Talent Sourcing

What is sourcing in HR?

In HR and talent management, sourcing refers to proactively identifying, contacting, and engaging qualified candidates for a job opening rather than waiting for candidates to apply.

Since sourcing falls under the umbrella of talent acquisition, general recruiters may handle sourcing candidates as one of their responsibilities, but some organizations use dedicated “sourcers” who focus only on this task.

The primary goal of sourcing is to pull qualified candidates—especially passive candidates—into the hiring funnel. A recruiter may use a variety of sourcing channels to accomplish this goal, including employee referrals and social networking. Sourcing is increasingly becoming a digital activity, with talent acquisition professionals using recruiting software to identify potential matches.

When is it best to use sourcing?

Most organizations don’t use sourcing for every job opening. For example, if a particular position tends to attract qualified applicants, there may be no need to source specific candidates. However, if a position is highly specialized, requires a rare skill set, or would attract too many applicants, an organization may opt to source some or all of their candidates.

What is the difference between sourcing and recruiting?

Sourcing is a type of recruitment. Sourcing is a search for a candidate who can be targeted and convinced to apply for a current or future open position with the company, while general recruiting involves managing relationships with candidates and guiding them through the company’s screening process.

Why should HR teams consider talent sourcing?

Talent sourcing revolves around proactively searching for qualified candidates. A talent sourcing strategy has many advantages over traditional recruitment, including:

• Access to a larger talent pool. Talent sourcing allows you to reach candidates who aren’t actively applying. It enables HR to reach out to individuals open to the right opportunity—even if they aren’t looking at job boards yet.
• Reduce hiring time. Rather than starting the hiring process from scratch, HR teams can contact qualified candidates. This speeds up the process and reduces the time needed to fill roles.
• Improve applicant quality. By deliberately targeting qualified applicants, you can ensure a higher quality of candidates. You can focus on finding a strong match for your organization’s needs.
• Boost employer brand. Talent sourcing enables personalized outreach and engagement with candidates, building your reputation as a great place to work. This is especially true if you use employee ambassadors.

What are the types of sourcing in HR?

Types of sourcing in HR include:

1. Passive sourcing:  Reaching out to desirable candidates who aren't actively looking for a new job, but who may be interested in learning about new opportunities.
2. Active sourcing:  Targeting and engaging suitable candidates who are actively seeking employment opportunities.
3. Direct sourcing:  Identifying a specific candidate for a job opportunity and actively recruiting them without using a third-party agency or platform.
4. AI sourcing: A new approach that allows teams to use AI to sift through potential candidates to source the right fit for a business, creating efficiencies and reducing overall time spent sifting through candidate qualifications and experiences.

How do I create a talent sourcing plan?

A sourcing plan (or recruitment strategy) lists out the steps a company or recruiter will take to produce and track sourcing results.

This plan asks and answers questions like:

1. What qualifications or qualities make a viable candidate?
2. What sourcing methods have been successful?
3. What resources are available?
4. What is the end goal (for example, this could be to gain a quick competitive advantage or reach a long-term solution)?

Sourcing is a long-term process, not one that starts with a current job opening and ends when someone is hired to fill that position. The purpose of a sourcing plan is to establish and maintain a continuous flow of valuable candidates that cover the current and future needs of an organization, so that when a position opens, recruiters can identify the right candidates and win them over before their competition does.

To create a sourcing plan, follow these steps:

1. Align the sourcing strategy with the company’s HR strategy
2. Determine which division or department in the company is expected to grow consistently
3. Summarize the expected future situation and time frame
4. Pinpoint any potential challenges
5. Define the targeted talent using personas that go beyond required job qualifications
6. Find out where target talent is located (for example—city, industry, company and position)
7. Predict where desired talent will be in two to five years
8. Find out how your competitors are sourcing talent and how you can better position yourself to win the best candidates
9. Decide which methods to use in the sourcing process
10. Put checkpoints and measurements in place before strategy execution begins.

Where to look when sourcing candidates

There are several places to look when sourcing candidates. These include:

• Job boards or career websites. Add your job listing to a popular job board and engage with both active and passive candidates.
• Networking events. Industry events and networking sessions are great opportunities to meet potential candidates. You may even find that you uncover hidden talent.
• Social media. Make the most of platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram to demonstrate your company culture. Engage with your followers through posts and updates.

Candidate sourcing strategies

The best approach to sourcing is utilizing a mixture of both traditional and creative candidate sourcing strategies. This will help you find the most valuable candidates.

Traditional sourcing strategies

Traditional sourcing strategies involve using avenues such as employee referral programmes or techniques like tapping into recruiter networks. Here are some more traditional strategies:

• Searching for internal candidates based on their strengths and their history of experience within the company
• Implementing an employee referral program that rewards successful hiring of a referred candidate
• Tapping into a recruiter network that already has a huge talent pool of available candidates
• Searching for candidates and recruiting on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook

Creative sourcing strategies

You may decide to employ different strategies to hire high-quality talent. Creative sourcing strategies may involve some unexpected approaches. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Reach out to someone who has recently been hired somewhere else, as they may still be open to other opportunities. This is especially true if you can offer them something better or if their new job isn’t meeting their expectations
• Use niche social media platforms such as Pinterest, Medium, or GitHub to find more creative or specialized candidates with desirable qualities
• Mine your current and past candidate base for someone with high potential value who was overlooked or passed over for another role
• Network in the real world at both industry and community events