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The Value of Direct Sourcing
While direct sourcing certainly isn’t a new practice in talent acquisition, it is rapidly becoming more popular, especially for contingent talent recruiting. In a recent Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) survey, 60% of contingent program leaders said they planned to implement direct sourcing within the next two years, more than any other workforce strategy.
In addition to giving you more ownership of talent identification processes, direct sourcing helps to lower hiring costs. It enables you to engage prospective workers directly, so you can avoid costly search retainers and other fees.
Direct sourcing also simplifies candidate communications, which can help you achieve a shorter time to hire. This is particularly useful when engaging contingent talent. External workers sourced through your private talent pool are likely to be familiar with your company, allowing you to skip the exploratory discussions and get to the contract stage quicker.
Direct Sourcing Best Practices
Direct sourcing is an attractive option when you want to engage more skilled talent in an increasingly competitive job market, no matter your industry, size, or location. Here are four best practices to help you get started:
1. Refine Your Employer Brand
Before you can source in-demand talent effectively, you’ll need a compelling brand that showcases your company culture, values, and people. A strong brand not only helps you build awareness among candidates; it also makes you an attractive option compared to other companies seeking talent. To set the stage for direct sourcing success, take actions like reviewing your career page content, updating your Glassdoor profile and monitoring feedback, and telling engaging employee stories on social media.
2. Leverage your existing network
Recruiting individuals already known to you or your employees often takes much less effort, time, and money than sourcing from job boards and search firms. These candidates have some knowledge of your company and culture, and in some cases, you may also be familiar with their work and capabilities. Examples include:
- Individuals recommended by employees through your employee referral program
- Candidates sourced from networking sessions and industry events
- Former employees and interns
- “Silver medalist” candidates who were narrowly unsuccessful in previous recruitment rounds
3. Use the right technology
The ultimate goal of direct sourcing is to build a diverse pool of available and qualified workers to fill your hiring needs. However, since individuals vary in their capabilities and fit for specific roles, you’ll need more than spreadsheets or an applicant tracking system (ATS) to keep your hiring process organized and efficient. Instead, you can bring all of your direct-sourced candidates together in a single, easy-to-use platform. As a result, you’ll have more visibility into who’s qualified and available for work, and you can make better-informed hiring decisions.
An end-to-end direct sourcing platform allows you to:
- Create job briefs and view candidate profiles
- Share jobs across all of your direct sourcing channels, including job boards, specialized marketplaces, pre-identified candidates, and even staffing agencies
- Search and filter candidates by parameters such as specialized skills, location, and freelance rate
- Communicate via in-platform messaging
4. Monitor your success with metrics
Measuring the ROI of direct sourcing can deliver insights about which candidate sources are most effective and where you can improve the hiring process. Metrics that will help you gauge your progress include time to fill, spending by source, and cost per referral.
Source Top Talent Easier
Whether you’re just getting started with direct sourcing or you’ve tried it with limited success, consider how a comprehensive direct sourcing solution can help you manage candidates, hire faster, and save money on staffing fees. To learn more, discover the Worksome Direct Sourcing platform and book a free demo today!