Just under half of HR teams for multinational companies have the necessary information to make good hiring decisions. Many problems arise as a result of inefficient sourcing strategies and practices. When you do not collect the right information, approach candidates in the right way, and communicate consistently, this can lead to poor hiring results.
Many companies list improving their recruitment techniques and strategies as a top priority. Yet, it can be one of the hardest things to make effective.
As the younger generations become the bulk of the workforce, appealing to millennials and Generation Z has become a key factor in the sourcing strategy.
The techniques that worked in the past, the ones that attracted the Baby Boomers aren’t at all effective with Gen Y and Z.
In order to keep up, the HR team has to be proactive instead of reactive, and they need to work hard to build an excellent sourcing strategy.
Great recruitment starts with solid sourcing strategies
Soucing candidates is the process of searching and contacting potential new hires in order to fill employment gaps in your company. Some HR managers state that they are nervous about approaching people that may not be looking for a job.
But according to reports compiled by Linkedin, nearly 90% of people claim they are always interested in learning about new opportunities. Plus, many successfully sourced candidates claim they were not even looking for a new job when they were hired.
Sourcing is a crucial part of the hiring process in the modern era, and the goal should be to accomplish it with a minimum amount of time or money being spent in the process.
To have a truly effective recruiting strategy, you must have an effective sourcing strategy.
Why is candidate sourcing tough?
There are so many hurdles that HR teams must jump over to find the right candidates.
In order to find the perfect candidate for a position, you have to be really clear on what the position entails. This can be a daunting task in a large corporation with hundreds of different roles and job descriptions. Once you master the hiring needs of your company, you will have to find the best platforms for attracting candidates.
You may find that you have a very low number of candidates in your talent pool, and the ones you do have are difficult to pin down for an interview. Plus, your top choices are likely to be the top choices of rival companies as well, and you may face fierce competition.
The company will need the roles filled ASAP, but you know that sourcing, recruiting, and hiring is a lengthy process which is made all the more difficult when there is any sort of confusion of the correct metrics for hiring at different levels.
Human resource teams face all of these struggles and more.
So, how can you overcome them to source the best candidates and build a truly killer team?
You’ll need to adopt these six elements into your sourcing strategies.
1. Separate your sourcers from your recruiters
While you may think of these two roles as essentially the same, they really aren’t. The people responsible for sourcing are the ones out there looking for new candidates and qualifying them for the various available roles.
While the recruiters are the ones that take over the process once an interesting potential new hire has been deemed fit for the position. They are responsible for closing the deal that was initiated by the sourcers.
Small HR teams may have people that play both sides of the coin and do the sourcing and the recruiting. Yet, even if this is the case, they need to understand the differences between these two functions.
Bigger teams should definitely split these roles as they require different focuses and different mindsets.
2. Have a deep understanding of the job requirements
Before the sourcers move to take action, they should sit down and review all of the requirements of the available jobs.
This may mean spending some time within the department and having conversations with the members of management and any coworkers that would be working directly with the new hire.
Going above and beyond a quick glance at the listed job requirements and really exploring the role will help you source candidates that will be more attuned to the machinations of the team.
The conversations with the management team will help you understand the personalities that will be best suited for the role and whether they are looking for a candidate that can be nurtured or trained to eventually move on to other roles within the company. This understanding of the requirements of the role will keep everyone on the same page.
3. Revisit previous candidates
A good place to start your sourcing strategy is with the previous finalists.
Hopefully, the last time you were filling this particular role, you had a handful of really great candidates that you would classify as the silver medalists (assuming you were able to hire the gold on the previous occasion.) These are the people that were a really good fit, but just didn’t make it to the final round for whatever reason.
Think about it this way, when you posted the job last time, you may have had 300 applicants. You may have interviewed 50 of those applicants with 10 making it to the final round of selections.
Then, you hired one of those ten leaving nine highly qualified candidates on the table. Where are those nine people now? How many of them are interested in giving your company another look?
Reach out to these past candidates to see where you can find some interest in your available positions. Remember the statistics from above, almost everyone is willing to hear about a new employment opportunity, even if they aren’t currently looking for a new job.
4. Create a pipeline
The smart human resources team is always thinking about the future needs of the company which means anytime they do a hiring search, they retain their candidates’ data in a recruitment tool like Recruitee. This creates a database or a pipeline that can be accessed every time there is a need within the company.
The great thing about creating this pipeline is that you only have to do your sourcing work once! This makes it a critical element in all sourcing strategies.
You find a potential candidate, and you log them into your database which means you never have to go out and find that particular candidate again. You have their information and pre-employment assessments on file ready and waiting for the next vacancy.
5. Never stop sourcing
Now that you understand the importance of sourcing, and you have established your pipeline for storing potential employee information, you never have to stop your sourcing. Make it a team policy that your sourcers and your recruiters are always on high alert looking for new candidates.
This is excellent practice, whether you have any current vacancies or not. Anytime you meet or speak with a person that has the potential to become a stellar candidate, slid them your recruiting information or send them a link to an employment assessment. Train all of your HR team members to keep sourcing in the back of their minds at all times.
If you take a look at your company’s plans for future growth, you will see that constantly sourcing is the only way you are likely to keep up with the demands. If you stay on step ahead of the hiring needs of your company, your human resources team will never feel the urgency that comes with having too many empty roles and not enough eligible candidates to fill them.
6. Automate manual tasks around sourcing
There are a lot of shortcuts you can take with sourcing, but not all of them are recommendable. Devoting time and energy into finding the right people at the beginning, pays off later with higher quality and more committed candidates.
There are, however, a few easy ways to cut out manual copy-pasting of profiles/downloading and uploading CV. Use a sourcing extension that connects with your ATS to save yourself time when sourcing on LinkedIn, Facebook or any other social platform.
7. Work on building a brand
Part of the good sourcing strategy is having a definite company brand. This will help you attract talent to your company in the same way the marketing efforts will attract customers or clients. It has been well documented that millennials enjoy working for a company where they feel emotionally connected.
The only way to build that emotional connection is through proper branding. You need to help build a company culture that will attract top-tier talent, and then find a way to project that culture in your recruitment efforts.
There are lots of avenues you can take to help with the process, and social media can definitely help. Creating a strong online presence can garner interest in your company, and it can lead you to funnel that interest right into your sourcing pipeline.
Here are a few of the platforms that tend to be most helpful to the sourcing process:
- LinkedIn: This platform was created as a place for professionals to connect with one another and with companies. It is the best place for garnering interest in your company, you can even add your employment assessment links right to your company profile page.
- Twitter: Many businesses have found success utilizing chats, lists, and hashtags to brand and source.
- Meetup: Creating in-person events like mentoring sessions and networking events can help build a positive brand image, and it is a great way to source potential employees.
Customize your candidate sourcing strategies
It is good to remember that building a top-notch sourcing strategy will be unique to your company because what works for one won’t always work for another. Think of sourcing strategies like snowflakes, no two will ever be the same.
Your organization has unique needs to fill its available positions, and as such, it will require unique strategies to find the appropriate people.
Whether your company chooses to heavily rely on aggressive recruiting methods or it tends toward boosting sourcing methods, there is no wrong answer.
Message boards, social media, networking events any of these can be effective, but the true measure of results is having a company that is fully staffed with top tier employees.
Use all the tricks in your bag, and you will find that your vacancies are filled much quicker than your competitors.
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