While 90% of people are interested in learning about new career options, only 36% are actively looking for work. That's why 80 percent of businesses engage in talent sourcing and actively seek out the people they want to hire. If you want to hire the greatest individuals for your company, you need to grasp the value of talent sourcing and develop tactics for locating and recruiting prospects who aren't even seeking work.
Talent Sourcing
Long before recruiting and hiring, talent sourcing begins. It's the process of selecting suitable candidates with the requisite abilities to fill unfilled positions and match the company culture. It entails not just locating outstanding talent but also studying, networking, and converting them into applications.
Related: What is Talent Sourcing
Recruitment vs. Talent Sourcing
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At its most basic level, talent sourcing aims to transform non-applications into applicants. On the other hand, recruitment necessitates the transformation of applicants into workers. As a result, talent sourcing is the first step in the hiring process and a critical component of developing a strong talent pipeline.
The relationship between talent sourcing and recruiting is symbiotic. Most recruiters find candidates through various methods, including LinkedIn and job portals. They are in charge of the entire recruiting process. When necessary, recruiters communicate with talent-sourcing representatives.
A talent source's primary goal is to generate leads for a small number of job openings. They collaborate closely with hiring and recruiting managers. Their goal is to find and recruit talent, generate leads, and stimulate interest in open positions. In other words, sourcing and recruitment are complimentary but independent processes.
The Talent Sourcing Methodology
Each company should devise its sourcing strategy to meet its specific requirements. The sourcing process may be broken down into four main components. As you can see, the talent sourcing process mixes components specific to talent sourcing with those that overlap with recruitment.
- Plan: Establishing a clear plan to direct your search to regions where you are most likely to find desirable applicants is the first step in talent sourcing.
- After establishing a sourcing strategy, the following stage is to find, contact, and nurture connections.
- Assess: After you've gathered a pool of qualified candidates, it's time to evaluate them. This entails selecting the individuals who are most fit for the job and most aligned with your company's culture and values.
- Hire: Following a comprehensive interview process, you will make an offer to the best candidate, negotiate the terms of the employment contract, and hire them.
- Onboarding: The onboarding of new employees is the final stage of the talent-sourcing process.
What Are the Advantages of Sourcing Talent?
Eighty percent of businesses employ talent sourcing because of the benefits it delivers. It raises the hiring quality.
You have a better grasp of what the role and the organization require when you actively seek out the best prospects, which leads to higher-quality hires.
It broadens the range of possibilities.
A homogeneous pipeline is sometimes the result of just considering active prospects and staff referrals. According to studies, current employees are more likely to refer persons who are demographically similar to themselves.
It boosts your company's image.
A company's reputation as a place to work is its employer brand. Talent sourcing plays a significant part in creating this brand. When your firm exhibits interest in applicants and keeps them informed about vacant positions, initiatives, and product updates, these passive candidates grow more familiar with and trust the company.
Implementing Talent Sourcing Strategies
Let's go into specific techniques to ensure your talent sourcing is effective.
1. Create profiles of potential employees.
Define exactly what qualities you seek in a candidate. This covers the abilities needed for specific jobs and the characteristics that make someone a good match for the company's culture.
2. Increase the number of outlets through which you can find talent.
You can use popular networking and job-search sites like LinkedIn and Indeed to uncover great talent. Above these consider but other options exist. Consider where your ideal candidate is likely to spend their time or upload their resume or cover letter.
3. Find applicants for future positions.
Don't just look for people to fill unfilled positions. Instead, keep an eye on the firm's future and create a running list of positions you'd like to fill in the coming year.
4. Reengage and cultivate past applicant relationships.
You'll almost certainly come across more qualified prospects than you require when you're actively sourcing people. You might even interview them for open positions but hire someone else in the end. However, just because they weren't the best fit it doesn't imply they won't be for another.
5. Create a strong employer brand.
To use talent sourcing effectively to locate the top applicants, your organization must be the type of place where people want to work.
Components of Talent Sourcing
Planning & Strategy – guarantees business alignment, reviews personnel plans, necessitates knowledge of labour markets, and considers global factors.
Workforce Segmentation - necessitates a grasp of the various workforce segments and occupations within these segments and the relevant skills, abilities, and experiences required.
Employment branding refers to the efforts that help a company's image, organizational culture, key differentiators, reputation, and products and services to be discovered, articulated, and defined. Organizations can use employment branding to improve their market position, recruit quality candidates, and portray what it's like to work for them.
Candidate Audiences - involves defining and comprehending the audiences from whom an organization must source candidates for specific positions. Different sourcing tactics should be used depending on how well you understand the jobs and who will be filling them.
Building a great applicant experience, managing candidate communities, and sustaining relationships with individuals who were not chosen are all part of candidate relationship management.
Metrics & Analytics - is the continual recording and application of key metrics to create continuous improvement and better recruitment decisions, ultimately improving hire quality.
There are numerous sub-activities and best practices within each of these key areas of talent sourcing. Additionally, as part of a company's talent sourcing strategy, it is vital to concentrate on tools, technology, and outsourcing partners.
What does a Talent Specialist do?
A company's Talent Acquisition Specialist is in charge of sourcing, attracting, interviewing, employing, and onboarding new personnel. They consider an organization's long-term goals and recognize that people play a critical role in a company's future success.
In addition, the Talent Acquisition Specialist is in charge of ensuring that current employees are happy in their jobs and marketing a company's brand through recruitment campaigns. The Talent Acquisition Specialists' organizational goal is to discover the best candidate for the job.
Talent acquisition professionals, often known as HR recruiters, are in charge of the hiring process at businesses and institutions. Consultation with hiring managers on recruiting needs, development of recruitment selection criteria, and seeking qualified applicants through several channels are among their responsibilities. It's also possible that they'll be obliged to attend job fairs.
- Coordinating with hiring managers to determine staffing needs is one of the responsibilities of a Talent Acquisition Specialist.
- Choosing criterion for selection.
- Using online channels to find potential candidates (e.g. social platforms and professional networks.)
- Plan interview and selection methods, such as phone screenings, evaluations, and face-to-face interviews.
- Use of Applicant Tracking System to evaluate candidate information such as resumes and contact information.
- Create job descriptions and interview questions that reflect the requirements of each role.
- Initiate workplace branding campaigns.
- Organize job fairs and recruitment activities and attend them.
- Forecast employment needs by the department on a quarterly and annual basis.
What is sourcing in Recruitment?
Sourcing aims to search and identify candidates who fit a specified profile. It's more than merely searching the CV database for a certain résumé or looking through the applications received in response to a job posting. That is what most recruiters do. On the other hand, a sourcing specialist would go out of their way to find qualified passive candidates by generating interest in an open position and persuading candidates to apply. To help extend the search, a sourcing specialist uses a variety of tactics and approaches, such as social media or Google.
Sourcing is usually done by an HR professional as part of the recruiting process. Sourcing can identify candidates who are not actively looking for work (passive job searchers) or candidates who are actively looking for work (active job seekers).
Job boards, social media sites, corporate alumni associations, and networking can help you find both passive and active job seekers.
Sourcing or proactively seeking out fresh job prospects using résumé databases, membership directories, and online communities, including social media, is critical in this sourcing process. Sourcing has always added to recruiting and hiring in ways that reactive hiring approaches never could. It's being used more than ever before, with 62% of employers claiming that sourcing is the most important activity in people management today.
Incorporating sourcing into your online recruitment and hiring activities will drastically improve your results. What are your main concerns if you're thinking about sourcing but are hesitant?
The most effective talent-sourcing teams can maintain a consistent stream of high-quality potential applicants who are interested in working for your company. You can maximize the usability and benefit of your talent sourcing operation by having a clear sourcing process in place, following best practices, and regularly revising your approach.