Five Sourcing New Years’ Resolutions

Well, well well, first piece back for 2023…. OMG I feel like it was only a few years ago we were waiting for the Y2K bug to hit and all our computers to crash and life as we know it to come crashing down…. (if you don’t know what I am talking about – please send me some eye cream, I’m showing my age!) I’m still on leave for another few weeks, but honestly, I’m itching to get back into it so here we are!

Don’t you just love the turn of a new year…. the year is all clean and shiny, and the opportunity to start a-new and do things differently.

What comes with a new year is resolutions. Now resolution by definition can mean a variety of things including “a firm decision to do, or not to do something”, “the action of solving a problem or contentious matter” or, “the act or an instance of resolving the quality or condition of being resolute”. By way of context, I think that both the first two definitions of resolutions are fitting for this piece – as we are making a decision to do or not do something, and we are taking action in solving a problem (being the “sourcing new talent problem”…. yes, that old chestnut)

Aside from resolutions, I am also a fan of doing things differently.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, and really hasn’t that encapsulated the past 2 years though from a talent perspective. Doing the same thing repeatedly expecting a different result?

We post, we pray, we reject – we repeat. We source, we send some InMail’s, we get rejected – we repeat.

Enough already!!! So, in the spirit of the new year I thought it was about time we got some sourcing new years’ resolutions which my help us to have a happy new talent year!

The Talent Sourcing Collective’s 5 New Years Sourcing resolutions are;

•  Follow the 3 C’s - Curious, Clear & Creative

I want us to follow the 3 C’s of curious, clear, and creative and apply them throughout the sourcing process.

Getting curious applies to several stages throughout sourcing including the sourcing brief which I really want to focus on for this piece.

Question, question, question, challenge/validate, and question again.

I have said multiple times before, as a sourcer your research is based on the brief you get, so if your research is wrong, its right the assume so was the brief. I don’t believe that sourcers should take their sourcing brief via the recruiters, no more than I am a fan of recruiters taking their brief from HR rather than direct from the hiring manager.

Make sure you are asking the right questions to set up your sourcing strategy foundationally. I’ve posted before about how to develop a winning sourcing strategy – go and check it out if you aren’t sure of what you should be asking in your sourcing brief, but honestly – this step is seriously overlooked within the sourcing process. It is the blueprint to what your sourcing approach should be so if you aren’t questioning during this brief, and really getting curious with why your hiring manager may be looking for skill A, rather than skill B, and what the trajectory of success looks like in the role and why – then you aren’t doing yourself any favours.

Getting clear is talking about your sourcing strategy. What are you looking for, where are you looking for it, how will you know you have found it, and how will you know your strategy has been successful is usually the premise I like to take.

By having a clear sourcing strategy, you will be able to execute against it expertly, and quickly, and know where to pivot if your sourcing isn’t working.

Creative means to think about injecting some creativity into your sourcing approach.

This may be into your searches in terms of how and where you search, and also into your engagement strategy, so how you can engage with your prospects that can really make a big impact on your sourcing. Don’t send them same old same old “I have a really exciting role at company X,Y, Z that offers a competitive salary”… argh… yuck. Think about videos showing a “day in the life of”, a Tik Tok, a meme, a QR code application process – whatever it is – get outside the box and think about what may set your engagement apart from all of the others they may be getting.

•  Use data

I know, I know – the amount of people that are jumping on the data bandwagon and you are probably sick of hearing it, but honestly – if you are a sourcer, you are sitting on a tremendous amount of data.

Data that includes talent supply, talent availability, talent location, skills taxonomies, EVP attractiveness, compensation and benefits – the list can really go on.

I also refer to data on the prospect side (like the aforementioned C&B, talent location etc), but also on the organisational demand planning side.

A hot topic I got asked about a lot last year in conferences etc was how can sourcing get more proactive in their approach to finding the best talent. Well – demand planning really is the foundation to building out your buy, build, borrow, bot talent strategy.

Start reviewing what data you currently have, and how you might be able to use it. Think about attrition data (attrition is a precursor to vacancies), performance data (high potentials as well as non-performers) succession & tenure data (length of time in various roles, approaching retirement etc) and start plotting that against whatever hiring data you may have already and start looking for trends, and what this may mean for future hiring demand.

You don’t need to be a large, sophisticated organisation to do this!

•  Get technical

Now this is where I will get my geek on slightly…. I am a massive fan of the art of technical sourcing. Now I mean true technical sourcing where you can turn channels off and get knee deep in Boolean and that type of sourcing. I’m talking about getting to really understand the mechanics of how pure sourcing is done.

If you are a sourcer you need to understand how sourcing syntaxes are built, how different search terms fit together to build a strong search, how you can Xray certain sites without needing to have paid access to them, how you can search if your company doesn’t have access to LI Recruiter, what happens when your LIR access goes down (yup it does!), how you can search using emojis (yup – you can, I’ve seen it – Python anyone???)

There are a number of great sourcing certifications you can go through that will teach you the art of technical sourcing (and yes…. Shameless plug for the Sourcing Guru course which is coming out soon….) as a sourcer – know your craft. It will make a huge difference to the depth and impact of your sourcing.

Technically you also need to know the sites that have your talent i.e., Stack for developers etc.  It seems quite straightforward doesn’t it – but hoping that LI and Seek have all your talent in a convenient one-stop-shop is old school thinking, and one that dilutes your sourcing effectiveness.

If I was your hiring manager – I would want you to tell me where there are, and where we should be targeting to find the right people.

•  Know your PVP – Prospect Value Proposition

This one is an oldy, but a goody. As a sourcer it is your responsibility to know what your PVP is. If you don’t know how to sell your organisation in 60 seconds or less – you have no business approaching prospects.

Go back to your sourcing brief – ask your hiring manager to give you the top 3 reasons why someone should their team/role. Ask them why they joined/continue to stay in your organisation, ask someone in the team you are hiring for, the same questions. Ask yourself the same questions.

By asking these questions you should be able to clearly articulate your PVP (notice I’m calling it a PVP not an EVP or CVP? EVP = Employee Value Proposition – employees who are already inside your organisation. CVP = Candidate Value Proposition – candidates who are actively looking in the market and need less convincing about your organisation and PVP = Prospect Value Proposition meaning the target talent you are after who aren’t even in the market, who may have a great role and need to know why they should leave their current organisation to join yours)

•  Know your prospect

Now originally I was going to name this one “don’t bullshit your prospect” but I didn’t think that covered everything, so as a sourcer – you need to know your target prospect.

What interest them, what carer moves have they made, what career moves do they want to make, etc etc. Notice how I am making it all about the prospect? Guess what… it is all about the prospect. They have something you want – their skills and experience. How are you ging to acquire it? By making it attractive to them and given them a reason to join.

When approaching prospects – please have at the very least looked at their profile, and understand how what you are offering them, would be attractive to them. Let’s start with making sure the role is on the right career trajectory to what you think theirs might be. If I receive another InMail saying “I have had a look at your profile and I have a really exciting role as a recruitment consultant who needs to have 3 years’ experience….” I’m not kidding I have received them and generally you can bet I’ll send a reply, but not the one they are hoping for.

It happens so as an industry – let’s do better. Its lazy and its one of the reasons we have a terrible reputation on platforms like LinkedIn.

Lastly on know your prospect and hopefully you are already doing this but do what you say you are going to do and don’t leave them hanging!

So, there you have it – my new years sourcing resolutions. I know this year is looking to be another tough talent market, but I’m hoping by making a few small adjustments, it will make a big difference to your sourcing.

As always Id love to hear what you think, and what else may be on your mind as far as all things talent and sourcing are concerned!

Till next time!

J.