The New Dictionary of Hiring

Acquisition Risk

/AK-WI-ZISH-UHN RISK/

NOUN

Acquisition Risk is the chance that a business won't secure a necessary capability before the date its strategy requires it.

MEANING

“Hard to fill” tells you how recruiting feels about a job. Acquisition Risk tells you how much the business is betting on finding someone in time.

‍

A scarce skill, an impossible location requirement, an offer nobody wants or six weeks of approvals can all make the bet worse. Say which conditions are putting the plan at risk. Then leadership can decide whether to change the offer, the search, the deadline or the plan itself.

Defined by:
James Ellis,
Employer Brand Labs

Category:

Risk

Related Terms:

MAKE THE CHANGE

Instead of:

Hard-to-fill role or hiring difficulty.

Ask:

How confident are we that this capability will arrive before the business needs it?

EXAMPLE

The business needs an expert by July. The market is small, the location rule eliminates most prospects and the proposed pay is well below the offers those people already receive.

HOW TO USE IT

For critical hires, assess whether the required talent is reachable, interested and realistically attainable by the deadline. Surface the conditions that make success unlikely while leadership still has options.

SAY IT TO LEADERSHIP

We can keep this requirement exactly as written, but the odds of hiring in time are poor. Which can we change: the offer, the location, the deadline or the plan?

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH

Talent Risk: Acquisition Risk is about bringing a specific capability in on time; Talent Risk is the broader exposure, including losing people you already have.