The Art of Candidate Sourcing: Summary

In today’s recruiting landscape, staying ahead requires a strategic approach, especially since skills shortages and candidate scarcity have become the norm.

Our recent five-part series on the Art of Candidate Sourcing shared a whole raft of actionable insights for building a robust talent pipeline, from utilizing passive candidates to optimizing engagement on social media.

This blog summarizes the series to give you all the must-not-miss takeaways in one spot. Get your must-do actionable insights for candidate sourcing success here.

Passive Candidates: A Goldmine Waiting to be Tapped

Did you know that around 80 percent of candidates fall into the passive category? Passive candidates are a massively underutilized resource you can tap into. Your work starts with an effective passive sourcing strategy.

So, the first thing to know is that passive candidates are different from active ones, and capturing their attention requires a different approach. Content marketing plays a crucial role. Engaging via several communication channels (not just LinkedIn) is essential to connect with passive candidates. It’s also important to use diverse methods, such as longer articles, short content, videos, images, stories, polls, webinars, podcasts, live streams, etc.

Remember, passive candidates aren’t looking for a job but may not be completely happy in their roles. And even if they are, if presented with the right opportunity, they might consider a move. Your content can help them to realize this. Short and long-form content on topics like, ‘Ready for your next Move?’ or “What’s your work culture like?’ can make people think about their work-life needs.

To source passive candidates effectively, you’ll need to:

1. Have a Plan

Adopt a strategic approach. Understand your objectives and approach passive candidates with a light touch.

2. Nail Content Creation and Engagement

Build rapport through thought leadership and engaging content. Establish yourself as a trusted figure in the industry.

3. Mine Your Data

Leverage your CRM and ATS to sift through your talent pool effectively. Rejected candidates from the past might be ideal for current vacancies. Reach out to them!

4. Strategize Your Referral Program

Referrals are a common and successful way people discover new job opportunities. Don’t leave this resource to chance.

Read more on reaching passive candidates in part 1 of our Candidate Sourcing series here.

The Power of Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a funnel for sourcing and cultivating relationships with candidates and clients.

So, what is inbound marketing, and why is it important?

Inbound marketing is all about ‘pull-power.’ This means creating reasons for the customer (or, in the case of recruitment, the candidates and clients) to come to you. Remember, candidates are becoming more discerning, so a softer, pull-based approach can help to yield results.

At the heart of inbound marketing is content. Your content should present insights and solutions and support a mutually beneficial relationship.

To master inbound marketing, you must:

1. Craft Compelling Content

Inbound website traffic doesn’t happen by chance. You need persuasive content that resonates with your audience. Your content should include attention-grabbing headlines, effective calls-to-action (CTAs), and engaging storytelling. Visual elements, such as images and videos, can help. Share your content on social media, and grow your email contacts for campaigns.

2. Create the Right Content

Understanding your audience is essential. This means you can tailor content to address the needs and interests of your audience segments. Consider which formats your target audience will likely consume, such as blog articles, industry news, candidate testimonials, newsletters, Q&As, how-to guides, or insightful videos.

3. Optimize Web Content for SEO

Being discoverable online is essential, and Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a critical role in visibility. SEO is complex, but even with a limited budget, recruiters can leverage strategies like using long-tail keywords, conducting keyword research, optimizing for mobile, and creating high-quality, regular content.

4. Make Vacancies Easy to Find

Job postings are a recruiter’s most effective tool for reaching talent, so making them easily discoverable online is vital. Automating the task of job posting enables recruiters to reach a wider audience across more job boards.

Learn more about inbound marketing in part 2 of our Candidate Sourcing series here.

Proactive Matching, Sourcing and Posting

Finding skilled individuals is challenging, but that doesn’t mean you should resort to subpar skill matching. Shoehorning less-than-ideal candidates into roles they don’t quite match can damage a recruiter’s reputation and cause frustration to candidates and clients.

Efficient database utilization and the right Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can help stretched teams optimize candidate sourcing and fill vacancies with suitable hires.

Follow our six steps for better matching, sourcing, and job posting:

1. Source from Your Database: A Hidden Treasure

A recruiter’s database is among the most impactful sourcing channels. It harbors a wealth of untapped potential. Candidates who may not have been suitable for a role a year ago could now possess the skills required. You will need a robust ATS and CRM with excellent search capabilities to mine your data efficiently.

2. Supercharge Search with Automatic Candidate Matching

Managing candidates who previously applied but weren’t selected for a role can be time-consuming without an auto-matching feature. An ATS with automated matching functionality streamlines this process, constantly matching candidates with new job openings based on defined criteria.

3. Optimize Your Skill and Profile Building

Refine your skill and profile building to uncover non-obvious candidates within your database. Adding soft skills into the mix will lead to more successful hires.

4. The Power of AI Ranking and Search

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming recruitment tech, and AI Ranking and Search are at the forefront. Consider using an ATS that enables you to add recruitment history into the search mix. When you consider a candidate’s previous success or failure in similar roles, more informed decisions can be made.

5. Up Your Game with ChatGPT

Use ChatGPT carefully – it isn’t the be-all and end-all (yet). But it is a valuable assistant to help you with writing tasks from Boolean strings to job descriptions. Some recruitment software, like Tracker, has ChatGPT integrated into its ATS system, allowing instant job description generation directly within the platform.

6. Job Board Workflow and Job Board Integration

Dealing with multiple job boards across various industries is a daunting task. An ATS like Tracker’s with Job Board Integration alleviates this burden by automating job posting – to hundreds of job boards in one click, searching, and auto-matching, saving time and effort while maximizing visibility.

Learn more about matching, sourcing, and posting in part 3 of our Candidate Sourcing series here.

Leveraging Social Media

In the dynamic realm of recruitment, social media is emerging as a game-changer. Get savvy with our social media must-knows:

1. A Goldmine of Opportunities

Social media is a treasure trove for recruiters, with a staggering 79% of job seekers utilizing these platforms in their search. Notably, LinkedIn sees 52 million job searches weekly, and 101 job applications are submitted every second.

2. Optimizing Your Presence

Profile optimization is crucial on social media. Business pages and recruiter’s individual pages on business platforms should include compelling ‘’About Me’ sections, and individuals should build endorsements to enhance credibility. It’s vital to showcase skills, experience, and expertise.

3. Build Authority – The Long Haul

Engaging on social media demands a long-term commitment rather than sporadic bursts. Craft and share diverse and valuable content. Vary content formats and manage flow (tools like Hootsuite or Buffer can help). Engage in discussions, follow industry experts, and use hashtags to solidify your presence in the right circles.

4. Choosing the Right Platforms

LinkedIn remains a staple for professional networking, but niche platforms shouldn’t be overlooked. TikTok and Instagram cater to a creative crowd, while Facebook’s expansive user base makes it a legitimate recruitment tool. Tailor content to demographics and keep an eye on evolving trends.

5. Nurturing Relationships – Beyond One-Way Communication

Social media isn’t just a broadcasting tool; it’s a dynamic space for interaction. Build relationships by offering valuable content, engaging respectfully in conversations, and sending personalized messages. Avoid being overly salesy or inundating your audience.

6. Leveraging Unique Features

Each social media platform offers unique features for recruiters. Stay abreast of evolving features tailored for job hunting. Adapting your strategy to capitalize on these features enhances your recruitment efficacy.

7. Measuring Success – Data-Driven Recruitment

As with any strategy, measuring results is imperative. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs), track application page visits, and conduct A/B testing on social posts to refine content strategies. Utilize recruitment software like Tracker, which integrates with LinkedIn and offers one-click job postings, to streamline processes and enhance efficiency.

Learn more about getting the most out of social media in part 4 of our Candidate Sourcing series here.

Automation

The stress on recruiters is intensifying. With leaner budgets and scaled-back teams, hiring fatigue is setting in. Automation is now essential for easing the pressure, taking tedious tasks out of the recruiting game, and giving recruiters back time.

Here’s how recruitment automation tools can ramp up a recruiter’s hiring game.

1. Job Posting

Think how long your team takes to create, optimize, and post open jobs across your network. It’s a lot of hours. With the right recruitment automation software, you can quickly publish jobs to your website, social media, and over 1,000 job boards with one click.

2. Job Board Sourcing

On the flip side of job board posting is sourcing. Choose recruitment software that can help you automatically source, match, and engage candidates from job boards. With Tracker, for example, your open Jobs can crawl the job boards overnight to find new candidates.

3. Build Candidate Profiles

Putting together candidate profiles can be hugely time-consuming. With an ATS, like Tracker, you can quickly create accurate candidate profiles pulled directly from sources like LinkedIn, email, and more.

4. Auto-matching

You have many candidates at your fingertips in your database, but how effective are your systems and searching skills at rooting people out? Recruitment automation enables the automatic matching of job openings with talent in your database.

5. Ranking Candidates

Creating a list of prime candidates based on skills, qualifications, and other job requirements takes ages. Lots of recruitment software incorporates AI to automate this task. Tracker takes ranking a step further using AI Ranking to account for a candidate’s skills, qualifications, and history within the system.

6. Communications

During the hiring process, the human touch can make or break the candidate experience and, when optimized, can go a long way to prevent dropouts. But time spent sending emails and making phone calls soon adds up to many hours, meaning things can easily slip through the net or get delayed.

Automating communications keeps everything on track and saves recruiters vast amounts of time. Everything from scheduling reminders to gaining feedback can be managed by tech.

Learn more about automation in part 5 of our Candidate Sourcing series here.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our Candidate Sourcing Series. We’ve loved sharing our expertise with you. If you’d like to take your recruitment game to the next level, give us a shout. We’d love to chat.