How to Excel at Talent Sourcing

Jonathan Kidder

9 years ago

Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to connect with many experienced talent sourcers. They have imparted valuable advice and strategies for identifying top candidates. What I find particularly interesting is that many sourcers are happy to share their knowledge and expertise with others. I always encourage newer sourcers to be open to learning from others and to actively share their own skills and insights with their peers.

Being an effective Sourcer takes time you cannot master everything in a few months or even a year. You need to take chances and sometimes fail. That’s how successful Sourcers grow in their careers. The daily grind of sourcing and recruiting can sometimes wear you down. It’s about being positive, knowing your limits, and setting daily goals!

Learning more about talent sourcing is important for recruiters because it helps them to:

Increase candidate pool: Sourcing helps recruiters to expand the pool of potential candidates, which is particularly important in highly competitive industries or for hard-to-fill positions.

Find passive candidates: Sourcing can help recruiters find passive candidates who may not be actively looking for a job but could be interested in a new opportunity.

Improve time-to-hire: Sourcing enables recruiters to quickly and efficiently identify and engage with potential candidates, reducing the time it takes to fill an open position.

Enhance brand reputation: Sourcing allows recruiters to connect with potential candidates and promote the company’s brand, making it easier to attract top talent in the future.

Stay ahead of the competition: Talent sourcing requires staying up-to-date with the latest sourcing techniques and tools, which helps recruiters stay ahead of the competition and provide their organization with a competitive advantage.

Here’s some ways to become a “Wizard” at Talent Sourcing:

1. Boolean Strings

Lately the trend has been to “bash” Boolean sourcing. Many people in the sourcing community have been disowning Boolean altogether. They claim it no longer matters and that the real sourcing is all about contacting and engaging candidates. I’ve heard people declaring Boolean the calligraphy of the recruiting field. I don’t see advanced Boolean ever going away. Basic Boolean might – you now can generate many basics strings with Recruitin.net and Social Talent tools. Long advanced strings can really turn an average Sourcer into a master. It’s all about getting creative and looking outside the box– not relying on resume database sites. In summary, I feel in order to master sourcing you must master Boolean.

2. Effective Messaging Outreach

If you have a computer and phone, you can be a recruiter. I’ve heard many senior level recruiters joke about this saying. We have a lot of green recruiters and Sourcers in the field. Anyone can say they are in staffing. Is there a real difference between the newbies and the pros? Of course! This can be seen in your inmails and emails. Believe it or not, candidates can spot spam! They can see how much effort you put into your messages. Taking the time to review and showcase that individual’s successes or other accomplishments can really make the difference. Don’t focus on the quantity of messages instead focus on your inmail response rate. Quality really defines success in the field. Don’t cut and paste templates. Value their time and give them gold.

3. Cold Calling

If it was easy, everyone would do it. When I first started in the field I got nervous cold calling candidates. I would over-think every detail. I was really too worried about getting a negative response, and went into the call shaky and too cold. I needed to focus on my pitch and put myself in their shoes. Most talent is actively being recruited all the time, so make sure your pitch and follow through approach is solid. You need to memorize the EVP and value adds for your company. Showcase the incentives: salary, career growth, benefits, company culture, etc. Once you have everything ready you’ll be able to flow through a screening smoothly. Before you know it, those cold calls will become second nature. I wrote about cold calling tips (here).

4. Candidate Experience

I feel this topic gets overlooked. Many contract agency and staffing firms don’t take the time to create a good candidate experience. The stakes are high with lots of jobs to fill and it can easily get lost in the mix. Being in constant communication throughout the entire full-cycle process is huge! Just being honest and direct with a candidate will do wonders. Also, after the position gets filled or closed – it’s always important to follow up the other candidates. Just sending them a simple thank you email letting them know that the position was filled shows that you value their time. The small things matter in the end. A poor candidate experience can be damaging and have a long lasting impact — people remember negative experiences.

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