What are Recruitment Sourcing Strategies?
Recruitment sourcing strategies are the methods which normally used by hiring mangers or HR professionals to find the qualified candidates for the open positions for their in-house team or for their client. Different HR professionals use different hiring and evaluate process as per the company's rules and policies. Recruitment strategies help them to find the candidates who fits best to their requirements. The strategies for finding the top talent may vary and involve multiple ways. Recruitment sourcing strategies are the ways to reach the active or passive candidates. Learn more about the difference between Product-based Company and Service-based Company and its recruitment process.
Below are some of the factors that can be considered while choosing the right recruitment sourcing strategies for the company:
- Number of job openings
- Requirement of the company
- Number of candidates per job opening
- The past success ratio of existing method
- Types of duties and responsibilities of the job role
Why are Recruitment Sourcing Strategies important?
It's important to have an established recruitment sourcing strategies for every company because it can help you attract quality candidates for your pen roles. It can also help you find and target potential employees who match the company's culture. Hiring the right candidate for the company can drastically increase the overall work environment. Established recruitment strategies also help in reducing the time to hire and may encourage employees to stay with the company longer, ultimately increasing the retention rates.
A well defined sourcing strategy also strengthens your engagement with candidates during the hiring process. This engagement can lead to a more enjoyable job search experience for both you and the candidates. When candidates' experience is good through out the hiring process then they may feel excited to accept the potential job opportunities or apply for other open positions in the future. They may also refer the company to others, who may be eager to apply who can be a good fit and potential employee for your organization. Learn more about the different types of services offered by Staffing Agency.
Effective Recruitment Sourcing Strategies
Most hiring managers or HR professionals use multiple recruitment sourcing strategies depending on the open positions and how hard that position is to fill. Here are some common sourcing strategies for you to try:
Create Candidate Personas - As you develop sourcing strategies, review the role's requirements and preferences carefully and then build candidate personas for each position. Candidate personas are fictional people with real characteristics, capabilities and skills you're seeking in ideal candidates. You can use these candidate personas as references when sourcing candidates and locating ones who seem like a good match based on their qualifications and traits.
Use Social Media - Try to use different social media platform rather just depending on just one. Try using different job boards available within the particular country you are hiring for. LinkedIn could be a good solution to hire to hire the best fit with its different versions like LinkedIn Recruiter Lite and LinkedIn Premium which provides you advance searches, job posting and In mails like important features. You can use Google search as well to fin the right candidates in a unique way and also other social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. You may also join different groups on different social media to reach to the right candidates.
Attend In-person Events - While online recruitment channels are a great way to find qualified candidates, you can extend your talent pool even further by recruiting candidates in person. Attend different events like job fairs, industry conferences or seminars to find potential employees with the skills and abilities you're seeking for your organization. Learn if they're searching for a new opportunity and ask for their contact information so you can follow up with a phone call or email to provide more details about the role.
Implement an Employee Referral Program - Since your employees may have served in similar positions or industries or may have worked with the person who has the skills required for the role, they may have strong connections with them who could be a great fit for the role. Implement an employee referral program that rewards current employees when you hire someone they've recommended. These rewards are often financial and result in bonuses for the current employee. Employee referral programs usually bring in impressive candidates because they're people who your employees may have worked with before. A referral program can help you feel confident the candidate can perform well in the role and align with the company culture.
Craft Engaging Outreach Messages - Crafting well-written personal messages for candidates is a great way to attract, engage and entice them to learn more about the role and the company. Create a subject line to interest potential candidates, which can motivate them to open your message. Include relevant information in the message that why their profile impressed you. You can provide them a brief information about the role and the organization.
Build the Company's Brand - If you create and maintain a positive brand image and reputation, then more candidate may be eager to apply for open positions and respond to outreach messages. Build company's reputation by ensuring it has consistently strong reviews on social media and hiring websites. If you notice any negative reviews on any platform, respond to those on behalf of the company to tell reviewers you appreciate their feedback and the company is working to resolve the issue. Encourage current employees to share their positive experiences to let others know it's a great place to work.
Consider Candidates within the Organization - There may be some positions that could be well suited for employees working in the organization. Review the qualifications and skills of the current employees and ask others departments if they have anyone in the team would could be a good fit for the role. Promoting internal employees help company in creating positive environment within as it gives opportunity to employees for growth or career change and they are already familiar with the company culture so you will be able to close the open position within no time, less efforts and cost of training and on boarding.
Check Internal Database - Whenever you start working on any open position, it's important to start with checking the internal database. Consider here using applicant tracking system (ATS) or customer relationship management (CRM) where you find candidates who have applied in the past, who are already aware about the company, its brand value, culture and process experience. This also may help you fill the position in less time and cost.
Arrange Walk-in Drives / Campus Recruitment - Arranging Walk-in drives may help you attract more talent and also the fresh one, also campus recruitment may help you well hiring qualified graduates and allows you to promote your brand where in future also it can help you hire the right fit candidate for your needs. This again saves a lot of cost and time for the HR professionals.
Also, the recruitment sourcing strategies may vary from company to company. It may change from product based company to service based company to recruitment agencies. Learn more about What is RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)? Complete guide about RPO.