planning for specific positions.”