Let’s start by saying candidate sourcing is not a quick LinkedIn search or providing the hiring manager with a list of candidates that might be a good fit for the job opening. Candidate sourcing is a specialized field within the recruitment process. It is an innovative recruitment solution that should be used when you are not able to fill the open positions with standard job board postings, or you are looking for in-demand or skilled personnel for your company.
Many recruiters erroneously equate candidate sourcing and recruitment. The fact is, however, that these two hiring processes are very different, but the overall end-goal to help the company acquire the best talent remains the same. If you need to remain competitive in the job market or you want to lower hiring cost and time-to-hire rates while increasing overall recruitment ROI it is important that you understand the distinct difference between candidate sourcing and recruitment.
What is the difference between candidate sourcing and recruitment?
Sourcing and recruitment are very different HR processes – they use different strategies, set different KPI’s, and most importantly, they both require different skills and practices. A true sourcer focuses on building a continuous talent pipeline by researching the industry, understanding candidate behavior and cultivating relationships with prospective candidates. A recruiter, on the other hand, focuses primarily on filling open positions and handles the entire end-to-end process of recruitment.
Transactional Sourcing vs. Strategic Sourcing in Recruitment
The role of sourcing in many modern-day recruitment strategies is often misunderstood and therefore undervalued. Many employers rely solely on transactional sourcing, where they only seek prospective candidates when a specific position becomes available. Success for transactional sourcing is measured in the same manner as a full-cycle recruiter, by the number of hires.
Strategic sourcing works to build a pipeline of top talent candidates, whether there is a current opening or not. This strategy focuses on candidate engagement and fostering relationships with prospective candidates. Success for strategic sourcing is measured not by the number of prospective candidates, but rather the quality of the candidate source, pipeline speed, and conversation rates.
How to manage Candidate Sourcers to capture their full potential
A major obstacle facing employers is that few people in HR understand how to manage sourcing effectively so that it makes a positive impact by lowering hiring costs and reducing the time-to-hire. Focusing on metrics alone, however, isn’t going to cut it.
Sourcing specialists have a lot of similarities with digital marketers, except instead of engaging with customers, they must cultivate and build relationships with prospective candidates. Sourcing is at the front-end of the recruitment process, which means you must look at the entire job-market framework, including generational marketing elements, technology needed, and current and past candidate behavior for it to work effectively.
When creating a dedicated role of sourcer within your recruitment team, you need to:
1. Set Goals and Outcomes
It is vital that you understand the distinct difference between sourcing and recruitment and set both goals and outcomes appropriately.
2. Develop Transitional Sourcing Process
It is important to develop a sourcing process that allows your HR team to transition from a transactional sourcing strategy to a strategic sourcing strategy.
3. Measure Effectiveness
Determine what metrics you will use to measure the success of your sourcing techniques, and create solid analytics and sourcing testing strategy that enables you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your sourcing strategies.
4. Use Candidate Research
Do not forget the importance of using candidate research to enhance your sourcing strategies. This valuable research can help build candidate personas and create an effective outreach campaign.
5. Document Recruitment Campaign
Documenting your recruitment campaign will help you review the success of your recruitment marketing efforts and specific sourcer and to identify areas that may need to be adjusted.
HR and recruitment teams must come to understand the distinct difference between sourcing and recruitment if they hope to attract and identify top talent candidates in today’s highly competitive job market. Learn more about how smart sourcing solutions can help build a dynamic strategy to improve your overall hiring strategies by contacting Tulsie today.
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