10 Candidate Sourcing Strategies to Find Top Talent

Recruiting top talent is crucial to your organisation’s future success. In this blog, find out the top 10 candidate sourcing strategies to uncover the best talent for your company.

1. Coordinate with the hiring manager

It is important to align the recruitment goals with the hiring manager right from the beginning of the sourcing process. Hold transparent kick-off meetings with the hiring manager to understand the job role and arrange the must-have qualifications adequately.

Create a synchronised list of different sourcing channels for effective candidate sourcing with the help of the hiring manager. Run some joint searches to discuss specific candidates and why they may or may not fit the job role.

Examine your talent pool to see if the specifications need to modify to get the best-fit candidates.

2.  Source candidates via ATS

An Applicant Tracking System is the first step in sourcing the right candidates for any job role. The more time you invest in the quality sourcing of candidates, the better your recruitment outcome will be.

It is essential to engage with the candidates in the right way and build your talent pool without overlooking their potential. This talent pool is your best resource at the time of recruitment. ATS is the best solution to build this talent pool.

3. Diversify your sourcing channels

Another important sourcing strategy is to source candidates from different sourcing channels. This will help you reach out to a wider group of active and passive candidates. Build your brand and improve the chances of finding the best fit candidate for the job role.

Though professional networks are your go-to resource for sourcing, and you may have found the best results in the past, it is also worthwhile to try different sourcing channels.

You may sometimes find the best-fit candidates on the less probable websites, and they may even be more responsive to your outreach activity on such channels.

4. Include offline sourcing methods

Online channels may be your go-to resource for sourcing and reaching out to talented job candidates in this digital age. However, you also need to include the traditional offline sourcing and recruiting methods to widen your bandwidth further and improve your chances of sourcing the best talent for your job positions.

Attend industry or job-specific events, conferences, or host meetups to invite active job seekers for your open job positions. It is always helpful to have face-to-face conversations and directly engage with the candidates as it can build your brand and boost engagement with the candidate.

5. Utilise employee referrals

Organisations can significantly boost their recruitment efforts by using the networks of their existing employees. Your employees are your best assets and your best brand builders. Use these resources to reach out to untapped talents. It helps to improve your conversion rates through employee referrals or outreach programs.

6. Source candidates in advance

While you source candidates for open job roles, you can also plan to source candidates for jobs that are will be open within a specified time. In this highly competitive job market, it is better to be proactive with your sourcing rather than wait for the job role to open.

This will help you create a talent pool and boost engagement. Analyse the business’s growth plan and then create a parallel workforce recruiting strategy that provides insights on the recruitment timeframes to sustain the cost model and vision of the company.

7. Optimise your outreach messages

A few tips to craft an effective outreach message include:

• The message should have an attention-grabbing subject line that persuades the candidate to open the message and read it.
• Personalise the message with appropriate information.
• Provide a brief overview of the job role and the company.
• Explain how the candidate may contribute to the company.
• Know your target audience. This helps to craft strong outreach messages with better message opening rates.

8. Create a credible employer brand

The brand of the company or employer could make the difference between the candidate opening and reading the message and responding to the outreach activity or ignoring the message altogether.

If the company has a negative brand perception, the candidate may not be interested in reading the message. Therefore, create a credible and reliable company brand so that more candidates respond to your sourcing activities.

9. Regular follow up

Follow-up is as important as your outreach activity. This allows you to analyse the mindset of the candidates and the reason behind their non-response. The candidate is often not aware of your outreach messages or sourcing activity. Therefore, it is best to do a follow up rather than make any assumptions.

10. Use right tools

Last but the most important part is to use the right HR tools for your sourcing activity. The traditional methods of spreadsheets and documentation may become difficult to manage as you move through the strategy. Using the right applicant tracking tools allows you to stay updated and effectively manage the sourcing process.

Keep sourcing fast, simple, and cost-effective with BetterPlace as your recruitment partner.