Why and how sourcing can be your secret to hiring success

It is without doubt an incredibly competitive recruitment landscape. One that requires new, different, and proactive strategies to attract top talent. This means HR and talent acquisition functions have to be on their game to get the needed talent results. Rather than relying on inbound applications and spray-and-pray outreach tactics, best-in-class organizations are building a sourcing function that allows for personalization and relationship-building at scale.

To understand how to pivot towards this sourcing-inclusive model of recruitment, and where efficiency and technology play their role, Kate Graham, Head of Content Labs and Insights at UNLEASH is joined by Wesley Gilbert, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at On, and Paul Lesser, Former SVP Human Resources at Fidelity and Ellen Protsyk, Senior Manager Technical Recruiting at Warby Parker to shed light on how to implement a sourcing model, what different mechanisms it needs, and what skillsets it relies upon.

Sourcing should be a part of any recruiting organization. 

Ellen Protsyk, Senior Manager Technical Recruiting, Warby Parker

Watch on-demand to:

● Understand the holistic benefits that sourcing can bring, such as better diversity and quality of candidates.
● Get the inside track on how to build sourcing capability in your recruitment team even if you are resource-lite.
● Learn what good sourcing practice looks like.

IS HR getting the most out of sourcing?

Most in recruitment will know that sourcing used to be considered, solely, a driver of applicant volume, pipeline, and trainee level hires. Yet, as Gilbert described on the webinar, many more companies are now beginning to view the mechanics of sourcing more holistically: using it more creatively to build better long-term relationships, become more reactive, underpin a move towards predictive hiring, better understand succession needs, and stand out in a competitive market.

In practice, Protsyk agrees: this is how her firm uses sourcing. She added that it is also used to get the quality of hire that Warby Parker needs, as in-bound applications don’t always deliver this. Something those who oversee hiring likely know only too well. However, with most teams under-resourced and hit by capacity issues, sourcing isn’t just a sole role yet; it is something that all recruitment teams are doing which means it is a capability that many in this part of HR need to grow.

For Lesser, sourcing, as a way to deliver better hires and create a more strategic recruitment function, could be improved even further if teams understood what roles it is that need this hiring approach to be filled successfully. It is also a practice of recruitment that needs new recruiting skills. As Lesser explained in the webinar, it needs recruiters that are good active listeners, to better understand the candidate, and also recruiters who understand their candidate’s language and the direction of their business, too.

Understanding this can help HR build the business case for getting a sourcing capability within their function; helping to communicate that, in this market, the best hires need someone who can spend the time with them and build a relationship that could beget an excellent hire.

The “On” approach to sourcing and recruitment

Although most in recruitment, talent acquisition, and HR experience have to operate under strict budget and resource constraints, On’s Gilbert explained that his approach to sourcing at On is to split out the constituent parts of the process amongst different individuals. He said it’s best to have the different elements owned by the coordinator, the sourcer, the hiring manager, and the recruiter; it’s something that can improve the candidate experience, the quality of the assessment, and the quality of the potential hire.

Here, he explained, intentionality is important and that a focus on the candidate ensures they do not feel like they’re being passed around, either. Of course, as Gilbert intimated, this is a process that also requires careful individual and culture management so different people within it feel like they are adding the right kind of value and not losing ownership over parts of the process. It needs to feel like a partnership, he added, with different members of the team feeling like they’re adding to a community and wins being shared.

Splitting out the process, he also added, can also improve other recruitment channels too, with learnings from sourcing being applied to hiring team management, in-bound recruitment, and market intelligence tasks. It can also help improve diversity, too.

For those who think “It sounds great but I just don’t have the resource to do this just yet” Gilbert shared lessons from his early days at On, whereby they created a culture of sourcing rather than specific sourcing roles, looking at ensuring they built quality and diverse sourcing activities into their day jobs, shared between many. This involved creating targets for sourcing and lowering the recruitment load to pivot toward a sourcing model.

So, what makes a good sourcer?

The webinar discussion then focussed on what skill set and capabilities might make a good fit for a role that is increasingly seen as being able to deliver high-value talent effectively.

Firstly, someone who could understand their role within a wider, partnership process was seen as a good facet. Of course, this goes two ways: managing the role like this, rather than as someone who competed against others, was also seen as positive. However, this can be a challenge, added Lesser, and needs someone who can adapt to different scenarios, and is able to advocate for the candidate, the business, and the other members of the recruitment team, too. It also needs someone who can manage egos and can deliver the right kind of handoffs and communicate and relationship-manage effectively.

Of course, they cannot do this in a silo. They need to be adequately supported by managers and understand what good looks like, with proper checks and balances. They also need to be supported by a team who understands that sourcing is no mere auxiliary function.

Where does technology play a role in sourcing?

In HR there can sometimes be a tendency to consider technology a kind of cure-all to a problem. With sourcing, particularly, that can’t always be the case. As Lesser explained, if the technology in this area isn’t implemented correctly, it just won’t work. Therefore, the configuration and implementation stage of the technology needs a recruiter at this stage so it works for them.

Products that can help with automation, free up time for sourcing, and deliver pipeline analytics and workflow management can also be useful. In addition, anything that can help show ROI to business leaders will also be a boon and, crucially, help recruitment teams make better arguments for this kind of recruitment practice.