Automated Sourcing: Create a Talent Pool Before You Need One

Employees are the heart of every organization, and that is one of the reasons why finding the right talent is a vital function of Human Resources professionals everywhere. With that in mind, how does a company ensure that they have built relationships with talent before they have the right talent when they need them?

Traditional Candidate Sourcing vs. Automated Candidate Sourcing

Traditional candidate sourcing mainly includes posting to various job sites, printed media, local employment offices, and organizing job fairs. Only those candidates who’ve seen the job postings or attended the events are those that are considered. Although not the best approach, this limited-reach approach is the standard, especially considering all the online and mobile advances made over the past years.

With the evolution of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets and social networks, employers can now more easily get in touch with the talent they need and, at the same, time, create a CRM of those contacts. With this approach, both parties win; the employer gets access to a proprietary database of candidates, and job seekers stand a better chance of getting noticed by employers they care about.

Improving The Candidate Sourcing Process with Automation

So how can companies improve their candidate sourcing and smartly locate the best applicants? The answer is closely related to how business development departments work today – through constant ‘lead’ generation, automated relationship building, and a customer relationship management system (CRM). HR departments can successfully implement this approach by sourcing from specific online talent pools, targeted candidate acquisition, filtering and meta-tagging applications, and constant follow-up with the talent pool members.

The following are some effective approaches that organizations could implement to maximize their reach into pockets of identified key prospects:

Leveraging a powerful Recruiting CRM (or modern applicant tracking system) is essential in ensuring the candidate relationship management process is done right and that companies do not waste time and money on the wrong talent.
Leverage effective sourcing strategies to fill the talent pool, including the use of social media, participating in online communities, job postings, job fairs, referrals, building content for job seekers, and having an easy-to-navigate career site.
Having a CRM approach to talent pool and candidate management will differentiate employers from their competition. This will enable them to communicate at the correct time with candidates who are being considered.
Create detailed metrics on which candidates are active in your talent pool, find out why some have dropped off, and ensure that all communication is done through a centralized platform.
Send content and new jobs to the candidates that actively engage with the CRM by tracking the viewing and browsing habits of the candidates on your site and sending the appropriate content, including relevant jobs fitting their skill set.
Asking for referrals from the talent pool. When a job comes up matching the skill set of a candidate in the database, asking the matching candidates for a referral, through email or SMS, can yield new ‘hidden’ candidates.

To conclude, traditional candidate sourcing strategies are no longer effective in today’s fast-paced world. With the advent of new technologies available online and mobile, companies now have more opportunities than ever before to reach out to their desired candidates quickly and in an automated way.

By leveraging these tactics, employers can build a talent pool before they need it. Additionally, HR departments and recruiters can more affordably fill positions, lowering costs from the average of $4,400 per fill or greater.