Every TA leader I know has thought—at least once during this crisis—that, “When the economy comes around, I will not have to work as hard to find candidates.” I have to disagree.

Even when the market is booming, literally no hiring organization has the time to wait for positions to be “red hot” before triggering a search for top talent to fill it. In that time, you’ve likely lost thousands of dollars, and the “A-level” talent is already scooped up, leaving you to settle for “B-level material” to fill that role.

Remember, with every company moving to fill their roles at once; the war for talent will be back on, and the talent market will be moving so fast, it will not be waiting around for you to catch up. 

That’s why now is the time you should be thinking about building out a sourcing strategy, focused on candidate experience and relationship management.  Implementing such a sourcing strategy allows you to pre-qualify individuals and begin initial conversations, so they get to know your company and your employer value proposition (EVP).  This approach moves them from cold leads to warm, so you have top candidates ready to fill open spots right away.

You Should ALWAYS Be Sourcing

Sourcing is a topic I am very passionate about. Imagine Blake, Alec Baldwin’s character in the classic movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, pushing the ABCs of recruiting by promoting the mantra “Always Be Sourcing!” (vs. “Always Be Closing!”)  It’s like that with me, because I believe Sourcing is one of the most valuable services an RPO can provide a hiring organization—in good economic times and bad. 

We know the most successful companies understand that building relationships with the right candidates today will help them hire better talent, faster, tomorrow. We’ve seen firsthand how sourcing and building talent/candidate pipelines help to reduce stress on internal recruiting teams, better and more strategically serve hiring managers, and, most important, attract quality candidates who fall in love with their brand.  

That is, if they do it right.

Where Most Companies Fail

Building a talent pipeline is more than having the right software in a place where you can dump 1,000’s of individuals into a database and never tend to them.  It’s also more than having individuals sign up for job alerts as a way to connect with you. 

Building a talent pipeline is about building a relationship with candidates and connecting with them beyond just “what’s in it” for the organization. By focusing your efforts to build a talent/candidate pipeline based on making deeper connections, you can cultivate a pipeline that is more engaged, manageable, and that can be activated when positions open. 

At Newton Talent, we use this candidate relationship management approach when building a pipeline for organizations through our PowerSourcing offering. And we do it for a very good reason. 

Connecting with potential candidates on a personal level allows you to truly focus on applicant quality. It can help recruiters understand which talent profiles have the skills, the potential, and cultural fit to take your company into the future, and it helps them make better decisions as to whom they should put in front of your hiring managers. 

It also builds trust in your brand. Taking the time to build a relationship is a commitment—much like the commitment you must make to grow your employees. And when you are intentional and authentically communicating with talent in your pipeline, treating them with respect and kindness, your brand earns their respect in turn – even if they never come to work for you.

Learn how PowerSourcing can provide a custom sourcing solution for your team.

Changing Your Sourcing Mindset has Tangible Results

When you’re putting effort into Sourcing using a candidate relationship mindset, your candidate options suddenly multiply, especially when a tough position opens. No longer do you have to wade through hundreds of applications in the hope that ten will make the shortlist. You’ll know ideal candidates right off the bat! 

Building relationships with individuals who are connected to you, rather than spending money to attract new candidates, can improve your return on investment, and impact retention long-term, as well. 

If you already have a sourcing team, there are a lot of ways they can interact with your candidates that can strengthen your brand and provide a very high return on your efforts, such as:

• One-on-one phone calls (Note: This doesn’t have to take long. A quick “check-in” works well.) 
• Skype or video-based meetings and group discussion sessions
• Personalized automated emails that are relevant to the individual and include news about your company 
• Creating a “tribe” through a private Facebook group or LinkedIn group page

Does this give a different meaning to the word Sourcing? Perhaps it should. Because, just like sales and business development, Sourcing should be an ongoing, relationship-building activity and designed to have an impact beyond the transactional nature of traditional recruiting. Regardless of the terms we use to describe it, viewing Sourcing as a proactive and relationship-driven approach to building talent pipelines is something all companies should be doing.  As Blake and I both would say, you should “Always Be Sourcing!”

If you want to learn how a sourcing model could work for your talent acquisition team, let’s talk!