In the competitive market of talent acquisition, the distinction between sourcing and recruiting is critical yet often misunderstood.
According to a LinkedIn Global Talent Trends report, 72% of recruiting leaders believe that sourcing candidates is a top priority, yet only 38% of hiring professionals feel they have mastered it.
This gap highlights the importance of differentiating between sourcing—the art of finding and attracting potential candidates—and recruiting, which involves engaging with those candidates and managing them through the hiring process.
Some more studies have shown that companies with dedicated sourcing teams can reduce their time-to-hire by up to 25%, thereby improving their ability to secure top talent in a competitive market.
While these terms are often used interchangeably, they represent different processes within the hiring lifecycle. Therefore, understanding the difference between these two functions is essential to creating a more effective hiring strategy and building a strong and talented workforce. Let’s get started.
What is Sourcing in Recruitment?
Recruitment sourcing is the process of finding qualified candidates who are not currently looking for a job but might be a good fit for the company.
According to LinkedIn research, only 36% of professionals are actively seeking new opportunities; however, a whopping 90% are open to hearing about new opportunities from recruiters.
Recruitment professionals use various methods to source qualified individuals, such as online databases, social media platforms, networking events, and industry-specific forums. This helps them build a pipeline of potential candidates who can be approached when relevant job opportunities arise.
What are the Sourcing Challenges Faced by Recruiters?
While candidate sourcing can be an effective recruitment strategy, recruiters often face several challenges in the sourcing process. These include:
Challenge #1: Low Volume and Quality of Applicants
According to a Glassdoor survey, 76% of hiring decision-makers say attracting quality candidates is their biggest challenge. This can be particularly challenging for niche industries with a limited talent pool.
Recruiters may receive fewer applicants due to ineffective job postings, poor employer branding, or a lack of awareness about the job opportunity. On the other hand, they may receive applications from low-quality candidates if the job description is vague or doesn’t specify the required skills and qualifications.
Challenge #2: Communication Barriers with Candidates
Despite having an extensive list of promising leads, recruiters can find it difficult to contact potential candidates. This may be due to candidates not responding to emails or phone calls or being bombarded with multiple offers, making it challenging for recruiters to connect and engage with them. This lack of communication can slow the hiring process, leading to missed opportunities with top talent.
Challenge #3: Intense Competition from Rival Companies
In today’s competitive job market, candidates often receive multiple offers, making it difficult for recruiters to capture their interest. Multiple companies constantly pursue the same pool of high-quality talent, pushing recruiters to act swiftly and strategically. To stand out, recruiters often have to offer attractive compensation packages and create compelling value propositions that resonate with candidates.
Challenge #4: Engaging Passive Candidates
Engaging passive candidates—those who are not actively seeking new opportunities—presents another challenge. A 2022 report by Workable revealed that 73% of potential candidates are passive job seekers. Despite this, they represent a valuable talent pool. For instance, in industries like finance and law, where top talent is often already employed, recruiters must develop innovative strategies to pique the interest of these candidates, such as personalised outreach or showcasing unique company benefits.
Challenge #5: Reducing Time-to-fill
Reducing the time it takes to fill a position is crucial for maintaining business operations, but it’s a constant challenge for recruiters.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the average time-to-fill across industries is 42 days.
In high-turnover industries like retail and hospitality, this can be even shorter, putting pressure on recruiters to source quickly without compromising on candidate quality.
What is the Importance of Sourcing in Recruitment?
Effective candidate sourcing involves more than just filling immediate job openings. It helps recruiters build an extensive talent pipeline to stay ahead in a competitive job market. Here’s why sourcing matters in recruitment process:
- Access a Larger Talent Pool: Sourcing helps recruiters identify and connect with passive candidates who may not be actively looking for a job but could be interested in future opportunities. This helps build a talent pool beyond candidates applying for job postings.
- Reduce Time-to-Hire: On average, recruiters spend nearly one-third of their workweek sourcing candidates. By having a ready list of qualified candidates, they can significantly reduce the time it takes to fill a position.
- Enhance Quality of Hires: Sourcing allows recruiters to focus on high-potential candidates who meet the qualifications and cultural fit for a role. This helps improve the quality of hires, ensuring candidates are skilled and align with the company's values and goals.
What are the Different Types of Sourcing?
Depending on the industry and the type of candidate you require, you can select from a number of sourcing methods:
#1: Outsourcing
This method involves partnering with an external agency or candidate in the recruitment process. Outsourcing is ideal if you’re looking for candidates with specialised expertise or are managing high-volume hiring.
#2: Insourcing
Insourcing is a sourcing method in which you manage the recruitment process internally within the company. This gives you more control over the process and ensures you hire the right candidate who understands the company culture and job requirements.
#3: Global Sourcing
With global sourcing, recruiters can expand their search for candidates beyond national borders. This is particularly beneficial if you’re looking for specific skills or expertise that may be scarce locally or if you have a remote team.
#4: Subcontracting
Subcontracting involves hiring third-party specialists to manage specific tasks within the recruitment process. It can help you find candidates for niche positions or manage complex recruitment projects without spending much time.
#5: Referrals
Another effective sourcing strategy is asking employees to recommend potential candidates from their network. Referral programmes can reduce the time and cost associated with hiring and help you find candidates who are likely to be a good fit for the role.
#6: Old Applications
Do you have a list of candidates who have applied for positions in the past but were not hired? Reviewing their applications is an excellent way to find potential fits for current openings, especially if their skills and experience align with the job requirements.
What is the Sourcing Process?
A well-structured sourcing process is essential to hire the right candidate and ensure a smooth hiring experience. Here’s a step-by-step guide to the key components involved:
Step #1: Define Job Requirements
The first step in sourcing involves clearly outlining the skills, qualifications, and experience needed for the role. Begin by working closely with hiring managers to fully understand the job role, required skills, qualifications, and experience needed. This step ensures clarity on the ideal candidate profile.
Step #2: Plan Sourcing Channels
Using a variety of sourcing techniques can help you reach more candidates and find the best fit for the position, such as job boards, evaluate, social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter), professional networks, employee referrals, and recruitment agencies. You can employ techniques like direct sourcing, employee referrals, or using specialised job boards.
Step #3: Formulate Candidate Sourcing Strategy
Based on the candidate profile and identified channels, create a tailored strategy that outlines how you will reach and engage potential candidates. This may include using specific keywords, targeting niche groups, or focusing on passive candidates.
Step #4: Engaging with Candidates
Reach out to candidates with personalised messages that highlight the role and why they might be a good fit. Emphasise aspects that align with their background and interests. You can also engage candidates in meaningful conversations to build rapport, understand their career aspirations, and gauge their interest in the role.
Step #5: Screening and Shortlisting
Review resumes and profiles to assess candidates against the job requirements. Conduct initial screenings, such as phone or video interviews, to further evaluate their suitability. Post screening, create a shortlist of the most qualified candidates who meet the criteria and are interested in the opportunity.
Step #6: Maintain Talent Pipelines
Maintain a record of shortlisted candidates who were not selected but may be suitable for future opportunities. This will help you fill positions quickly, reducing the time spent sourcing. For candidates who may not be the right fit for the current role but have potential for future opportunities, add them to a talent pool for future sourcing efforts.
Step #7: Collaborate with the Hiring Teams
Share the shortlisted candidates with the hiring managers and recruitment teams for further assessment. Later, coordinate interviews and other selection processes, ensuring a smooth transition from sourcing to recruitment.
Step #8: Evaluating and Refining the Process
After filling the position, evaluate the success of the sourcing strategy by analysing metrics such as time-to-hire, quality of hire, and candidate feedback. Refine techniques by continuously improving your sourcing methods based on insights and feedback to enhance future recruitment efforts.
You can also opt for AI sourcing software that provides quality skill-first candidates while reducing time, effort and money.
What is the Difference Between Sourcing and Recruitment?
| Factor | Sourcing | Recruitment |
|---|---|---|
|
Timeline |
Comes before recruiting to identify potential candidates
|
Happens after sourcing to screen candidates and guide them through the hiring process |
|
Types of Jobseekers |
Typically engages with passive job seekers who are not actively looking for opportunities |
Typically engages with active job seekers who are currently looking for opportunities |
|
Responsibilities |
Identifying, attracting, and nurturing potential candidates |
Managing the end-to-end hiring process, including interviews, offers, and onboarding |
|
Primary goals |
Build and maintain a pipeline of qualified candidates |
Fill specific job openings with the best-fit candidates |
|
Candidate interactions |
Focused on initial outreach and relationship building |
Involves detailed interactions related to specific job applications and interviews |
|
Client interactions |
Limited, primarily focused on understanding client needs and job requirements to find suitable candidates |
Extensive, including managing the recruitment process, discussing candidate fit, and making recommendations |
What Sourcing Tactics Can I Use?
Here are some practical sourcing tactics to enhance your efforts and attract top talent:
1. Create a Candidate Persona
Start by creating a detailed profile of your ideal candidate. Outline the necessary skills, experience, interests, and career goals. This will help you tailor your sourcing strategies to target candidates who match this persona.
2. Diversify Online Sourcing Channels
3. Leverage Employee Referrals
Employee referrals can be a valuable source of high-quality candidates. Tapping into your existing workforce can help you find individuals who fit well with the company culture and have the necessary skills for the job.
4. Build a Strong Employer Brand
Creating a compelling employer brand is essential to attracting top talent. Leverage your company website, social media, and other channels to showcase your company’s values, culture, and unique selling points.
5. Use the Right Tool
Investing in the right sourcing tool can reduce manual workload, prevent errors, and streamline the process. These tools can efficiently manage candidate information, track engagement, and automate various sourcing tasks.
Also read, AI Recruiting in 2024: A Definitive Guide
Tips for an Effective Sourcing Strategy in Recruitment
Here are some practical tips to create an effective sourcing strategy and identify qualified candidates:
- Understand the difference between sourcing and recruitment to tailor strategies for each stage.
- Revisit former candidates who were promising but weren't selected. They may be the perfect fit for new opportunities.
- Create a sourcing pipeline to ensure you have qualified candidates ready for future openings.
- Use a variety of keywords and phrases to expand your search and reach a broader range of candidates.
- Measure the effectiveness of your sourcing strategies by tracking metrics such as time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, etc.
- Build a strong employer brand to make your company more appealing to potential candidates.
- Leverage AI-powered tools to automate and enhance your sourcing process.
How Evaluate Provides Quality Candidate Sourcing at Scale?
Finding the right candidates using traditional sourcing methods can be time-consuming and often inefficient. Manually searching, screening, and shortlisting potential candidates can delay the hiring process and lead to missed opportunities for engaging top talent.
Integrating digital tools is essential to overcoming these challenges and streamlining the sourcing process. This is where Evaluate comes in.
Our Scout AI talent sourcing software helps recruiters scale their sourcing efforts without compromising on time and candidate quality. With Evaluate, you can:
- Create an extensive sourcing pipeline with a pool of 100,000 pre-vetted candidates.
- Source qualified candidates from a network of over 5 million developers spread across 600 communities and 80 platforms.
- Identify the right talent based on accurate market data.
- Identify and refine active profiles from 60+ coding hubs, including LinkedIn, Github, and the Evaluate database.
- Optimise the sourcing process to reduce time and costs.
- Access top profiles vetted through a pre-evaluation conducted using Hum.Ai.n Interviews.
Want to source skill-first candidates at scale?
FAQs
How to do Sourcing in HR ?
To do sourcing in HR, you need to:
- Define job requirements
- Identify sourcing channels
- Engage passive candidates
- Screen and shortlist qualified candidates
- Maintain a talent pipeline
Which is Better, a Sourcer or a Recruiter ?
Both sourcers and recruiters are crucial to the hiring process. Sourcers focus on identifying and engaging potential candidates, while recruiters manage the entire hiring process from initial contact to the final offer.
What are Some of the Most Effective Social Sourcing Tools ?
Some effective social sourcing tools include LinkedIn, GitHub, and Evaluate. With Evaluate, you can access profiles of 100,000 pre-vetted candidates, saving time and cost.
How do I Budget My Candidate Sourcing ?
To budget your candidate sourcing, you first need to assess your requirements. Based on this information, consider expenses for various tools and platforms, advertising costs, and employee training. Once you have an estimate, it’s essential to monitor your spending and adjust your budget as needed.
