Get formally qualified for being a talent specialist.
Programme Overview
Our Certificate in Talent Acquisition is a 10 month programme focused on building your strategic skills and experience in leading a Talent Acquisition function, or working in a senior TA position.
For those new to TA or recruitment – our Certificate in Recruitment Fundamentals may be a better match for you.
Over the Certificate you will complete online learning modules with on the job assignments, case studies, quizzes and assessments. The programme also involves rating your achievement level from the start to the finish and mapping your skills and experience.
Who should attend?
You’ll benefit most from the Certificate in Talent Acquisition if you:
- Have already completed the Certificate in Recruitment Fundamentals or have training or 2+ years experience in recruitment already
- Are working in Talent Acquisition but want to grow your career into a more senior and strategic role
- Are in a senior TA Role but want a formal qualification to back you up
What will you finish with?
The Certificate in Talent Acquisition is different from tertiary study as you need to be working in a role where you can apply what you’re learning, rather than just covering theory.
You’ll work through case studies and review your own workplace practices so that you get as much experience as you can, to deliver effectively in real life. Once you’ve completed your final assessment you will be awarded your certificate.
Elephant Certificates are now recognised globally, in New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, the US and United Kingdom.
The Certificate intakes start in May and September. You will need to register by the third week of April (for May) and the third week of August (for September).
Compulsory Modules
Introduction to Strategic Talent Acquisition
This module covers the different types of roles within TA, the knowledge and skills you’ll need, current trends and how to build your skills, knowledge and resilience for where your career is heading. and how to overcome challenges including dealing with unconscious bias and building diversity.
Transforming your Recruitment Processes
You know how processes work but this module focuses on understanding the principles of Design Thinking, and how you can use these out to transform how you recruit. You’ll hear some awesome examples of thinking out side of the box to spark what you could do differently, as well as some design thinking tools to get you thinking in a whole different way!
Recruitment metrics and analytics
Recruiters are often measured on the quality of their hires – did you find a great person for the role? But there are also other useful metrics that can help show your value to your business. This module takes you through the journey from metrics to predictive analytics and what steps you can take to get there.
Rewriting your recruitment policies
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if hiring managers found your recruitment policies and processes so engaging to read, that they want to take them to bed and read them just for the joy of it?? Okay perhaps not, but in this module you’ll learn some brilliant methods to make your policies more readable, and different ways to structure and distribute so that managers want to read them (even if not as a bedtime story).
Developing a Recruitment Strategy
This module looks at the different techniques for developing a recruitment strategy for your organisation. If you are in charge of the approach you’ll take, the measures and the outcomes, this module is for you. You’ll find out specific areas that a Recruitment Strategy should include and examples of what works well, and where the challenges are. And if you don’t develop strategy yet, this will help you prepare or assist in the process.
Building your Employment Brand
This module focuses on how you can build your Employment Brand and how this links to your EVP (Employee Value Proposition). You’ll hear about different examples of employment branding done well, understand the challenges in employment branding in an age of online transparency, and what you could do differently to engage candidates with your organisation.
Leading Change
This module takes you through using specific change tools with a recruitment case study so that you are fully prepared to drive change in your business. You’ll find out how the different models work and what the pros and cons are, and then steps to take to help people through their reaction to change – so they are onboard. Whether it’s a whole new ATS or talent system, or a small recruitment process change – leading change so it’s successful is essential!
Dealing with Rogue Managers
Lastly we focus on dealing with difficult hiring managers (it may not happen often, but when it does, it can be really challenging!). How do you bring a rogue manager in line? How do you advise when you know they will object? What can do you do to stop them derailing the process or giving candidates or your talent team the run around? Find out why it happens and different methods of what you can do.
Optional Modules
You must choose two of these optional modules.
Recruitment Fundamentals
If there is an area covered in the Recruitment Fundamentals Certificate that you don’t have as much experience or knowledge of as you’d like, or you want a refresher, you can pick one of those modules.
Training Managers
Training managers on your recruitment processes, dealing with biases, complying with legislation or handling tricky recruitment situations can add value and improve your candidate experience. But there are some tricks to designing and delivering training effectively! This module gives you tips and techniques to use.
Strategic Workforce Planning
Workforce Planners have a unique view of an organisation’s work patterns and capabilities and can provide frameworks and strategies on workforce planning. This can also be part of some TA Roles or something you want to specialise in.
Performance Coaching
Performance Coaching can be a useful skill for TA professionals to use when advising and supporting your business. This module covers understanding and using the principles and models of performance coaching effectively.
Team Dynamics
If you manage a team, then understanding & using team dynamics is an important skill to make sure your team is working well together and providing the best support to your business. We have two levels of this module depending on your knowledge of team work principles.
Feedback from recent graduates:
I am proud that I’ve been able to get through it while working full time. My knowledge has increased, and I have been able to apply this to my work. The feedback was great. I found it useful that it wasn’t generic to the whole assignment but was given after each question and if I had achieved what was required, there was still suggestions or ideas on how I could potentially expand on my answer. This helped me consider other ways to look at an idea or solve a problem. I already had an understanding of the basic end to end process from the start, but this course has been great in boosting my understanding of the ways I can level up. It’s given me confidence to back myself – that I have the skills and experience to take my career forward.
Amy, External Recruiter
I have found all the modules extremely helpful, they have given me so many great ideas on how I could look at improving our processes, and where we can streamline certain areas. We are working on candidate management as a team. I have greatly valued the feedback given to me on my modules, as this shows me where I need to improve or where I need to push my learnings/thinking more. Also, I found the way that the feedback was given was perfect, even when I had answered the questions correctly, the feedback given also gave other ways I could of laid out the information, or re-worded it differently.
Claire, Talent Advisor, NFP
There are a lot more elements to recruitment than I’d initially thought! It has been really interesting learning about these elements of recruitment and identifying where my weaknesses are. At the start, I set a calendar block for each work to work on the assignments and have tried to keep that time clear as much as possible. I’ve been flexible where it’s been needed, but have found that having that block helped to keep things ticking over nicely and has enabled me to complete these assignments without feeling like it’s too much. I think the thing I’ve probably learnt most is that collaboration helps to make you a better recruiter. Someone else will always have a slightly different perspective to you, and that can be really helpful in getting a deeper, more thoughtful outcome to an issue or question.
Teigan, Recruitment Advisor, Government Agency
I would rate this 5/5 it really got me thinking! In most areas I think I have grown my skills and knowledge significantly. The certificate was broken down into distinct subject areas that allowed me to focus on deepening my understanding, but still linked to previous assignments, forming a coherent learning process. I was able to reflect on real life recruitment scenarios that I have been involved with, and see what I would do differently now. I could also apply my new learning while working e.g. create a candidate persona, to cement and grow on any theoretical scenarios. It has also been great to start conversations with others by saying that meeting with them would be really useful for my certificate. It gave to a useful framework to grow and I based my IPP (Individual Performance Plan) on the structure of the certificate.
Kate, Recruitment Advisor, Professional Consulting company
FAQ’s
How do the modules work?
The Certificate is hosted on our online learning platform. Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to access the programme. The welcome module is available immediately, and then each month a new module will open up. You’ll then be able to access the video’s, articles, learning resources and your assignment. This is due back at the end of each month.
And the assignments?
The assignments consist of case studies with different questions to answer or asking you to review of your own processes. The pass mark is 70%. Our team will assess whether you have passed and have demonstrated good thinking around each answer. If not, they will come back to you with some coaching and feedback. You can then resubmit. The aim is to help you develop your skills in each area so you can deliver excellence to your business.
How long does each module take?
You have a month to complete each module and it will take you 2 – 5 hours to complete depending on if you have any experience or knowledge in the area already. Along with watching the webinar and reading any articles, you should be able to complete each module by putting aside an hour a week, or four hours a month.
What if I need more time?
While we schedule your Certificate over a 10 month period, you can ask for an extension on assignments if you have a busy workload, or are travelling or have any other issue that means you need more time. In total you can extend your Certificate up to 6 months.
Can I fail the Certificate?
Yes if you don’t complete your assignments, then you cannot pass the Certificate! If you complete an assignment but haven’t demonstrated the knowledge to pass the topic, our team will provide you with feedback and coaching and give you a chance to review and resubmit your assignment.
What if I’m stuck?
If you do get stuck on an answer, then you can email our team and get some further suggestions or coaching to help you gain the knowledge needed to answer.
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