5 Recruitment Sourcing Strategies You Need to Try

The cost of hiring the wrong person for the job is insurmountable, not only in dollars but in culture. According to an SHRM report, the average cost of finding and hiring a new employee is around $4,129. Furthermore, the average time it takes to fill a specified position is 42 days. What if that new employee doesn't end up working out? That's right, you are out 30 percent of their first-year salary. This is where recruitment sourcing strategies are crucial in lowering the risk of hiring the wrong person.

There is a lot at stake when a company or agency fills a position. Every individual that is hired, is a piece of the organization's jigsaw puzzle. You can avoid bad hires by taking the time to develop recruitment sourcing strategies that help you find the perfect fit at a fraction of the average time and cost of hiring.  Difference between Sourcing and Recruiting Many people consider sourcing and recruiting to be synonymous, but they are very different. Recruiting is the end-to-end process of acquiring new hires, including posting jobs to checking successful candidate's resumes, and finding referrals. It also includes arranging job interviews for shortlisted candidates and converting candidates to employees. Sourcing, on the other hand, is the act of going out to find top talent for the position. It consists of searching for, identifying, and reaching out to specific candidates that may not be applying for jobs. For instance, a person who has the qualities you're looking for could be working for another company. As a talent sourcer, it is your job to engage with that candidate and give them the details about the position you think they would be a good match for.

Top Five Recruitment Sourcing Strategies

Whether you're a recruiter or a talent sourcer, the objective is to fill open roles with A players who possess the highest potential to succeed in the role. Equip those A-players with the right technology and the best recruitment sourcing strategies, and you are on your way to optimizing your workflow, lowering your hiring costs, and decreasing time to hire. Here are the top five recruitment sourcing strategies that will boost your odds of landing the perfect hire:

1. Get Familiar with Boolean Search

Boolean search is not a modern concept. It's probably something you regularly use, even without realizing it. In case you're wondering, Boolean search is a structured search process that allows you to insert certain words and symbols to broaden, limit, and define the search results. Examples of terms (also referred to as operators) you can use include:

• AND: You use this operator to include at least two criteria in your search results. For instance, when you input a Manager and Recruitment search, you're requesting the products with both Manager and Recruitment.
• OR: You use this operator to request multiple entries in your search results. For instance, you can input a search for Manager OR Advisor OR Agent.
• NOT: You use this operator to exclude certain terms from your search results. For instance, (Manager AND Recruitment) NOT Consultant.
• Besides the above three operators, you can also use quotation marks (") to search for an exact phrase, an asterisk (*) to widen your search, and brackets () to give the word or phrases inside the brackets priority over other terms.
• By getting familiar with Boolean search, you can perform searches that would otherwise seem impossible. For instance, you can narrow down the pool of candidates you're presented with by explicitly searching for what is required in that role. When you have thousands of resumes to peruse through, the Boolean search can save you a considerable amount of time, providing you with more targeted and relevant results.

2. Optimize your Online Presence

• A strong brand doesn't just help a company attract and keep customers - it also helps attract and retain top talent. A 2018 survey revealed 70 percent of job seekers research a companies online reputation before applying for a role. More than 50% of the respondents said they wouldn't apply to any company without an online presence.
• The best way to create a strong online presence is to make sure that your client's company website is SEO optimized and is driving traffic. For instance, you should ensure that your company pages are filled out, using the right keywords and phrases. Using the relevant keywords in your careers page's content will increase the odds of matching the keywords that potential candidates use when searching for their next professional challenge.
• Another way of boosting your online presence is to make sure you are continually posting content on your website, and all of your social media pages. New content and engaging your followers show your potential candidates that your business is active.
• There is nothing more powerful than customer testimonials and reviews. Favorable reviews and recommendations have the power to influence potential candidates' perceptions of your company. To be effective on social media and strengthen your brand, you should ensure your social media platforms are up-to-date and active.

3. Create Candidate Personas for Different Roles

When sourcing for candidates, you have to ask yourself - what does the ideal candidate looks like? What persona will fit the position you intend to fill? Without a clear picture of a perfect candidate, how can you know who is a good match?To make your work easier, you need to create candidate personas for roles and build talent pools. You can create a candidate persona by outlining the unique traits that make up your ideal candidate.

4. Ensure your Outreach Message is Spot On with all of your recruitment sourcing strategies.

Research indicates that 85 percent of recruiters depend on email as their preferred channel of communication. If you're using email to contact potential candidates, you will need to know how to craft the perfect message. The first sure-fire way to ensure your outreach messages are spot is to write your message to the target audience's interest and get them hooked in to learn more. Structure your outreach message as follows:

• State who you are and position the role you're advertising enticingly.
• State how you found the candidate and why you're contacting them.
• Communicate that the outreach message is about the candidate's interests, not yours.
• Call the candidate to action, i.e... You can request them to ask for a quick 10-minute call or inform you if they aren't interested.
• Be sure to include a link to your company culture page, social media profile, blog, etc.
• Follow up on unanswered messages.
• If you take the time to craft authentic outreach messages for each candidate and follow the above steps, your recruitment outreach will most likely yield a far better response rate.

These messaging tips can be applied to all of your different channels of communication - the most effective way to get in touch with someone is through an omnichannel approach through a combination of emails, calls, voicemails, and text messages. The guidelines above are a good reference for all of your messaging.

5. Source Through Your Current Database ATS and Recruitment CRM

• Over the years, large organizations compile thousands of resumes in their databases. To increase data accessibility, companies are increasingly using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to house their candidate databases.
• ATS can be a handy tool when you are in the race to find the perfect fit candidate. It helps you parse through applications more easily and in some cases - it allows you to automate more of the mundane tasks.
• If you're in search of a reliable ATS that will enable you to manage your entire lifecycle from one recruitment platform, you should look no further than Loxo. This is an AI-enabled tool that has all the features you need to source candidates.

Closing Thoughts

Recruiting is a crucial aspect of growing an organization and maintaining one. Keeping candidate data organized and easily sorted ensures that your recruiters don't get overwhelmed. Using the right tools to source, place, and engage candidates will enable your team to be successful. If your client has a ton of job openings, use recruiting and applicant tracking software to streamlining your process. Luckily, Loxo has various software solutions that can enable you to automate your outreach and be 500% more efficient. For more best practices on recruitment sourcing strategies, check out our website or our sourcing webinar.