How to Move From a Career in Recruitment to Talent Acquisition

Given India's rapid economic growth and resulting job growth, recruitment and talent acquisition is amongst the country’s leading business priorities. Recruitment and talent acquisition share some similarities and crossovers, so it’s common to see movement between these two roles. Recruitment consultants often move into talent acquisition teams to progress their careers. It is a popular transition because the role requires similar skills, experience, and qualifications. 

Discover more about the skills and qualifications that can help you make the transition and other roles you can pursue. 

What is talent acquisition? 

Talent acquisition is the process and strategy of identifying, acquiring, and retaining talent to meet a company’s needs. A business might have a whole team of talent acquisition professionals or it might be part of a human resources (HR) team, working on sourcing and assessing candidates to fill open positions, establishing a future candidate pipeline, and nurturing talent. 

As part of a talent acquisition team, you will implement strategies to attract candidates that align with your organisation. You will do this partly through branding, communication, and producing messages. 

Once identified, you will monitor the talent acquisition lifecycle from application to job offer, with continual responsibility for retaining and developing the person you recruit.

How does talent acquisition differ from recruitment?

Recruitment is a subset of talent acquisition. Whilst you'll notice some crossovers between talent acquisition and recruitment, the two also have some key differences. Recruitment is a linear process involving sourcing candidates for a particular role, typically filling immediate needs, whilst talent acquisition takes a more long-term approach to identifying future needs and attracting or training talent to fill the voids.    

How does a person qualify to work in talent acquisition?

The skills, experience, and qualifications you need to work in talent acquisition vary depending on the job role and how senior the position is. Generally, you need a bachelor’s degree, ideally in human resources or business administration, and relevant recruitment experience. Skills needed to succeed in these positions include excellent communication, leadership, and decision-making skills and being up-to-date with industry standards and trends. 

What are the roles within a talent acquisition team?

Some companies have teams dedicated to talent acquisition, and others are part of larger HR teams within an organisation. A single person may be responsible for the talent acquisition cycle in smaller companies. In cases where a team exists, it will vary according to the organisation's size. In general, you may find these two common roles:

*All average annual salary is sourced from Salary Expert as of October 2024

Talent acquisition manager

Average annual base salary: ₹26,66,819 [1]

The talent acquisition manager builds, implements, and manages a company's recruitment and talent acquisition strategies. This role may be at the director level in larger organisations, with various management positions below it. However, talent acquisition managers generally are in charge of the process. 

As a talent acquisition manager, you’ll work to understand the company's recruitment needs, oversee employer branding activities, work with employees to understand their needs and work on retaining staff and recruiting. 

Recruiters

Average annual base salary: ₹8,63,386 [2]

Recruiters work to select potential interview candidates by assessing whether they have the right skills and are a good fit for the company ethos. You will also work with and support candidates through the recruitment process, providing feedback and support with questions they may have. 

Is it easy to move from a recruitment role into talent acquisition?

Given that talent acquisition and recruitment often go hand in hand and that in smaller organisations, a single person is responsible for both, it is relatively easy to move from a recruitment role into talent acquisition. It is essential that you have the relevant experience and qualifications:

Recruitment experience

If you work in recruitment, you will already have experience in the field. Talent acquisition managers must have experience in HR or on a recruitment team, so you can check this box. 

Entry-level recruitment experience is typically enough, but if you have experience in a more senior role, managing a team of recruiters, and taking on more strategic responsibility, you will be more marketable. It can be advantageous if your recruitment experience is in the same field as the talent acquisition role you apply for since you’ll have prior industry knowledge.

Qualifications

The qualifications companies look for are primarily the same in both professions. The minimum requirement is a bachelor’s degree, preferably in human resources management, business, or personnel administration. Some companies may ask for a master’s degree, and this is useful if your bachelor's degree doesn’t directly relate to talent acquisition. If you are looking to advance to a senior level, a master’s degree is helpful. 

Highlight human skills

To discover and hire talented individuals, talent acquisition managers typically rely on a set of human skills to support their education and experiences. If you plan to apply for a job in this role, consider highlighting the following skills: 

• Communication: Connecting with diverse groups via email, phone, or interviews

• Relationship building: Developing a rapport with candidates and the company leaders 

• Marketing skills: Pitching jobs and their qualifications to a tailored interested audience

• Negotiation skills: Coming up with a solution that meets the needs of both the candidate and the employer

• Analytical skills: Understanding statistics like turnover and retention rates and how they apply to the needs of a workforce

Build skills to support your move from recruitment to talent acquisition

To shift from working in recruitment to talent acquisition, you can often leverage much of the qualifications and experience you already have. Building on your credentials with an additional course or certification may enhance your chances of landing a role. You can begin by taking online classes, like the Managing Talent course offered by the University of Michigan, which covers how to select, recruit, and onboard talent. You might also consider the Human Resources Analytics from the University of California, Irvine, for guidance on gathering and mining data to improve hiring decisions. You’ll find these options and more on Coursera.