Candidate Sourcing Strategies for Everyone

A good candidate sourcing model depends on a few key factors.  If done correctly, organizations can decrease their dependency on job boards and third-party recruiting firms to generate candidate flow.  The following tips should help you determine first if you have the resources in place to run a successful candidate sourcing program, or whether it makes more sense to outsource this function to a reputable candidate sourcing company.

Make sourcing everyone’s job

Whether or not you have the benefit of an in-house recruiter or a full recruiting team, every member of your organization, no matter what their job function, should be engaged in candidate sourcing.  Employee referral programs have come a long way; if you don’t already have a program in place, invest in one of the employee referral platforms available on the market, which will provide messaging, awareness and tracking of your program for all participants.

Dedicate someone to triage 

As you develop a sourcing model, the candidate pipeline will begin to grow, so you’ll want to make sure the right candidates are getting to the right people at the right time.  Having a dedicate resource available to review each incoming candidate and determine where the resume goes can be the difference between getting a role filled quickly with the best person, or leaving a headcount open far too long.

Invest in tools

There are any number of great sourcing tools that take advantage of the readily available profiles of passive job seekers all over the web.  LinkedIn Recruiter is the hundred pound gorilla: it’s reach and ease of use make it the leader in this space.  It won’t be cheap, and you’ll have to learn how to tune it, but with the right resource in place to guide your adoption, it can be one of the best investments you ever make in your recruiting process (we can also train your team on how to use it effectively).

Track everything!

If you don’t already have an ATS in place, don’t fret – there are plenty of $100/month options out there.  A good ATS will not only help you visualize the overall success of your sourcing efforts, but will give you a historical record of everything your team does, one that will come in handy in six months, a year, five or ten years down the line.  Sure, it can be a bit overwhelming having to learn how to use yet another online system, but you’ll be glad you did when you’ve got a database with thousands of candidates you can market and re-market to over time.

There are an infinite numbers of ways to increase your sourcing footprint once you’ve got a good foundation, but getting it right at the top will save you time and headaches down the line.