How to Hire a Talent Sourcing Expert?

Who are Talent Sourcing Experts?

Talent sourcing experts are people who perform hiring processes at companies and institutions. Their duties include consulting with hiring managers on recruitment needs, developing recruitment selection criteria, and sourcing suitable candidates through a variety of channels. They may also be required to attend job fairs.

In this role, they will also be responsible for determining job requirements, screening candidates, and forecasting hiring needs. They may also be involved in promoting your company's brand with recruitment initiatives and events.

Sourcers are similar to recruiters, but they vary in that their primary responsibility is to identify and contact passive applicants. These are the talented people who would be a perfect fit for a company but need to be found and approached, rather than those who are actively applying for jobs.

In other words, sourcers are hunters. They excel in researching social media, the internet, and other platforms to identify outstanding prospects who may have gotten lost in the system or may not be aware of opportunities at the sourcer's organization.

There is no one optimal approach to finding and hiring talent in the modern world, thus a sourcer's involvement in the hiring process is crucial. A sourcer locates qualified individuals wherever they may be.

Duties & Responsibilities of Talent Sourcing Experts

• Collaborating with different departments of the organization to determine recruitment needs.
   
• Deciding on hiring criteria, hiring profiles, and job specifications for vacant positions.
   
• Sourcing potential applicants using online job boards, career portals for companies, recruiting websites, social media platforms, and, where necessary, print advertisements like posters and flyers.
   
• Managing hiring processes via electronic Applicant Tracking Systems.
   
• Evaluating applications, calling or emailing potential applicants, and organizing pre-interview assessments.
   
• Preparing interview questions and screening shortlisted candidates in person or over video chat.
   
• Developing hiring forecasts as part of the strategic planning of the organization.
   
• Documenting processes and fostering good relationships with potential candidates and past applicants.
   
• Developing hiring strategies and procedures in line with industry trends, as well as staying informed of advancements in the field.

Skills of Talent-Sourcing Experts

1. Relationship-building skills: A crucial tenet for the success of talent-sourcing experts is candidate experience. The candidate journey must be given top priority by the sourcing professionals of tomorrow. As a result, in 2023 and beyond, networking and relationship management abilities will be crucial for any talent-sourcing expert. Moreover, there is a growing need to embrace human features that set us apart from AI. Thus, the necessity of networking abilities and the capacity to interact with others on a human level is a skill to look for in your candidate.
    
2. Analytical Skills: We live in a data-driven world, so businesses must be data-driven to prosper. To succeed as a talent-sourcing expert, you must invest in raising your data literacy. This involves more than just being able to read data; it also entails being able to comprehend, evaluate, and use it to enhance people's processes. The development of analytical abilities, which can then be applied to successful recruitment marketing and employer branding strategies, requires a healthy dependence on data. At its core, sourcing is a sales job, and a talent sourcing expert can find, screen, negotiate, and plan for talent more effectively if they have strong analytical skills.
    
3. Social and Empathy Skills: Empathy is a natural gift that must be developed along with social skills in order to become a successful talent-sourcing expert in the future. It is not just a passing trend to say that emotional quotient, or EQ, is the new IQ. In every IQ-testable skill, algorithms, computers, and other technological advancements have surpassed humanity in the world we live in. But technology still has some catching up to do when it comes to emotional intelligence. Therefore, developing social skills and empathy will be essential for socially and emotionally savvy talent-sourcing experts. Since it demonstrates to the applicant that you genuinely comprehend their challenges, objectives, and emotions, empathy can also greatly improve the candidate experience.
    
4. Tech Skills: The talent-sourcing experts of the future need to be tech-savvy and open to adapting to and adopting new technology. New hiring technologies are being developed and perfected every day. Being able to use them efficiently is a skill that will be highly valued.

Why do we need Talent Sourcing Experts?

The significance of talent sourcing experts can be summed up in four ways. First of all, sourcing methods are always evolving. Every day, new trends emerge in how individuals utilize technology and social media. Social media and job sites' algorithms are always changing. Second, to keep up with all the changes, businesses need sourcing experts. These specialists can take advantage of the changes in demand. With all of their duties, recruiters are already overburdened, so it would be unreasonable to expect them to keep up with all of the changes in sourcing methods. 

Third, recruiters and talent-sourcing experts can collaborate one-on-one. Consequently, a sourcing expert can focus on constructing several talent pipelines. Changes in demand determine the ratio. Multiple recruiters can receive assistance from these experts at once. The fourth is that they contribute to today's and tomorrow's talent pipelines. By building up your talent pipeline today, hiring will be quicker and simpler tomorrow.

How to Assess Talent Sourcing Experts?

You can assess talent sourcing experts based on technical and competency skills. Follow this three-step process to assess your candidate effectively. 

1. Develop a Scorecard: A scorecard helps assess the candidate’s experience. A scorecard gives a fair and standard way of evaluating candidates. In other words, it lets you compare apples to apples instead of comparing apples to oranges. 

2. Use Pre-employment Assessments: Testing for sourcing skills rather than recruitment skills may appear paradoxical. However, sourcing skills are less definite than recruiting skills. Because sourcing is a skill that is constantly changing and evolving, it requires much more depth. So testing for sourcing abilities aids the hiring manager in understanding the nuances of sourcing experts. 

3. Look for Core Competencies: Look for these core competencies in your candidate. - Behavior - Technical ability - Independence - Business acumen - Creativity - Curiosity

How to Hire a Talent Sourcing Expert?

1. Build a Candidate Persona: You need to build a candidate persona as to what the role entails, the qualifications, the skills, and the overall personality requirement of the candidate. Site together with the hiring manager to create a detailed description of the candidate.
    
2. Create a Job Description: Once you have understood the requirements of the role. Craft an appealing job description that speaks to potential candidates and attracts top talent only. 
    
3. Select the Ideal Candidate: See which applicant is fit for the job. You can also use pre-employment assessments to assess your candidates and check if they are the right fit for your job role. 
    
4. Interview Questions: You can ask the following questions to a candidate during the interview to gauge his personality. 
   - How would you determine the ideal candidate for any given position? 
   - If a candidate needs to be more responsive to your outreach, what would be your reaction and what measures would you take? 
   - If confronted by a confrontational candidate, what would you do in this situation? 
   - Which social media platforms would you use to locate potential candidates? 
   - How do you determine the quality of any candidate you recommend for hire? 
   - How often do you research the latest sourcing techniques and how do you go about doing this? 
   - How do you stay up-to-date on changes in the marketplace? 
   - Give an example of a time when you successfully negotiated a better deal for your company. 
   - What resources do you use to find qualified candidates? - Tell me about a time you missed out on a great candidate. What could you have done better? 
   - How would you decide between two candidates with similar qualifications? 
   - How would you improve our employment brand?

Wrapping Up

Hiring can be a daunting task. And hiring talent sourcing experts, who are more or less involved in hiring themselves, can be a big responsibility. Your entire sourcing process will be on the shoulders of this one person and you do not want to make a mistake. At HireQuotient, we provide pre-employment assessments which you can take advantage of to hire the superstar talent sourcing expert for your company. Book a demo today!