Glossary > Sourcing
What is Sourcing in Recruiting?
Sourcing is a strategy that falls under the Talent Acquisition umbrella. It involves recruiters proactively finding, engaging, and ultimately hiring candidates that they think would fit the company and the role. Sourcing can be a tool of recruitment marketing with the goal of hiring for a specific role or even expanding a talent network.
What is the Process of Sourcing?
When you decide to find employees or contacts through sourcing, it’s helpful to determine a process that works for your organization. Below is a typical example of a sourcing process used in recruiting.
- Identify recruiting needs and sourcing goal – Ask yourself who will you be targeting and what you are looking for. What is the goal of sourcing for this role?
- Use channels that will reach your audience – Use data to decide where these goal candidates will be best reached. Do they respond best to text messaging? LinkedIn posts? What about social networking? Target your audience through the channels that they care about.
- Targeted messaging – Once you’ve picked out your audience and how you will reach them, it’s time to contact them. Engage candidates through content, conversation, and intelligent messaging to show them a strong employer brand. Build relationships with candidates to expand your talent pipeline and keep leads warm for future roles.
- Invite to Apply – After sourcing the right candidates for a role, keep engaging! Decide on the right candidates for a role and invite them to apply for it. This is a great time to utilize automated messaging to pre-screen and send mobile apply links to many candidates at once.
- Hire – Guide sourced candidates through the screening and interview process to help with any questions or concerns. Once the team has decided on a candidate, it’s time to hire them!
- Keep Engaging – While you may engage with several candidates in your pipeline about a role, you’ll likely only be hiring one or two of them. What do you do with the rest? Keep them engaged! Use messaging campaigns to keep contact with your talent network and maintain their interest in working for your company. When the right role opens, be sure they’re first in line!
What is a Sourcing Tool?
Sourcing tools are useful for recruiters looking to make sourcing a significant part of their strategy. A sourcing tool offers integration with talent databases and job boards to manage contact information and interaction with candidates. Sourcing tools should offer time savings through automation and technology.
More on Sourcing
Looking to learn more about sourcing the right candidates for open positions? Read below for information on sourcing strategies and tools. Stay up to date on the latest in HR Tech with our blog and resource library!