Today's trends might be history tomorrow. Where did sourcing come from?

Remember when posting a job ad would result in a flood of applications? Well, times have changed, and recruitment is evolving. The job market is becoming increasingly demanding, not just for candidates but also for recruiters. Regardless of a company's size, industry, or market trends, active talent acquisition (sourcing) is becoming an essential part of an effective recruitment strategy and a recruiter’s skillset.

Sourcing originated in the 1990s with the development of the first internet tools for searching candidate information. One of these was Boolean Search, allowing precise online database searches. Since then, sourcing has undergone a revolution. Have you ever heard of behavioural sourcing, which involves identifying candidates based on their online activity? :)

The rise of social media and recruitment platforms in the 21st century brought further changes. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have become valuable tools for reaching out to passive candidates, those not actively seeking work but open to new challenges. Technology is driving the growth of sourcing, making it increasingly necessary and widespread. Growing competition for top talent forces recruiters to adopt proactive and unconventional approaches, and sourcing is the answer to these challenges.

What is sourcing and what does it have in common with detective work?

Detective, hunter, seeker – these are just some phrases associated with sourcers. Why? Sourcing is nothing more than the active search and ultimate acquisition of candidates. It encompasses all activities aimed at attracting a person potentially interested in employment.

A sourcer’s work revolves around two activities: "searching" and "acquiring" a candidate. Only the combination of these two variables accurately defines sourcing and effectively supports traditional recruitment methods. It's also worth noting that both activities require different skills!

Candidate Search

You can conduct it traditionally, using essential keywords and phrases. Alternatively, you can employ a behavioural approach, analysing the online and offline behaviour of the targeted candidate. Behavioural sourcing allows us to find sources and contact methods with potential candidates, which can yield more accurate results.

Candidate Acquisition

The process of acquiring candidates is more than just making contact and presenting a job offer. This phase is where we try to persuade even those not actively seeking employment to consider our proposition.

All actions at this stage must be highly personalised and tailored to the other party’s needs. Remember, a strong personal brand of the sourcer = credibility and attractiveness to candidates. To build a strong brand and encourage candidates to respond to messages, it’s worth sharing knowledge and experiences through personal content publications (articles, blogs, podcasts). Don’t forget to participate in industry and networking events – they are an excellent opportunity to meet new people and extend your network.

A gold prospector is worth their weight in… gold. So why is sourcing so important?

Sourcing doesn’t end merely with acquiring candidates for a job, although it brings ample benefits! Let’s delve into why it’s worthwhile.

Firstly, active candidate acquisition allows you to reach hidden talents, whose existence you wouldn’t discover by simply reviewing applications submitted to job advertisements.

Sourcing is also an effective way of building a strong employer brand and an engaged candidate pool – as our outward actions involve direct contact with candidates, exchanging messages and building long-term relationships.

There is a fundamental difference between submitting an application through an ad (where interaction is limited to a website) and having a conversation with an interested individual. Even if the conversation doesn’t end with an offer, the candidate will remember us due to personal contact, leaving us with open doors for future recruitment processes.

From a business perspective, sourcing saves time and money. By profiling candidates and deciding whom to contact, we increase the accuracy of recruitment.

Remember! Sourcing is not a substitute for traditional recruitment methods. It complements them, not replaces them! However, sourcing can be a saviour when traditional methods and recruitment channels fail to close a process – whether facing an evident shortage of candidates with a particular profile or seeking a candidate with niche competencies.

How to tackle it? The 4 key stages of candidate sourcing.

Queries, algorithms, searches, hidden talents. Does it sound complicated and overwhelming? Nothing could be further from the truth! The sourcing process can be distilled into 4 key stages, starting with the recruitment need.

1. Identifying the recruitment need

The sourcing process begins with identifying the recruitment need. This may occur in response to specific vacancies or by anticipating future company needs.

2. Preparation for searching

Before starting the search for candidates, the sourcer must adequately prepare for the task. Understanding the recruitment need in-depth is crucial – knowing the specifics of the position, company expectations, the team, and the hiring manager. Next, the sourcer enters the labour market analysis phase: examining competitor offerings, market trends, and available candidate profiles. Finally, they select the appropriate sourcing tools and techniques suited to the job’s specifics and available sources.

During the preparation stage, creating a persona and test searching often occurs.

A sourcing persona is an abstract concept of who the potential candidate is and what motivates them – created based on data obtained during project preparation (hiring manager interviews, team discussions, expectation assessments). This approach allows us to look not only at available candidates but also at people we can interest in collaboration, even if they don't currently hold the sought position. For instance, it could be a manager we wish to propose returning to a specialist position.

Test searching involves conducting trial candidate searches to assess the effectiveness of specific search methods, identify which sources are most effective, and refine the timeline estimation for hiring. Test searching is also conducted to communicate to hiring managers the potential for hiring the desired person and to moderate expectations based on conducted tests.

3. Searching and contacting candidates

At this stage, the sourcer uses their knowledge and skills to reach potential candidates, gather them into a database, and initiate outgoing actions towards them. Then, we proceed to direct contact with candidates. It’s important that this contact is personalised and tailored to the profile. A well-crafted message can encourage the candidate to engage in further conversation and distinguish you from the competition.

Remember that personalisation is not about entering a name at the start of a message but referring to the candidate’s needs and potential motivation for change. By speaking about the candidate rather than oneself, you surpass the competition. Therefore, abandon the phrase: "I am looking for a person x who possesses skill y and competence z, are you interested?"

4. Candidate nurturing

Remember how we said the sourcing process doesn’t end with securing a hire? It’s good to conclude it with a strategy for maintaining a long-term relationship with potential candidates. Even if they’re not currently interested in changing jobs, it's worth nurturing the contact as they can become a valuable asset for the company in the future. These actions can include:

• Informing the candidate about current projects and opportunities within the company.

• Building relationships based on industry events.

• Sending personalised messages and content, such as sharing industry knowledge.

Boolean search and X-ray search. A few words on sourcing techniques.

Imagine searching for the perfect candidate for an opening. Traditional search methods involve skimming through CVs and profiles on recruitment sites, like looking for a needle in a haystack. But what about using a powerful x-ray that reveals hidden gems among candidates?

Boolean Search is a method of searching for information using logical operators like AND, OR, and NOT to combine words and phrases. This allows you to precisely define search criteria and refine or broaden results. This technique is used across various online environments, such as search engines (e.g., Google, Bing), social media (e.g., LinkedIn), and ATS systems (e.g., Recruitify).

Sounds complicated? Let’s look at a non-recruitment example involving books and films ;)

If you want to find books and films about space adventures, you might type: "space AND books AND films". The word "AND" tells the search engine we are interested in information containing the words "space," "books," and "films."

If you wish to find books only about space, excluding films, we can use the word "NOT." For instance: "space NOT films". This informs the search engine that we are not interested in films about space, just books.

Things to remember:

• The AND operator narrows results.

• The OR operator broadens results.

• The NOT operator excludes results.

X-Ray Search is a specialised form of Boolean Search. This technique enables discovering hidden data on web pages. To use X-ray search, you need to enter appropriate operators in the search engine and then add keywords or phrases directly after the operator.

An example?

To x-ray a chosen website, use the command “site:”. It signals the search engine that we are only interested in results from this specific site.

Suppose you are looking for information about your university. You might receive results from various sources, not necessarily from the site of the particular institution you’re interested in, so you decide to employ a more precise search.

To do this, you can use the command site: and provide the domain you want to search: site: https://us.edu.pl.

Among the basic queries for x-ray search are:

• The command intitle: is used for finding results containing a specific word or phrase in the title of a web page. For example, if you enter intitle: Hiring, the search engine will show results containing the word "Hiring" in the page title.

• The command inurl: is used for finding results containing a specific word or phrase in the URL of a web page. For example, if you enter inurl: looking-for-job, the search engine will display results with the phrase "looking-for-job" in the URL.

• The command filetype: is used for searching specific file types on websites. For example, if you enter filetype, the search engine will show only results containing PDF files.

Sourcing 2.0 with Recruitify.

Although ATS systems are a key tool in the recruitment process, they are rarely associated with candidate sourcing. That’s a mistake! See how the ATS system Recruitify can support sourcing.

• Boolean Search: Hunting for precise matches? With its Boolean Search function, the ATS Recruitify enables precise candidate searches by skills, keywords, and their activities in recruitment projects. Add filtering by CV information and candidate cards – your secret weapon in the battle for the best!

• X-Ray Search: Manual website searching? Forget it! With the advanced module built into the ATS system, Recruitify takes control of online searches on sites like LinkedIn, Google, Bing, and GitHub, freeing you from tedious tasks. Focus on key recruitment decisions while our technology finds the best candidates for you.

• Labels: We know how to help you find order in chaos. With Recruitify, organise candidate data and projects with intuitive labels. Quick searching and easy access to needed information – that’s the comfort you deserve!

• Qualifying questions: Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Time’s running out. Why waste it on candidates who don’t fit the profile? Use qualifying questions in Recruitify to swiftly sift out those who don’t meet key requirements.

• Communication history: Forget about nervously searching emails and notes! Recruitify integrates with your email and calendar, automatically saving the entire communication history with candidates.

• Talent pools: Create dynamic folders in which you gather candidates with selected competencies. Define search criteria and add candidates manually or let the system search and add them to the group automatically – the choice is yours!

Want to learn more about how the ATS system Recruitify can support your sourcing process? Use the contact form! or schedule a meeting with us in your calendar, don’t wait 😊