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HR professionals, employers, and recruiters strive to streamline the recruitment process as efficiently as possible to ensure they can hire the best candidates for any role. Hiring the right professional impacts the company’s long-term business development, owing to employee engagement and retention and lower employee turnover. To establish a thorough and effective recruitment process, there are several sourcing strategies for employers and recruiters to consider.
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What is a Sourcing Strategy?
Sourcing strategies are a systematic approach to searching, shortlisting, and engaging with relevant candidates to increase direct hires for any position. Employers leverage several sourcing strategies to maximize their chances of building a promising talent pipeline. Sourcing strategies are crucial because they enable recruiters to tap into diverse talent pools, reduce time-to-fill positions, and ultimately hire the best candidates.
Also read: What is organizational development?
Sourcing Strategies for Recruiting The Best Candidates
1. Leverage your Recruitment Database
Employers looking to hire new employees can search their internal database, which includes candidates who have applied previously, to find potential candidates for any role. Employers can utilize special software to help them find the right people and leverage a system that helps manage relationships with these past applicants. A recruitment database enables employers to store, maintain, and utilize candidate information.
However, engaging with past applicants who have not been hired is crucial to keep them hooked on the hope of finding another position at your company. Here are three simple ways to engage with great candidates who go unhired:
- Offer closure:
Ghosting a great candidate is the worst mistake ever! If a solid professional dedicates their time and energy to applying or interviewing for a role at your organization and is not hired, respect their efforts and let them know where they stand. 80% of job-seekers agree that they feel discouraged to consider any future roles at a company that just leaves them hanging with no updates on their application status.
- Offer feedback:
Feedback is a great way to engage promising candidates, although only 41% of candidates receive feedback post-interview. You can offer feedback to strong candidates, allowing them to improve their skills and encourage them to apply for future opportunities at your organization.
- Keep the posted:
Adding candidates to the company’s recruitment mailing list is a simple hack that goes a long way. Candidates who regularly receive news about the company are likelier to keep an eye on upcoming opportunities and apply for them.
2. Overestimate the power of Social Media Recruitment
Social Media Recruitment is an effective sourcing strategy to gain access to a wide pool of candidates. Social Media recruitment allows employers to target active job seekers and passive candidates who may not be applying actively but are the perfect fit for a particular role. Moreover, several social media platforms allow employers to post jobs and get applications. These platforms also allow employers to optimize their candidate sourcing by creating a thorough job description and listing all the relevant tools and skills a candidate needs. 57% of job seekers are already searching and applying for opportunities online, and social media is a great way to connect with them!
3. Employee Referrals
Employee referrals are an effective sourcing strategy. Many organizations encourage referral programs where employees receive bonuses upon successfully recommending a candidate who gets hired. You can encourage existing employees to leverage their professional networks and refer suitable candidates for job openings. Employee referrals are a cost-effective method and impactful sourcing strategy. According to a recent survey, employee referrals are the most impactful sourcing strategy to fill job openings, and 30% of candidates hired are via referrals.
4. Create an effective outreach messaging
Creating an effective outreach message to engage with potential candidates helps candidates learn more about the role and the organization. An effective outreach message is a significant method to source promising candidates. Hence, you must consider crafting an engaging message with an enticing introduction to encourage potential candidates to continue reading the message. In your outreach message, help candidates learn more about the job requirements, the compensations and perks, and how they can benefit by joining the organization.
5. Keep an eye on the data
It is vital for hiring managers to track their metrics when employing several sourcing strategies. You can review the recruitment process and analyze data to assess which strategy was more effective. Record and analyze data like the number of responses, messages, job applications, application drop-offs, etc. Studying recorded data and analyzing metrics will allow you to form a more informed recruitment process and focus more on the best sourcing strategy.
6. Focus on employer branding
Employer branding is an underrated sourcing strategy. Job seekers love to look up a company online before applying. Candidates will explore a company beyond its vision, mission statement, and services. 75% of job seekers consider the brand of any potential employer before applying for a position. Some of the most significant things that job seekers explore include employee testimonials, day-to-day employee/company videos, company values and culture, employee-generated content, and anything that reflects value for joining the company.
Many organizations worldwide focus heavily on employer branding as a sourcing strategy. 80% of employers agree that employer branding plays a significant role in hiring top talent. Hence, as an employer, you must aim to build a strong brand that reflects a positive image of the company to attract strong candidates.
7. Maintain an effective sourcing pipeline
Employers can maintain a sourcing pipeline to streamline potential candidates for open and upcoming jobs within the organization. Employers can regularly add potential candidates with relevant skills and experience to their sourcing pipelines and include candidates who also fit any upcoming roles. A candidate pipeline will help employers save time when hiring for future positions.
Iris helps employers and recruiters add potential candidates to their sourcing pipelines by offering a vetted list of candidates with the right skills and experience for different roles.
8. Networking events
Employers can leverage networking events, such as industry events, job fairs, etc., to connect with potential candidates and encourage them to explore opportunities at your company. Networking events are an effective sourcing strategy as they help employers and recruiters expand their candidate search, look beyond resumes and applications, and build a strong network of potential candidates to consider for future opportunities.
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Final Thoughts
Employers are always looking for great candidates and must explore effective sourcing strategies to win them over. As an employer, you must explore several ways of connecting with top-tier talent and engage with them for any current and future opportunities at your company. Qureos is on a mission to help recruiters find the best candidates for any role in the quickest way possible. Leveraging various candidate-sourcing strategies can help you fill your talent pipeline with qualified talent so you can choose the best hire for your team.
