10 Best Strategies for Sourcing in Recruitment

Future growth of any organisation depends on the employees working behind it. Therefore, it’s important to build a strong and loyal workforce that leads your path to success.

Having the right candidates will enhance productivity and lower employee turnover. On a different equation, wrong candidates can waste a company’s resources and impact the overall culture.

Today, recruiting the right talent without an effective method of sourcing is similar to finding a needle in the haystack. That is where sourcing plays a crucial part.

What Is Sourcing in Recruitment?

Sourcing is the method of processing and hiring potential candidates for a job role via an appropriate talent supply source. These sourcing professionals evaluate the talent pool in the market, develop personalised strategies for brands and help you recruit from the list of most suitable candidates.

What is the Difference Between Sourcing and Recruitment?

Many seasoned professionals in the industry find the difference between these two really foggy. Sourcing is an early stage of recruitment where you develop interest in an open job role and convince people to apply.

Recruitment starts when sourcing ends. It is an administrative role where the hiring managers review applications, coordinate schedules, and shortlist candidates.

What are the Best Sourcing Techniques?

Studies show that candidates who are sourced strategically turn out to be two times more efficient at the job than the candidates who apply for it. We present to you 10 best strategies for sourcing that will help bring qualified talents into the funnel.

Stay Aligned with Your Hiring Manager

First and foremost, you need to stay aligned with your hiring manager during the entire sourcing candidate process. You both need to stay at one page while ensuring what an ideal candidate for your company will look like.

Great Communication is the key to establishing alignment. Here are a few ways by which you can enhance the quality of your communication:

• Block your hiring manager’s calendar as soon as you receive the requisition list. Talk to them about the role and must-have qualities in the candidate. It will help keep you both on the same page.

• Collaborate with your sourcing partner and make a list of top channels for sourcing where the ideal candidates are present. Ask them to have a list of high volume role-specific keywords.

• Sit with them and run some searches together. This way you can specify the type of candidates that are or that aren’t required.

• Check out the current talent pool and review if your requirements need to be stretched or curtailed.

Search for Candidates on your Application Tracking System

Spending time on hiring is actually an investment. This way you may not just end up hiring a candidate but also get a list of candidates who have the desired qualities to be considered for future roles.

According to a report, 99% of companies believe that re-engaging the talents can strengthen their community and protect the employer’s reputation. Although many companies miss looking at re-engaging as an opportunity.

You need to prepare a plan to engage with the archived candidates. Here are a few steps you can follow:

• Track why they were a “not-fit”- To re-engage with candidates you need to know why they were not hired and how they fit for the role now. Your ATS will help you resolve all these queries.

• Offer feedback- When you give them constructive feedback about their interview, candidates are more likely to come back for another shot.

• Circle back- Candidates refuse to apply for another relevant job at your company if they have not heard about their previous application status. On the other hand, the chances of re-applying increase by three times if they have received regular updates.

Add More Sourcing Channels to Your List

Most recruiters have a list of go-to channels to search for candidates. They first hunt on their professional network and then jump to LinkedIn or Indeed. But why limit your options? You can consider adding some less common sourcing sites with low frequency on the mix too.

Candidates can be more receptive to connecting on these lesser known but trusted websites. Also, profiles on such websites provide some unique information about candidates that can offer excellent fodder to establish personal touch.

To lead you in the right direction, here are a few unconventional website recommendations where professionals apply for jobs.

• Angle.co to look for experienced marketing/sales professionals.
• Triple byte to connect with engineers
• Hired to find exclusive tech talents
• Lastly, Underdog if you are a startup

Suggested Read: Quick Recruitment Tips for a Recruiting Superhero

Be Open to Offline Recruitment

Online channels boost your hiring process, without a doubt. But you should always be open to meeting people face to face as it amplifies your engagement.

You must attend events and conferences organised by industries that are bringing innovation to the world. You can organise your own event as well, where you and your team have time to meet and greet people. After all, sourcing is a team work.

Work Smarter with Recruitment Management Software

Sourcing means thousands of spreadsheets and millions of balls lying up there. Using the right tool for recruitment can help you plan, organise, and streamline things easily. This way, you can also save time and focus on building and managing the talent pool through the software.

Focus on Brand Building

A strong image of your company can make sourcing and recruitment easier. A positive image in the industry can make the difference with a large number of candidates responding to your outreach efforts. Here are a few tips to building a strong employer branding and achieving better sourcing results:

• Respond to reviews: More than 90 percent of candidates look at the reviews while researching about you. Responding to their candidature status will make them feel heard and important.

• Tell your story: Encourage your employees to share their success stories, blogs and experience on platforms like LinkedIn, Lever, HubSpot, etc.

• Collaborate with marketing teams: Add your inputs in their branding strategies in terms of content creation and distribution around sourcing.

Work on Your Outreach Message

Sourcing will not give you the desired result if candidates do not invest in your outreach message. Your message should target their objectives, not yours.

If your message is not impressive enough, you will lose candidates over competitors. Therefore, you need to understand your audience and communicate about things that matter to them.

To perfect your outreach message, follow these thumb rules:

• Catch the attention with a great subject line
• Personalize your messages
• Tell them how are they important for organisational growth
• Paint a picture that leads to personal growth

Give Your Existing Employees a Chance to Recruit

Utilising your current employee’s network for sourcing is one of the most beneficial approaches. Your employees can help you connect with untapped talents and enhance the response rate. You can expand your talent pool by 10 times if they recommend candidates for an open role.

You can run sourcing sessions internally and educate them about tools like Freshteam, Simpler or Teammable. These tools will automatically show you a list of candidates that might be a good fit for the role by analysing through your social accounts like LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub, etc.

When you end up selecting a candidate you should reward them and send an email appreciating them for their contribution.

Get Ahead on Role You Need to Hire

Usually, employers say, I am hiring for job X and I need to source for it. But smart employers hire candidates for the future. Create a clear picture of which teams need to grow in the next quarter. Once you have a list, then discuss this with managers and HR about the skills required.

Follow Up with Ones Who Didn’t Respond

The entire process of sourcing takes a lot of time and effort in researching and preparing lists, so you should not stop at one email. Let a few candidates come to you first, but after a decent wait time, send a follow-up mail.

This might not always give results but at least it will create a brand recall. The candidate might also refer a candidate from their circle who can be a great fit.

Importance of Sourcing in Recruitment

Here are the reasons why recruiters who source candidates from multiple sources benefit significantly:

• Sourcing allows the recruiters to choose talents as per organizational needs
• It helps you build a credible pool of talent
• The process reduces the cost time and stress of hiring managers
• It helps you add diverse skills and perspectives to your workforce
• Gives you a heterogeneous workforce

Best Sourcing Channels in Recruitment

The key to successful sourcing is optimum utilization of multiple channels of recruitment like:

• Company Career’s Page
• Employee Referrals
• Job Boards
• LinkedIn
• Glassdoor
• Reddit
• Flicker
• MOGUL
• Upwork

Suggested Read: 10 Best Recruitment CRM Software for Recruiters & Small Businesses

Conclusion

Sourcing in recruitment solely focuses on finding candidates that are a perfect fit for your organisation. The recruitment professionals with their research skills and networking attract professionally and culturally diverse individuals to upskill your workplace diversity. After all, top-tier talent is in demand, so you need to be precise about the strategy for your organisation to succeed.

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Related Categories: HR Software | Payroll Management Software | Leave Management Software | Workforce Management Software | Recruitment Management Software