Before the Internet era, the standard method for hiring at businesses was the posting of job ads in newspapers or on billboards. However, with the advent of the web, things started to change. The Internet is now considered to be the main tool for the dissemination of job offers and recruitment, greatly facilitating the search for potential candidates. Employers can now publish job offers on online job boards, professional social networks and even on their own website in a few clicks. In addition to this usual publication, it is now also possible for them to “source” potential candidates directly, i.e. search for candidates where they are. Previously reserved for the recruitment agency, HR sourcing is a key element in the recruitment process and it has evolved a lot in recent years.
What is HR sourcing?
Recruitment sourcing consists of a digital recruitment process consisting in identifying specific profiles meeting selection criteria for given professional positions. It is a process that can be both internal (through internal databases, partners, etc.) and external (using programmatics, job boards, CVs, and other digital tools). This digital recruitment strategy thus allows companies certain advantages, since they have direct access to the best candidates for the position to be filled, whether internally or externally.
Why do HR sourcing?
There are many reasons to use sourcing in recruitment:
Decrease recruitment times
Unlike the technique known as “Post and Pray” (literally post and pray), where the recruiter is forced to wait for candidates to come to him, this recruitment technique makes it possible to search for candidates directly, and therefore tosave time important.
However, as we will see later, this involves defining specific specific criteria to identify the most suitable candidate for the position to be filled.
Maximize the qualification of candidates
As explained above, the definition of the skills desired for the position beforehand allows the recruiter through Sourcing to mainly target relevant applications.
The recruiter thus only approaches candidates who, in his opinion, meet the criteria and skills pre-determined.
The social network LinkedIn is particularly effective for this, allowing a precise search on criteria such as:
- The level of education;
- Training;
- school or university;
- Skills;
- The experiences;
- Etc.
A technology automated sourcing can also allow you to carry out this mission, by displaying advertisements all over the Internet using similar targeting criteria.
Decrease recruitment costs
Finally, HR sourcing, if done well, makes it possible to reduce costs.
These can be various, for example the salaries of your recruiters, the cost of providing a recruitment agency, or even the shortfall when the position to be filled is vacant.
The stages of sourcing in recruitment
The general steps of HR sourcing are as follows:
1. Analysis of the need
Before starting, it is important to analyze the profiles you are looking for, the needs of your business, and if to fill it, there is already a position whose role is to meet this need in your company.
2. Creation or resumption of the position to be filled
At this stage, the skills and qualifications required are clear, as well as the expectations and needs of the business.
3. Definition of the necessary criteria for candidates
Once the recruitment needs are analyzed, search criteria must be established, such as skills, degrees, professional experience, geographic location, etc.
4. Setting up a search strategy
Reflection on the means that will be put in place to source, if recruitment can be done internally, or if external tools will be necessary.
5. Search for candidates and distribution of the offer
Depending on the recruitment method chosen, the recruiter uses different sources to identify candidates on the Internet who match the search criteria, such as CVs, professional social networks, job sites, school directories, etc. Use a strategy of Multicast of job offers allows you to show your ads on all the channels you selected.
6. Receiving CVs on your tools
Once potential candidates have been identified, the recruiter must pre-screen by assessing their qualifications and experience. He can also take the opportunity to create his own talent pool, which he can contact later if necessary.
7. Assessment and hiring
Selected candidates participate in an interview to assess their skills, motivations and suitability for the position. The best profiles are selected to be hired.
External recruitment channels
Jobboards, aggregators, career sites...
Even with these solutions still up to date, it is difficult to find your way around the proliferation of job offers And Job boards. Given the constant evolution of recruitment methods and the growing search for skills, these means are no longer as relevant as before. Especially when you are looking for candidates who are a good match for your employer brand.
Finding the perfect candidate is no easy task.
Big Data in Human Resources
Businesses are looking to exploit the Big Data in the majority of functions in society. In HR, for example, it can help optimize recruitment by helping to make the best decisions in targeting or pre-selecting candidates. Targeting candidate profiles, analyzing their skills, and evaluating basic indicators is not only recruiting, but is also part of the larger set of recruitment marketing.
The objective of every company should be to increase the efficiency of the overall recruitment process by reducing the time spent sorting and identifying the ideal candidate among the others.
The most complex part of the recruitment process is not the interview, but the selection of potential candidates and the creation of a genuine candidate experience. The aim is to have the best match between the offer you are offering and the skills of potential candidates.
Several technological algorithms such as Seeqle are used to make the recruitment process more efficient and more agile by facilitating the match between candidate profile and position to be filled.
When hiring, personality traits and cognitive abilities are as important as skills. It may happen that the application of a student who has dropped out of school or a person working with a little-known brand turns out to be more appropriate than a graduate of Grandes Écoles. These are soft skills and big data makes it possible to analyze them as soon as the candidate is targeted.
Big Data tools
Big Data tools allow you to process data in a more relevant way. It allows you to select the most appropriate personality for your business, by collecting thousands of data and selecting the best candidate from multiple channels, including social networks. For example, the candidate targeting technology of Seeqle makes it possible to detect candidates in the right place and at the right time on the entire web (social networks, websites and mobile applications). They are targeted where they browse every day, in order to display the right HR communication to them in the form of advertisements - job offers, employer brand, training, etc. We then talk about HR programmatic and it's one of the hottest innovations in the industry!
Internal recruitment channels
Internal databases, partners...
It is possible to carry out HR sourcing from candidates found internally, through CVs already in your possession, or by opening applications to employees already working in your company. You can also get in touch with your partners and keep them informed about your research. However, these channels are very similar to the old methods used, and may therefore be less effective.
It is therefore obvious that, given the immensity of data at our disposal, it is necessary to use algorithms.
Big Data can save time and effort by limiting candidates to a small and relevant number, freeing up time to focus on other tasks.
HR marketing is becoming an essential strategy for businesses looking for best practices that can help them find ideal candidates and big data can help them optimize this competitive advantage.
Try our free analysis tool which will give you the size of your audience detected on the entire web as well as the number of candidates you will receive.
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