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TA definition blurring, recruiters "incredibly overwhelmed"

Amid blurring lines between talent acquisition and human resources, TA professionals are now often reskilling and not just acquiring talent, an in-house recruitment specialist says.

"One of the biggest trends we're seeing is a much closer alignment, if not a joining together, of talent acquisition and the talent function around internal mobility and career pathing – how people can move around the organisation," Talent Table director Andrea Kirby tells Shortlist.

Talent acquisition professionals are getting more involved in looking at what skills and capabilities already exist in the organisation before seeking talent externally, she adds.

"And there's a whole discussion going on in the talent acquisition community: should our name be 'talent acquisition'? Are we acquiring talent or accessing talent, both externally and internally?"

There is also going to be a lot of work around reskilling organisations, Kirby says, to make sure they have adequate digital capabilities in place, as well as hiring people with appropriate soft skills and then training them up.

"And I think talent acquisition are going to be very involved in assessing that, and making some of that happen..."